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Earth Night

Senate Bill 1190

Good Morning Chairman Resor, Chairman Greene, and Members of the Committee. My name is Pamela DiBona, I am Vice President for Policy at the Environmental League of Massachusetts.

I am here to testify in favor of the environmental justice bills before your committee today, Senate bills 1190 and 1271, as well as House bill 2112. These bills are based on a policy that was signed by former Environmental Secretary Bob Durand in October 2002. At the time, representatives from community groups, academia, and business gathered around to cheer the great step that was being taken to begin to make amends to communities that have long borne the greatest share of pollution in Massachusetts.

The bills promise:

• Broader, more inclusive public participation in decision-making.
• Quicker cleanup of brownfields and hazardous waste sites by targeting financial aid to those communities and speeding up environmental review.
• Cleaner redevelopment of existing abandoned lots and hazardous waste sites.
• Better protections from polluting land uses and industry that is already there, by making sure that those facilities are complying with laws already on the books.

Substitute language submitted for S.1190 includes specific parameters for communities that would petition for EJ population status [Sec. 3(c)(1)]. It requires ten citizens to make the petition, and allows a petition only in the case where the area does not make up an entire census block. All other requirements for the designation are the same. The new language also includes an advisory committee to the Director of Environmental Justice [Sec. 3(c)(2)] that includes representation from the business and development sectors, community development, as well as the communities themselves. Both provisions were added after in-depth discussions with representatives from Associated Industries of Massachusetts and the National Association of Office and Industrial Properties, and we believe they meet those groups' desire for predictability and input as the law is implemented.

The Executive Office of Environmental Affairs asked for no additional funding to carry out the policy when it was signed. They already have a Director of Environmental Justice on staff. But the Policy alone won't do. We need assurances that these reasonable steps will be taken, regardless of who sits in the corner office. The legislature, with these bills, has an opportunity to help communities that currently lack a voice in the process to become partners in deciding what their own communities will look like.

Thank you for the opportunity to testify on this important issue. We hope that you will issue a favorable report on these bills and send them to the full legislature for a vote soon.