Friend, There is no doubt that some of the Council’s most impactful work involves partnering with low-income neighborhoods and communities of color to help them address environmental threats to health, welfare, and quality of life. Studies have consistently and clearly established that Black, Brown, and Latino neighborhoods are exposed to disproportionately higher levels of air and water pollution. These neighborhoods are also more likely to host polluting facilities and be located near transportation hubs and abandoned, contaminated industrial properties. In November, Clean Air Council joined dozens of other environmental groups in submitting comments to advance environmental justice to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council, and the External Civil Rights Compliance Office. The Council and other environmental groups called for the EPA to take environmental justice more seriously, to uphold the law in threatened communities, and to shift EPA culture so that its staff center environmental justice in everything they do. | |
Under Administrator Michael Regan, EPA has made new commitments towards environmental justice. In December, the Council assisted impacted residents from across the country to testify during three days of public hearings regarding the EPA’s new pollution rules for oil and gas facilities. The Council recruited dozens of people, including religious leaders, impacted residents and children, academics and scientists. The Council’s work fighting environmental racism in urban and rural communities is a top priority and weaved into our programmatic work. However, this work takes time and a real commitment to seeing it through to completion, and finding adequate long-term funding for organizing work in neighborhoods seeking environmental justice isn’t easy. The Council relies heavily on donations from individuals like you who understand how critical environmental justice is. Will you donate? | |
