Last Thursday, Congress took significant steps toward enactment of needed environmental justice legislation when the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee passed two important bills to protect vulnerable communities from disproportionate exposure to pollutants.

First, the Committee passed the Environmental Justice Act of 2007 (S. 642/H.R. 1103). I introduced this legislation with Senators Durbin and Kerry to codify Executive Order 12898, which ensures that minority and low-income communities have meaningful involvement in the implementation and enforcement of environmental laws and access to public information. The EJ Act of 2007 also requires the EPA to develop reporting requirements so that Congress can better monitor the implementation and progress in achieving this goal.

The EPW Committee also passed the Environmental Justice Renewal Act (S. 2549/H.R. 5132), legislation I introduced with Senator Clinton. The bill would require federal agencies to implement plans to identify and then reduce or eliminate environmental justice threats, and to expand their efforts to gather information about environmental justice problems and help develop solutions to them.

Passage of these bills by the Senate EPW Committee are a significant step in the right direction, especially since environmental justice communities have made little to no gains under the Bush Administration. Reports released by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) in 2004 and 2006, as well as the Government Accountability Office (GAO) in 2005, underscore the continued failures of the EPA to place a priority on the health and welfare of vulnerable communities. In lieu of action, the rhetoric on environmental justice is an empty promise, leaving the health of vulnerable communities across our nation hanging in the balance.

The district I represent in East Los Angeles and the San Gabriel Valley is disproportionately exposed to these risks. Sixty percent of the district I represent in Congress is Latino and nearly 20 percent is Asian American. Forty percent have less than a high school education and most are blue collar skilled laborers. Many are immigrants or first generation Americans. The water basin in the area is contaminated with rocket fuel linked to thyroid cancer. There are 17 gravel pits – many of them abandoned – which have opened up the aquifers and those operating leave neighborhoods covered with gravel dust. There are three superfund sites and nearby is one of the largest landfills in the nation.

Absent a real commitment to environmental justice, the health and welfare of minority and low income communities will continue to suffer. I am pleased that the Senate EPW Committee took steps last week to advance needed protections and hope we can do the same in the U.S. House.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 4th, 2008 at 4:55 pm and is filed under Politics, Energy/Environment .