May 28, 2001
To Chairman Pacheco, Chairman Koczera, and members of the Joint Committee on Natural Resources and Agriculture via e-mail:
We are writing in support of Senate Bill 1145 "An Act to Establish an Environmental Justice Designation Program." S. 1145 is a vitally important first step towards addressing the needs of environmentally overburdened communities in Massachusetts.
The Commonwealth's low-income communities and communities of color have for too long struggled with a disproportionate share of the state's environmental burdens. The cumulative impact of polluting land uses and facilities such as incinerators, power plants, bus depots, hazardous waste dumps, heavy truck traffic and chemical storage sites have contributed to unconscionable incidence rates of public health problems for residents such as asthma, developmental disabilities and cancer.
A recent report carefully documented this unequal exposure in Massachusetts. According to the report by sociologists at Northeastern University and Buffalo State College: "On average, communities [in Massachusetts] with median household incomes of less than $30,000 face a cumulative exposure rate to all environmentally hazardous sites and facilities which is more than three times greater than all other communities in the state-- communities where people of color make up 25% or more of the total population face a cumulative exposure rate to environmentally hazardous sites and facilities which is nearly nine times greater than communities where less than 5% of the population are people of color. (Daniel Faber and Eric Krieg, "Unequal Exposure to Ecological Hazards: Environmental Injustices in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts," 2001)
In Boston, Chinatown, East Boston, Chelsea, South Boston, and Roxbury are among the overburdened communities cited in the report.
The presence of polluting land uses in low-income communities and communities of color further limits opportunities for economic development where they are most needed. Residents suffer from poor health, lack of access to green space, decreased economic opportunity and depressed quality of life.
Massachusetts legislators have a bill before them that can begin to remedy these injustices.
Senate Bill 1145 would direct the state Office of Environmental Affairs to develop statewide regulations for protection and use of Areas of Critical Environmental Justice Concern (ACEJC) to the Commonwealth. Massachusetts already has an Areas of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC) law that allows residents to seek protection of natural resources areas from pollution. S.1145, the environmental justice designation bill, would simply apply similar protections to the health, safety and quality of life of children and adults in overburdened communities. S. 1145 moves us in the direction of environmental justice.
We ask the members of the Joint Committee on Natural Resources and Agriculture to support S. 1145.
Sincerely,
Shirley Kressel
President
Alliance of Boston Neighborhoods