Environmental dangers like air pollution don't affect everyone equally. Photo: Shutterstock
We’re all hurt by pollution, climate change, and other environmental harms – but we’re not hurt equally. Historically, sources of pollution like factories and highways have been placed in lower-income, nonwhite, and immigrant communities. Meanwhile, wealthier, whiter communities get more funding to protect themselves from the impacts of climate change and environmental disasters. These disparities can damage people’s health and even lower their life expectancies.
None of this happened accidentally. Discriminatory housing, zoning, and transportation policies have deeply harmed these communities. When the impacts of these policies and infrastructure pile up, it can leave residents vulnerable for generations.
What can we do to right these wrongs? Quite a lot, actually. It’s not easy, but several bills have been introduced by legislators in states across New England to fight for environmental justice. CLF will work to turn these bills into laws that will make all our communities healthier and more equitable.
Improving Air Quality in Massachusetts
Good air quality is crucial for allowing children to safely play, people who work outdoors to safely labor, and for all of us to stay healthy. Air pollution can aggravate health issues like asthma and other respiratory conditions, particularly in children, immunocompromised folks, and other vulnerable populations. Lower-income and Black and Brown communities are more likely to have issues with air quality. That’s because decades of decisions about where to place highways and other polluting facilities have left some communities to bear the brunt of this burden – leading to the stacked, cumulative impacts we see today.
A child’s ability to breathe shouldn’t depend on their zip code. Two promising bills introduced in the state legislature could right this wrong. “An act to ensure cleaner air for communities overburdened by outdoor air pollution” and “An act to improve indoor air quality for highly-impacted communities” will each create a task force to address outdoor and indoor air pollution, respectively. As a member of the Environmental Justice Table, CLF collaborated to craft these bills to address the most pressing air quality issues.
These task forces will focus on communities already fighting excessive air pollution. The outdoor air quality bill will lead to improved air pollution monitoring for at least eight pollution “hotspots” across the state. This will set a much-needed baseline level of data to allow us to better evaluate solutions. It also sets targets for local air pollution in these areas that will drop every year.
The indoor air quality bill includes often overlooked locations like public housing, correctional facilities, and long-term care facilities. The task forces will include both academic experts and people with direct, lived experience in environmental justice communities.
Protecting Mainers from Unethical Utility Companies
As we transition to clean electricity, CLF believes power needs to remain affordable and accessible. Maine has given utility companies too much leeway to take advantage of customers for too long. “Energy Fairness Act” (the bill name might change) would seek to halt skyrocketing utility bills. It also aims to end predatory practices by competitive electricity providers like price gouging, dangerous service cutoffs, and tricking vulnerable customers into overpaying.
While the law currently protects people from having their electricity cut off during extreme weather or winter, this doesn’t protect seniors, infants, or chronically ill residents outside these specific scenarios. This bill would extend protections from power cuts to these vulnerable populations. Food and medicine, which sometimes require electricity to safely store, are basic human rights.
The bill would end deceptive advertising from competitive electricity providers that mislead primarily lower-income customers into overpaying for their power. It would also force utility companies to be more honest and transparent by reporting data on disconnections and their customers’ debt. This information will be vital for advocates and communities fighting for power accessibility for all.
Supporting Affordable Housing Near Public Transit in Connecticut
Connecticut has an affordable housing crisis, with too few apartments available at too-high rates. CLF is advocating for a bill that could go a long way to alleviating the problem. “An act increasing housing development within one-half mile of public transit stations” would require town zoning regulations to allow people to build more “dense” housing within one-half mile of a public transit station.
“Dense” housing – structures like duplexes or apartment buildings that fit more people into a smaller area – is usually better for the environment than single-family homes, which require far more resources for fewer people. It also tends to be cheaper. Housing near public transit hubs can encourage commuters to use cleaner and safer transportation alternatives – like buses and trains. It can give people the freedom to choose whether to own a car – rather than being forced to because it’s the only option available to move around.
Connecticut needs more housing. Why not make it less polluting, affordable, and conveniently connected to public transit?
New Hampshire Children Will Have to Wait for Protection from Lead
Originally, this blog post was meant to include a bill that would have protected New Hampshire residents from lead poisoning. CLF supported “An act relative to lead paint poisoning prevention and remediation.” The bill’s core proposal seemed obvious: If a child has been poisoned by lead paint, the whole building should be inspected for lead.
Currently, if a child is poisoned in a multi-family home, the state’s ability to inspect the rest of the building is limited. This policy puts children at risk and has contributed to hundreds of kids being unnecessarily exposed to lead, potentially causing serious health impacts. Unfortunately, the bill to fix this issue has already been struck down over concerns that it would be too hard on landlords.
A state fund covers the cost of lead remediation, meaning that this bill would have had minimal impact on landlords and a tremendously positive impact on New Hampshire’s children. It would have especially helped protect lower-income children who are more likely to live in homes with lead. New Hampshire’s poorest children, those on Medicaid, are twice as likely to be poisoned by lead, and one in ten have elevated blood lead levels.
Every parent wants to protect their children from lead, and they deserve the resources and information to do so. In future legislative sessions, CLF will continue to keep up the fight to protect children from poisons in their own homes, as we have for years.
CLF is tracking and advocating for a slew of other bills focused on environmental justice across New England. These four bills are just a sample of the crucial work that still needs to be done to empower vulnerable communities. Sign up for our emails if you haven’t already so we can send you opportunities to speak up at the best times.
