Statement: The Environmental Justice Health Alliance Commends Senator Booker's New Bill to Address Environmental Injustices

NEWARK, N.J., Oct. 26, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Senator Cory Booker was joined by Michele Roberts, National Co-Coordinator of the Environmental Justice Health Alliance (EJHA), to introduce new legislation seeking to address some environmental injustices communities across the nation face.  'Environmental justice communities', often composed predominantly of people of color and the poor, suffer disproportionate levels of environmental pollution and its resulting health impacts.

The Environmental Justice Act of 2017 seeks to improve environmental justice through the following provisions:

• Requiring the consideration of cumulative impacts resulting from multiple, overlapping pollution sources in Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act permitting decisions,
• Requiring the consideration of a facility's violation history during permitting decisions,  
• Clarifying that communities impacted by environmental pollution may bring statutory and common law claims for damages, 
• Protecting Executive Order 12898 by codifying it into law, which directs federal agencies to consider impacts on minority and low-income communities resulting from federal actions, and improves the order by expanding public access to information and participation. 
• And other provisions seeking to improve environmental justice for people across the nation. 

In response to the introduction of Senator Booker's legislation, partners of EJHA made the following statements:

Michele Roberts, Co-Coordinator of the Environment Justice Health Alliance, said "We truly appreciate Senator Booker's attention to the environmental injustices some Americans suffer on a daily basis.  This bill, which seeks to protect those among us who face disproportionate harms related to toxic chemical contamination, was the result of a just process--which included input from dozens of grassroots, environmental justice organizations from communities across the nation.  To those Americans who live downwind of chemical facilities and polluting industries, this effort is a breath of fresh air."

Octavia Dryden, with Delaware Concerned Residents for Environmental Justice, said "People living in the Southbridge neighborhood of Wilmington, Delaware, wake up every day within a mile of 48 brownfield sites, 4 Superfund sites, 13 facilities listed in the Toxic Release Inventory, the Port of Wilmington, multiple dumps, and 2 facilities which may at any moment destroy the community through the release of poisonous gas or a catastrophic explosion.  Many environmental justice communities are absolutely surrounded by hazards and inundated with industrial pollution, but it's shocking to know that…

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SOURCE Environmental Justice Health Alliance