Contacts:Pam DiBona, ELM Legislative Director (617)742-2553 Penn Loh, ACE Executive Director (617) 442-3343 x-24 Jeremy Marin, ELM PR Director (617) 742-2553
The most detailed report to date documenting the unequal exposure of communities to environmental hazards was released today at the State House in Boston. The report shows that environmental hazards are concentrated in low-income and high-minority communities in Massachusetts.
Some highlights of the report include:
· While lower-income communities (average median household income of less than $40,000) comprise 50.8% of all communities in Massachusetts, they received 78.7% of all chemical emissions from large-scale industries (as reported under the Toxics Use Reduction Act, TURA between 1990-1998).
· Low-income communities average two-to-three times more DEP hazardous waste sites than communities with an average annual income greater than $30,000. They also average over four times as many waste sites per square mile.
· Communities where people of color make up 25% or more of the total population average nearly 5 times as many pounds of chemical emissions from polluting industrial facilities per square mile as compared to communities where less than 5% of the population are people of color.
· Nine of the fifteen most intensively overburdened towns are of higher minority status (15% or more people of color).
"Clearly, not all Massachusetts residents enjoy equal access to a clean environment. Communities most heavily burdened with environmentally hazardous industrial facilities and sites are overwhelmingly minority and lower-income. Governmental action is urgently required to address these disparities," said Dr. Daniel Faber, associate professor of Sociology at Northeastern University and lead author of the report.
"This report shows what people in my district have known all along: It is no coincidence that low-income communities of color are disproportionately selected for the placement of new pollution sources. As a result these communities bear an extraordinarily high environmental and public health crisis associated with the presence of these pollutants," said Senator Dianne Wilkerson, "the time has come for the Legislature to put an end to this form of discrimination."
The Environmental League and Alternatives for Community & Environment together with Senator Wilkerson have introduced Senate Bill 1145, the areas of critical environmental justice concern, or ACEJC bill. This bill gives communities the power to receive a special designation which would require projects to receive a higher level of scrutiny before going forward.
The Commonwealth's waste and polluting industry is being shouldered by only a few communities," said Pam DiBona, Legislative Director for the Environmental League of Massachusetts. "The state's inaction is adding fuel to the fire of injustice. Developers can say, 'they're powerless, let's stick it there,' while the government stands idly by. The ACEJC bill gives communities a way to say 'enough is enough.'"
"This is science just confirming the facts of every day life for communities of color and low-income communities in Massachusetts," said Quita Sullivan, staff attorney for Alternatives for Community and Environment. "And if the state is sincere in its efforts to equally protect all of its citizens, now is the time to do something to address this issue."
