The article presents the main results of a research on the companies' practices of locating toxic wates in the state of Rio de Janeiro. For the period 1992/2002 have been identified 121 denouncements of undue siting at the state environmental agency of Rio de Janeiro. The cases have been analyzed form the point of view of the strategies adopted by companies, state agencies and affected people. The evidences show that the companies' locational efficiency is based on different destitution conditions of people living in peripherical areas: low income, insufficient access to public services, low capacity to influence public regulation and monitoring.
environmental inequality; exception state; pollution; toxic waste
