Editing Environmental racism (section)

==== Australia ====
The Australian Environmental Justice (AEJ) is a multidisciplinary organization which is closely partnered with Friends of the Earth Australia (FoEA). The AEJ focuses on recording and remedying the effects of environmental injustice throughout [[Australia]]. The AEJ has addressed issues which include "production and spread of toxic wastes, pollution of water, soil and air, erosion and ecological damage of landscapes, water systems, plants and animals".<ref>{{cite web|title=Australian Environmental Justice project|url=https://www.foe.org.au/australian-environmental-justice-project|access-date=17 February 2020|website=Friends of The Earth Australia}}</ref> The project looks for environmental injustices that disproportionately affect a group of people or impact them in a way they did not agree to.

The Western Oil Refinery started operating in [[Bellevue, Western Australia]], in 1954. It was permitted rights to operate in Bellevue by the [[Government of Australia|Australian government]] in order to refine cheap and localized oil. In the decades following, many residents of Bellevue claimed they felt respiratory burning due to the inhalation of toxic chemicals and nauseating fumes. Lee Bell from Curtin University and [[Mariann Lloyd-Smith]] from the National Toxic Network in Australia stated in their article, "Toxic Disputes and the Rise of Environmental Justice in Australia" that "residents living close to the site discovered chemical contamination in the ground- water surfacing in their back yards".<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Lloyd-Smith|first1=Mariann|last2=Bell|first2=Lee|date=January 2003|title=Toxic Disputes and the Rise of Environmental Justice in Australia|journal=[[International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health]]|location=Abingdon, England|publisher=[[Routledge]]|volume=9|issue=1|page=16|doi=10.1179/107735203800328966|pmid=12749627|s2cid=16075948}}</ref> Under immense civilian pressure, the Western Oil Refinery (now named Omex) stopped refining oil in 1979. Years later, citizens of Bellevue formed the Bellevue Action Group (BAG) and called for the government to give aid towards the remediation of the site. The government agreed and $6.9 million was allocated to clean up the site. Remediation of site began in April 2000.