At our December 2017 meeting, Green Acton signed on to the letter below in support of the Environmental Justice Act (H.2913 / S.426). And here is a link to a one-pager explaining this proposed legislation.
December 18, 2017
Sen. Anne Gobi
24 Beacon St.
Room 513
Boston, MA, 02133
Rep. Wm. Smitty Pignatelli
24 Beacon St.
Room 473F
Boston, MA, 02133
Dear Chairs Gobi and Pignatelli:
Article 97 of the Massachusetts Constitution states that the “people shall have the right to clean air and water.” Article 97 offers a realistic and necessary promise of a healthful and sustainable environment to all residents of the Commonwealth, regardless of income, race, national origin, or age. We write in support of H.2913 / S.426, An Act Relative to Environmental Justice and Toxics Reduction in the Commonwealth (“the Environmental Justice Act”) as an affirmation of this promise.
The Commonwealth’s low-income residents and communities of color continue to face a disproportionate burden of pollution and its harmful health effects. For too long, Massachusetts has failed to act on the principle of environmental justice: that wealth and race should not determine whether people breathe fresh air or smokestack emissions or whether they drink clean water or water slick with leachate from the local landfill. To its great credit, the Commonwealth has had a general commitment to environmental justice since 2002, when the first Environmental Justice policy for the Secretariat of Energy and Environmental Affairs was issued.
This commitment was reaffirmed with Executive Order 552 in 2014. EO 552 required all the Secretariats to issue environmental justice policies and assign staff to coordinate environmental justice issues within and between agencies. Governor Charlie Baker’s administration has affirmed the importance of environmental justice by keeping Executive Order 552 in place. But the work of environmental justice has now stalled. Virtually all of Executive Order 552 remains un-implemented. There remains little or no coordination within or between state agencies on pressing issues of environmental justice. This is not a theoretical problem. As you read this, an incinerator continues to release toxic gases into the lungs of working-class neighborhoods and its unlined ash landfill continues to leak with unknown consequences.
The Environmental Justice Act requires our regulatory agencies to do better. It would codify Executive Order 552 into Massachusetts General Law. We believe that our state agencies are staffed with personnel at all levels that support environmental justice. We ask you to give strength to their good intentions by creating a clear legislative mandate in support of concrete steps toward environmental justice across all state agencies.
The Environmental Justice Act will encourage healthy and sustainable development in our communities. Indeed, if our regulators are wise, the environmental justice policies they develop will support the growth of clean industries that are friendly to the environment and public health. Even today, we see that happening with the rapid growth of the clean energy sector; community agriculture and farmers’ markets; and green infrastructure.
We urge you to issue a favorable report to H.2913 / S.426, An Act Relative to Environmental Justice and Toxics Reduction in the Commonwealth, as soon as possible and push for its enactment this legislative session. We thank you for your support of our environment and offer our regards for your support in this process.
Sincerely,
Richard Juang
Alternatives for Community and Environment
Joel Wool
Clean Water Action
Darlene Lombos
Community Labor United
Andrew Gordon
350 Massachusetts for a Better Future
Al Blake, Lisa Coedy, James Mulloy
350 Mass – Berkshires, 350 Mass – Cape Cod, 350 Mass – North Shore
Mark LeBel
Acadia Center
Anna Leslie
Allston Brighton Health Collaborative
Joseph Gerson
American Friends Service Committee, New England Regional Office
Casey Harvell
American Lung Association in Massachusetts
Heather Clish
Appalachian Mountain Club
Sarah Freedman
Arborway Coalition
Michaelann Bewsee
Arise for Social Justice
Andrew Gottlieb
Association to Preserve Cape Cod
Jane Winn
Berkshire Environmental Action Team (BEAT)
Fran Ludwig
Boston Catholic Climate Movement
James Michel
Boston Clean Energy Coalition
Mike Prokosch
Boston Climate Action Network
Becca Wolfson
Boston Cyclists Union
Beth Huang
Boston Democratic Socialists of America
Carol Strupczewski
Citizens Leading Environmental Action Network (CLEAN)
Diane Turco
Cape Downwinders
Frederic B. Jennings Jr., Ph.D.
Center for Ecological Economic and Ethical Education (CEEEE)
Lor Holmes
CERO Cooperative
Renata von Tscharner
Charles River Conservancy
Margaret Van Deusen
Charles River Watershed Association
Ivey St. John
Charlestown Waterfront Coalition (CWC)
Mark Liu
Chinese Progressive Association
Mary Dewart
Climate Action Brookline
Michael Green
Climate Action Business Association
Adele Franks
Climate Action Now, Western Mass
Rachel Mulroy
Coalition for Social Justice
Bradley Hubbard-Nelson
ConcordCAN!
Rafael Mares
Conservation Law Foundation
Dave McMahon
Dismas House
Margaret Hammond
East Boston Open Market
Grady McGonagill
Elders Climate Action
Eric Wilkinson
Environmental League of Massachusetts
Dawn Tesorero
Episcopalians Caring for Creation
Alexandra Piñeros Shields, Ph.D
Essex County Community Organization
Allison Gustavson
Essex County #6 Indivisible
Edward O. Becker
Essex County Greenbelt
M. Neville Wall
Exodus Acres
M. Lynch
First Parish Unitarian Cambridge, The Environmental Justice Task Force
Nisha Swinton
Food & Water Watch
Alice Arena
Fore River Residents Against the Compressor Station
Dr. Karen Weber
Foundation for a Green Future, Inc.
Judy Lehrer Jacobs
Friends of the Blue Hills
Karen Buck
Friends of the Malden River
Cornelia van der Ziel
Greater Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility
Debra Simes
Green Acton, Inc.
Steven Nutter
Green Cambridge
Jacqueline Royce
Green Committee Neighborhood Association of Back Bay
Marcia Cooper
Green Newton
Sue Phelan
GreenCAPE
Nancy Hazard
Greening Greenfield
Roseanne Bongiovanni
GreenRoots
Heather McMann
Groundwork Lawrence
Maura Ramsey
Groundwork Southcoast
Kyle Vincent
Hampshire Council of Governments
Karen A. Vilandry
Hands Across the River Coalition, Inc.
Bill Ravanesi
Health Care without Harm
Lynn Nadeau
HealthLink, inc.
Hannah Klein
Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action
Rabbi Katy
Allen Jewish Climate Action Network
Elsa Auerbach
Jewish Voice For Peace Boston
Ricki Pappo
Lexington Global Warming Action Coalition
Stacy Thompson
Livable Streets Alliance
Jane Calvin
Lowell Parks & Conservation Trust
Edward Himlan
MA Watershed Coalition
Nicole Morris-McLaughlin
Marion Institute – SouthCoast Energy Challenge
Karen Heymann
Mass Audubon
Eugenia Gibbons
Mass Energy Consumers Alliance
Brad Verter
Mass Green Network
Marylynn Gentry
Mass Land Trust Coalition
Vince Maraventano
Mass. Interfaith Power & Light
Carol Oldham
Massachusetts Climate Action Network
Danielle Marini
Massachusetts Coalition of Lakes and Ponds
Lew Finfer
Massachusetts Communities Action Network (MCAN)
Anne Goodwin
Massachusetts Mothers Out Front
Joe Dorant
Massachusetts Organization of State Engineers and Scientists (MOSES)
Cole Harrison
Massachusetts Peace Action
Katy Eiseman
Massachusetts PipeLine Awareness Network
Mary Gilbert
Massachusetts Quaker Legislative Action Network
Julia Blatt
Massachusetts Rivers Alliance
Emily Norton
Massachusetts Sierra Club
Richard Fries
MassBike
Al Vega
MassCOSH – Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety & Health
Kathleen M Vandiver, PhD
MIT Center for Environmental Health Sciences
Leigh Youngblood
Mount Grace Land Conservation Trust
Patrick Herron
Mystic River Watershed Association
Elena Letona
Neighbor to Neighbor Massachusetts
Ian Cooke
Neponset River Watershed Association
Jennifer Wexler
No Canton Gas Pipeline: toward an equitable sustainable future
Rosemary Wessel
No Fracked Gas in Mass
Birgitta McAlevey
No Sharon Gas Pipeline
Gabriela Boscio
NOAH (Neighborhood of Affordable Housing)
Pat Larson
North Quabbin Energy
Dan Bensonoff
Northeast Organic Farming Association – Massachusetts
Rob Moir, PhD
Ocean River Institute
Jared Hicks, Suzanne Phillips, Kit Hoffmann
Our Revolution Boston, Our Revolution Cape Cod Area, Our Revolution Randolph
Mary Booth, PhD
Partnership for Policy Integrity
Irene Paine Pilgrim
Legislative Advisory Coalition
Jeanne Krieger
Progressive Democrats of MA
Jonathan Cohn
Progressive Massachusetts
Laura Kelly
Protect Our Cape Cod Aquifer
Melissa Gough
Protect Sudbury
Juan Declet-Barreto
Puerto Rico Rises
Steven Fischer
Regional Environmental Council of Central MA (REC)
Lilly Marcelin
Resilient Sisterhood Project
Pat Gozemba
Salem Alliance for the Environment
Ashley Higgs Hammell
Small Planet Institute
Rev. Dr. Margaret Bullit Jonas
Social Justice Commission of the Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts
Wendy M Graca
South Coast Neighbors United
Cathy Kristofferson
StopNED
Carole Horowitz
Sugar Shack Alliance
Melissa Gough
Sustainable Sudbury
Lara Wahl
Sustainable Upton
Don Ogden
The Enviro Show
Magdalena Ayed
The Harborkeepers
Steve Long
The Nature Conservancy
Jen Ryan
The Trustees
Claire Miller
Toxics Action Center Campaigns
Kaat Vander Straeten
Transition Wayland
Chris Dempsey
Transportation for Massachusetts
John Rogers
Union of Concerned Scientists
Laura Wagner
Unitarian Universalist Mass Action Network
Rev. Jim Antal, Conference President, and Barbara Darling
United Church of Christ, Massachusetts Conference, Environmental Ministries
Meredith Elbaum
US Green Building Council Massachusetts Chapter
Adi Nochur
WalkBoston
Rickie Harvey
West Roxbury Saves Energy
Mary Ann Babinski
Westfield City Councilor
William Rose
Westfield Watershed Association
Olivia Marks
Youth on Board