Dams disproportionately removed from areas with more non-Hispanic white residents
Dr. Josh Galster spoke with the Geological Society of America regarding dam removal in the US
Posted in: Department Research, Faculty
In 2018, Dr. Josh Galster was working on a dam removal project on the Paulinskill River near Columbia, New Jersey, doing scientific monitoring of the river. Since the dam was being removed to improve the natural setting of the recreation areas in an already quite scenic area of New Jersey, Galster wondered where else dam removals were happening nationwide and if they were being done in an equitable fashion.
Galster teamed with his father, Dr. George Galster, an emeritus professor in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at Wayne State University, to evaluate the environmental justice of dam removal.
My father and I feel that it’s important to recognize and analyze where we’re doing these [dam removals] and where these resources are being spent because if we’re spending that much to improve the local conditions around that dam, then who are the people that are living near that dam that are going to benefit the most?