According to Bullard environmental racism is "Racial discrimination in environmental policymaking; racial discrimination in the enforcement of regulations and laws, in the deliberate targeting of communities of color for toxic waste disposal and the siting of polluting industries, in the official sanctioning of the life-threatening presence of poisons and pollutants in communities, and finally in the history of excluding people of color from the mainstream environmental groups, decision making boards, commissions, and regulatory bodies." (pg 3)
             An example of one of the many environmental racism cases that will discussed in greater detail is the "Ganados del Valle" case in northern New Mexico. This has been brought to light by the stories of grassroot leaders such as Laura Pulido, who is part of the environmental justice movement which tries to make the community aware of the dangers from the practices that many of the industries in question oblige to on a daily basis. These activists of the environmental justice movement aren't claiming that they have an answer for where these poisons and pollutants should be left but believe that there shouldn't be any poisons or pollutants to begin with. "It should both emphasize economic equity and community empowerment". (Bullard, 125)
             The case of "Ganados del Valle", is one where the people of the Chama Valley of Rio Arriba County came together in order to escape the dead end, low wage jobs of tourism which came about after the coming of the railroad, the U.S. acquisition of Mexico, and the influx of Anglo settlers and "provide a means to collectively gain a livelihood from the land through a vertically integrated business based on sheep. (Bullard, 128) Even though tourism yielded jobs for the peoples of Chama most were seasonal and low wage, it also led to land speculation which made buying land unaffordable. Three neighbors, Gumer...