Papers presented by Johnathan Williams since 2019
2024 Providence, Rhode Island
""
Johnathan Williams, University of Northern Iowa
2021 Hopin Virtual Events Platform
"A Green Compromise: Target and the EPA in the 1990s"
Johnathan Williams, Boston University
Abstract:
In 1997, Robert Devers, the mayor of Woburn, Massachusetts, declared the announcement of a new Target store as “a strong symbolic value that will force people to realize that the stigma is not forever and that communities can go forward.” Indeed, Devers did not exaggerate, for the new big-box store marked the first public-private partnership to redevelop one of the most contaminated Superfund sites in the United States. The partnership was the culmination of environmental reforms throughout the 1990s. The decade featured a high point in American support for government action to address environmental issues. At the same time, this support collided with political partisan divisions over environmental reform, especially after the 1994 midterm elections. As major legislative actions to address environmental issues stalled or were watered-down during this period of congressional gridlock, the Environmental Protection Agency navigated the political terrain through administrative reform and partnerships with the private sector. Target Stores, the rapidly growing discount chain from Minnesota, emerged as a close ally to the EPA. The EPA promoted Target’s recycling and waste reduction programs as models for other companies. For companies like Target, such initiatives were more about economic incentives than an actual commitment to addressing environmental issues. As this paper argues, the relationship built between Target and the EPA during the 1990s helped to end decades of major environmental, regulatory reforms in favor of ones supporting the idea of corporate responsibility.
Keywords:
2020 Charlotte, North Carolina
"'Truckport USA': A Target Distribution Center and a Fight in the Midwest"
Johnathan Williams, Boston University
Abstract:
When Target announced Oconomowoc, Wisconsin as the chosen site for its Midwest Distribution Center in March 1993, conflict flared throughout the area. As one concerned resident exclaimed in the local newspaper, “this once pretty Lakeland, now beset with polluted air and water, might become equally famous—or infamous—as ‘Truckport-U.S.A.,” denouncing the center as an “Asphalt Acropolis.” Hundreds of other local residents shared similar opinions as they organized and attempted to prevent the project through protests, boycotts, and legal action. The opposition also raised sound arguments for classifying distribution centers as a major pollution source. This unexpected challenge not only threatened Target and its major campaign to expand into the Chicago market; the entire retail industry was on edge as powerful retailers confronted several varieties of environmental activism. Historians are well aware that distribution centers comprise the hubs of the global production and consumption network, making them an essential component to the expansion of retail chains during the late twentieth century. But few studies have examined the historical development of distribution centers. Because of their scale and impact, their construction intersects with multiple stakeholders, from nearby property owners to state and local politicians seeking economic development opportunity, to—as most prominently demonstrated in Oconomowoc—individuals prioritizing environmental concerns and quality of life. By exploring these different stakeholders and how Target accommodated their interests while ultimately fending off their challenges, this paper adds to recent studies examining the intersection of environmental and business history.