Activists hail Massachusetts law as crucial step on environmental justice

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Law establishes a clear definition of a community overburdened by pollution and gives most vulnerable residents a bigger voice

Activists are heralding the new Massachusetts climate law as a crucial next step in the state’s fight against environmental justice, saying it marks a key change in the state’s approach to identifying which residents are the most burdened.

The expansive climate legislation, which was signed by Governor Charlie Baker last week, sets new goals on emissions and clean energy but its emphasis on environmental justice, supporters say, could prove to be transformative.

The law sets out new provisions for how communities can have a meaningful voice in how the state makes decisions on future infrastructure projects. The law makes clear that when approving new projects, the state must take into account how existing pollution levels have already impacted residents .

“For 20 years, we’ve been fighting to have this into law,” says María Belén Power, of the local nonprofit GreenRoots and a member of the White House’s new Environmental Justice Advisory Council who helped draft the legislation with other grassroots organizers.

Between the pandemic, the nationwide reckoning around structural racism and a warming world, she adds, “it’s very significant that Massachusetts finally has an environmental justice law”.

The law establishes a clear definition of a community overburdened by pollution – also known as an environmental justice (EJ) community. Advocates say this new definition, which is based on race, income, and English-language proficiency criteria, improves on the previous, sometimes fuzzy or confusing parameters used to locate the state’s most vulnerable residents.


Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/apr/02/massachusetts-law-environmental-justice