"As somebody who’s been doing this for almost 20 years, I don’t think we’ve made a huge amount of progress," Professor Alex C. Geisinger said in a Dec. 7 Times Tribune article (registration required) concerning federal Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and Pennsylvania state environmental policy.

According to the article, since 1990, research shows that poor and minority communities see more environmental risks than other communities, such as the expanding and potentially harmful landfill in Chester, Pa. 

Although the DEP has created an Office of Environmental Advocate to develop policies addressing community concerns, many concerns are neglected, Geisinger suggested, because Pennsylvania's environmental policies although "typical" are "relatively ineffective," he added.  “Without a doubt, the majority of people recognize that the reason this problem of environmental justice happens is because the groups we’re talking about don’t have a lot of political power,” Geisinger concluded.

Professor Geisinger concentrates on the role of legal theory - including law and economics, behavioralism and expressivism - in the development of international law, environmental law and criminal law. He currently chairs the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia's Environmental Justice Policy Circle.