Three Bills Aim to Right Maine’s Wrongs to Wabanaki Tribes
Maine legislators have the unique opportunity to reset the state’s relationship with its indigenous tribes through three bills under consideration this legislative session.

Maine legislators have the unique opportunity to reset the state’s relationship with its indigenous tribes through three bills under consideration this legislative session.
Where we live affects how much pollution we experience each day. It affects how long our commute is, how hot our neighborhood gets in the summer, whether we can afford winter heating bills, how much or how little open space we have around us, and whether we have access to healthy homes, nourishing food, and quality schools.
“Allowing this substation to be built ignores community voices and established law in Massachusetts,” said Staci Rubin, Vice President, Environmental Justice, CLF. “If the loud community opposition wasn’t enough to sink this project, the proposed site should be reserved for uses that must be on the water, not energy infrastructure that can be located elsewhere. It’s time for state officials to evaluate this project on its merits instead of rubber stamping Eversource’s requests.”
HealthScore is a screening tool that offers a holistic and actionable vision for healthy, inclusive, and sustainable housing and mixed-use development. CLF uses HealthScore to understand neighborhood context and screen potential investments for its Healthy Neighborhoods Equity Fund. Our scorecard is a model for how to measure and track the ways that real estate development… Continue reading HealthScore Metrics
Providing more access to land for farming in our cities will help accelerate urban agriculture and support low-income, people of color, immigrant, and New American farmers in search of land on which to grow.
Chronic delays have become the norm for riders of public transit in the Greater Boston area. But these delays hurt some people more than others. Our report shows that chronic delays reduce access to job opportunities for communities of color, low-income communities, and limited-English proficient residents at a far higher rate than for wealthier and… Continue reading Riding Toward Opportunities: Communities Need Better MBTA Service to Access Jobs
“The actions announced today give Connecticut’s communities vital new tools to combat climate impacts,” said CLF attorney Shannon Laun. “We know this crisis won’t affect everyone equally, so the Governor’s focus on environmental justice and equity is absolutely critical. We’ll be pushing our leaders to go further by strengthening climate targets, adopting stronger vehicle emissions standards, accelerating the transition to electric vehicles, and rapidly phasing out fossil fuels.”
We must learn as a people to protect not only ourselves and the environment but also to fight another form of systemic and institutional racism that is killing us all – environmental racism.
“TCI was never going to be enough to address the impacts and needs of the region’s transportation systems,” said Staci Rubin, Vice President of Environmental Justice at CLF. “Transportation is the largest source of planet-warming emissions in New England, and our current systems have overburdened communities of color with air pollution for decades. We must overhaul the way we move people and goods, and it must be done in a way that recognizes and addresses these historic inequities and brings everyone to the table in finding a solution. CLF will continue to work with impacted communities and our states to move that process forward.”
“Wood-burning power plants spew harmful emissions that poison the air in surrounding communities,” said Staci Rubin, Vice President of Environmental Justice at CLF. “They worsen asthma and other respiratory conditions and set us back in reaching our mandatory climate goals. Industrial biomass plants don’t belong in any community, and it’s time for the Commonwealth to stop providing subsidies for toxic power that is hardly renewable.”