PORTSMOUTH, VA - In a precedent-setting agreement, the federal court today approved a consent decree that orders federal and local officials to relocate all of the 160 families living in Washington Park Public Housing. Residents of this segregated public housing will be moved to integrated housing opportunities. The agreement marks the first time that an existing Superfund site cleanup plan has been changed to address racial discrimination in public housing located within an area of hazardous environmental contamination.

"This case represents a landmark victory for the families living in Washington Park and the environmental justice movement," said Thomas Henderson, lead counsel for the plaintiffs of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, a national non-profit civil rights law firm.

The consent decree not only ends separate and unequal conditions of segregation at Washington Park, but also represents a personal victory for Ms. Helen Person. Ms. Person, a long-time resident and advocate for tenant's rights at Washington Park, and lead plaintiff, has been widely honored for her relentless work to end the discriminatory housing and lead pollution in Washington Park. Ms. Person's efforts were recently supported by Senator Robb and Congressman Sisisky, both helped to lay the groundwork for this settlement. "I have prayed and worked for years for the safe relocation of all the people in Washington Park, especially the children, and now my prayers have been answered," Person said.

The housing complex and adjacent lead foundry were declared an EPA "Superfund" site in 1990 due to high levels of lead contamination. "The site has always been inappropriate for housing. It was chosen in the early 1960's only because public housing for 'Negroes' was being constructed using federal funds," Henderson said. In 1994, when EPA selected the final cleanup remedy for the Superfund site, only private landowners were relocated. "The decision, if left unchanged, would have continued and exacerbated the same conditions of segregation and inequality in Washington Park established under Jim Crow." Henderson said.

The plaintiffs were also represented by Davis Polk & Wardwell. The defendants included the City of Portsmouth, Portsmouth Redevelopment and Housing Authority, Pneumo Abex, Inc., HUD, and EPA. Washington Park Lead Committee, Inc., et al. v. United States Environmental Protection Agency, et al., Civil Action No.2-98-CV-421 (E.D. Va. 1998).