Jill Harrison鈥檚 research helps identify听the cultural relations and political economic processes that disproportionately听situate听members of racially marginalized, Indigenous, and working-class听communities in dangerous spaces and precarious conditions that听contribute to听inequalities in life opportunity, illness, and death. She also identifies ways the听state, social movements, and other institutions can听more effectively redress听those inequalities. She has done so through various cases of environmental and听workplace inequality in the听contemporary United States, including political conflict over听agricultural听pesticide drift in California, immigration policing and workplace inequalities in Wisconsin鈥檚 dairy industry, university engineering-for-development programs, and听government agencies鈥� environmental justice reform efforts.听She is especially interested in the prospects for fostering听environmental听justice through working听with and within state institutions.听
In her recent major research project, she examines听the disappointing pace of environmental regulatory agencies鈥� 鈥渆nvironmental听justice鈥澨�(EJ) programs and policies as a case through which to understand听why, despite reducing environmental hazards for the nation听overall,听agencies have not improved conditions in places enduring the听greatest environmental burdens. Other scholars have shown that material听factors outside the control of agency staff 鈥� budget cuts, limits to听regulatory authority, industry pressure, and underdeveloped analytical听tools 鈥� constrain the possibilities for EJ reforms to regulatory practice. Her听research builds upon that work, focusing instead on听demonstrating how听agencies鈥� EJ reform efforts are also undermined by elements of regulatory听workplace culture that transcend changes听in administration. In particular,听she shows how colorblind racism compels staff to reject EJ reforms as violating popular notions of what good regulatory practice entails. At the same time,听her publications听and听outreach offer practical suggestions for how agencies can more effectively听reduce environmental听inequalities that deeply affect the lives of so many听Americans, and they show how agencies鈥� EJ staff 鈥� those tasked with developing听EJ听reforms 鈥� endeavor to change both regulatory practice and听regulatory culture from the inside out. She published these findings in a series of peer-reviewed journal articles and a book,听From the Inside Out: The Fight for Environmental Justice within Government Agencies听(MIT Press).
Sharing these findings with target audiences has been one of Dr. Harrison鈥檚 key commitments in recent years. She has been invited to present her research on the challenges facing government agencies鈥� EJ reform efforts to the executive leadership, upper management, and other staff at numerous environmental regulatory agencies, including at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) headquarters and various regional offices, California EPA, the California Bay Area Air Quality Management District, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, Minnesota鈥檚 Environmental Quality Board, the California Fish and Game Commission, the California Natural Resources Agency, and Washington State Department of Ecology. She also advises U.S. government agencies their environmental justice reform efforts through serving on the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Additionally, she has given invited presentations to environmental nonprofit organizations and university departments. You听can read about her research in articles in听,听罢丑别听颁辞濒辞谤补诲补苍, and听.
She is building upon this research in several ways that contribute to theoretical debates on the prospects for fostering environmental justice through engaging with the state. First, she is reviewing the extent to which and how scholars have recognized the contributions of bureaucratic creativity to environmental change, documenting techniques through which bureaucrats effect change in support of environmental justice within bureaucracies, and exploring unique creative practices used by EJ movement activists who get hired into staff positions within environmental regulatory agencies.听
Second, she is starting a new project on听environmental regulatory agencies鈥� use of cumulative impact assessment to support environmental justice. Scholars from science and technology studies and geography have shown that regulatory agencies have used environmental science in ways that contribute to environmental inequality. Notably, the core scientific practice within regulatory decision-making 鈥撎�risk assessment听鈥� perpetuates environmental inequality by ignoring the multiple hazards facing communities. Many scholars have argued that an alternative approach,听cumulative impact assessment, could rectify the limitations of traditional risk assessment by accounting for the multiple harms facing overburdened communities. Recently, some environmental regulatory agencies have initiated the integration of cumulative impact assessment into regulatory decision-making to support environmental justice 鈥� what Harrison calls听cumulative impact assessment for environmental justice听(CIAEJ). However, little is known about how government agencies operationalize CIAEJ within regulatory decision-making contexts; how well these efforts rectify the limitations of risk assessment; what other social outcomes they contribute to; or why agencies鈥� efforts to integrate CIAEJ into core regulatory work have evolved as they have. This research will advance knowledge of the social organization of regulatory decision-making practice and its associate consequences by identifying the material, social, and cultural contexts shaping agencies鈥� use of CIAEJ science and how these CIAEJ initiatives impact quality of life in underserved communities.