Urge Your Legislators to be Leaders for Environmental Justice!
In 1987, the UCC Commission for Racial Justice released the landmark “Toxic Wastes and Race” report, the first comprehensive study that showed quantitatively the disproportionate siting of toxic production and waste facilities in poor communities of color, coining the term “environmental racism.” This study-- born out of the efforts of the citizens of Warren County, North Carolina to fight the construction of a PCB landfill in the predominantly Black and poor community—laid the foundation for the decades-long movement for environmental justice beyond the UCC and into the halls of Congress. The work of representatives like Eleanor Holmes Norton, Raúl Grijalva and the late A. Donald McEachin led to the introduction of the landmark Environmental Justice for All Act in the last Congress.
Though failing to make it to a floor vote, the fight continues with its reintroduction as the A. Donald McEachin Environmental Justice for All Act (H.R. 1705/S. 919), named in honor of the “climate warrior” and bill champion. The bill resulted from two and half years of consultation and collaboration with members of communities that have suffered from environmental racism and inequality. Key aspects of the bill include:
Strengthening of legal recourse when federal programs, policies, or practices have discriminatory effects.
Requirement that federal agencies consider the cumulative impacts on human health when deciding whether to issue permit decisions under the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts.
Imposition of fees upon oil, gas, and coal companies which would be used by a newly created Federal Energy Transition Economic Development Assistance Fund to support impacted workers and communities as industries transition away from fossil fuels.
Annual provision of $75 million in grants for research and programs to improve public health and reduce health disparities in communities that have suffered from environmental injustice.
We stand on the shoulders of those who have struggled for justice before us and gotten us this far. It is now on us as people of faith to continue the work toward caring for creation and fulfilling a just world for all. Contact your elected leaders to see that this bill becomes law.