It’s time for Congress to take environmental justice seriously

Our country is long overdue for a reckoning with our long history of environmental racism. For decades, we’ve seen the same story repeat itself. Polluting industries — like the extraction and petrochemical industries — recklessly pollute the air, water and land of certain communities they deem expendable without facing real consequences. For one reason or another, these expendable communities are unequivocally made up of people of color and those of low income that polluters have callously written off as less than human and not deserving of basic human rights.   

But the era of impunity is ending as these same communities are demanding action from their representatives and forcing us to confront the deep legacy of environmental racism that continues to sicken our communities and trap our families in a toxic cycle of poor health outcomes. In light of these injustices, some Congressional leaders have heard the calls for action and introduced legislation to empower communities with the tools they need to hold polluters accountable for their actions. It’s time for the rest of Congress to treat this crisis with the importance it deserves.  

For decades, Black, Indigenous and people of color have lived with the brutal legacy of environmental racism. From the South Ward District of Newark, New Jersey and the communities of Cancer Alley in Louisiana, to the barrios of East Los Angeles and the Indigenous lands of Navajo Nation, polluters have poisoned communities with toxic chemicals that have contaminated the air they breathed and the water they drank. As these communities face disproportionately high rates of asthma, cancer and premature deaths, officials have too often turned a blind eye. While corporate profits grow, the health and well-being of our families decline. 

Environmental justice communities have fought this toxic pollution for decades. Everyday people thrust into activism went toe-to-toe with polluting industries and the government for their right to clean air, clean water and land free from contamination. The difference between now and decades ago is that policymakers are finally listening and some of those original fighters are now in positions of power.   

For many years we had few options, until now. Reps. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Donald McEachin (D-Va.) met with some communities most impacted by pollution. From Appalachia to Los Angeles, community leaders told stories of how students missed countless days of school due to severe asthma and respiratory illnesses caused by extreme air pollution. They listened to mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters who recounted tales of loved ones taken by cancer at an early age while nearby petrochemical plants and mining sites continued discharging toxins into the air and water surrounding their communities. They have received hundreds of virtual comments alerting them to the environmental problems faced by their communities and the tools they needed to hold those responsible accountable.  

The Environmental Justice for All Act is the result of these efforts. It’s a bill crafted by the people and for the people who need it the most. It reflects the realities and needs of environmental justice communities. It is grounded in the idea that all people — no matter their race, origin or socioeconomic status — deserve clean air, water and land. It represents the most significant step Congress has ever taken to remedy the toxic legacy of environmental racism and address its disparate impacts on communities of color and those of low-income by mandating bold actions to protect public health.

Under the provisions of this bill, communities have a legal recourse to demand justice. The bill would strengthen the National Environmental Policy Act to ensure federal agencies are taking cumulative impacts into consideration when permitting decisions are made for new projects and would require meaningful consultation with tribal governments. Additionally, it would amend the Civil Rights Act to enable groups to hold polluters accountable when projects use federal funds or resources to discriminate against people of color or those of low income. When the federal government wants to build or expand a highway that would bulldoze through an existing community and increase air pollution or greenlight the construction of a petrochemical facility without adequately consulting the impacts on those who live nearby, these communities will have the tools to fight back.

Those in power can no longer feign ignorance to the concerns and experiences of those communities that have long borne the brunt of the highest levels of pollution in our country. Simple recognition of this injustice is not enough. As congressional leaders engage in debate, they must take the solutions presented in this bill seriously and listen to the voices and experiences of those most impacted by this exploitative legacy.  

The facts are clear. As environmental concerns worsen alongside the climate crisis, urgent action is needed to not only address the injustices of the past but ensure those same injustices are not repeated. Reckoning with our history of environmental racism involves taking the necessary steps forward to ensure every community has the clean air, water and land they deserve. This is our opportunity to act. 

Angelo Logan is campaign director of the Moving Forward Network, building partnerships between these community leaders, academia, labor, big green organizations and others to protect communities from the impacts of freight.

Raul Garcia is legislative director and lobbyist working on defending and improving federal safeguards for clean air, clean water, and against toxics exposure at Earthjustice, a nonprofit public interest environmental law organization.