Date: February 15, 2022
To: The Honorable Raul Grijalva, Chairman
Natural Resources Committee
United States House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
The Honorable Bruce Westerman, Ranking Member
Natural Resources Committee
United States House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Chairman Grijalva and Ranking Member Westerman:
We write in support of the Environmental Justice for All Act (H.R. 2021). We commend Chairman Grijalva and Rep. McEachin for creating an inclusive and open process to develop legislation that concretely addresses vast and longstanding inequities in our environmental protections. In process and in substance, the Environmental Justice for All Act is a significant step forward to confront the legacy of environmental racism and disparate impacts affecting frontline communities nationwide. We urge committee members to support and advance this legislation as soon as possible.
The Environmental Justice for All Act is the result of a process that prioritizes the voices of the communities most harmed by environmental degradation. It represents a bold and necessary shift in the way we create federal environmental policy— it is the result of a serious and years‐long effort to genuinely listen to the expertise and concerns of the very people experiencing the worst of pollution. Its drafters carefully and transparently crafted legislation that reflected those experiences and expertise while creating concrete and significant improvements to our environmental protections systems.
Environmental justice communities – communities of color, low‐income communities, and Tribal and indigenous communities, as defined in the bill — continue to experience disproportionate levels of exposure and vulnerability to toxic pollution and environmental risks. To combat this reality, the bill would mandate bold actions that protect the health and safety of communities that are forced to carry the vast majority of the burden from our nation’s historical and current reliance on dirty fuels, toxic substances, and exploitative practices. It also would invest in the same communities so that they can have broader access to cleaner transportation, safer food and green spaces. Moreover, it would redistributes the burden by having the same exploitative industries— oil, gas and coal companies who have profited from poisoning our air and water— pay for these new investments with additional fees.
Notably, the bill would give communities the right to hold polluters accountable in court when these polluters’ actions result in a discriminatory impact. For far too long, polluters have been able to discriminate against people of color, forcing them to prove a discriminatory intent even when the impacts of their actions were clearly racist. The bill recognizes that front‐line communities do not live with the intent of the polluters’ racist practices; communities are forced to live with the impacts of those practices and they should have the right to remedy the impacts of this racism in court.
Many attempts were made over the last few years to violate or dismantle bedrock environmental protections like the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), but this bill offers a counter by giving environmental justice communities a voice in infrastructure development. The bill restructures current permitting processes so that cumulative impacts are considered properly and consistently as new infrastructure develops in environmental justice communities. The bill also directs federal agencies to seek Tribal government input in the NEPA process, and to ensure that Indian Tribes are invited to hold the status of a cooperating agency for proposed actions that might impact their reservation lands and
sacred sites. Further, the bill codifies 2016 EPA guidance on consultation and coordination with Indian Tribes and 1997 Council on Environmental Quality guidance on environmental justice under NEPA. Taking a page from the process used to create the bill, the legislation would ensure that environmental justice communities most impacted by infrastructure projects have influence over the permitting process.
Centered on the simple premise that everyone has the right to drink clean water, breathe clean air, and live without fear of the poisonous effects of toxic chemicals, the Environmental Justice for All Act and the process used to create it, stand as an example to follow and significant step to end environmental racism. Setting strong new norms, it makes significant investments to limit and clean up the toxic pollution that has plagued environmental justice communities for decades. Concurrently, it invests in the same communities so that they have equitable access to emerging resources and technologies that should be equitably available to them as our nation recommits itself to addressing our health, safety, and the climate crisis.
The undersigned organizations are proud to support the Environmental Justice for All Act. We urge all House Committees with jurisdiction over this legislation to support it as well and to act expeditiously in order to bring this important bill to the House floor. Thank you for your attention.
Sincerely,
Raul Garcia
Earthjustice
Laura Neish
350 Bay Area Action
Patricia Hine
350 Eugene
Carolyn C. Barthel
350 Mass
Emily Johnston
350 Seattle
JL Andrepont, MPA, PhDc
350.org
Athena Christodoulou Adelante
Progressive Caucus
Kyle Crider
Alabama Interfaith Power & Light
Pamela Miller
Alaska Community Action on Toxics
Donna Detweiler
Albuquerque Mennonite Church
Katie Huffling
Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments
Peniel Ibe
American Friends Service Committee
Roxanne Blackwell
American Society of Landscape Architects
Charles Robles
Ancestral Lands Conservation Corps
Dori Peralta Baker
Asian Pacific Islander Coalition‐YKM
Heather Cantino
Athens County's Future Action Network
Ted Glick
Beyond Extreme Energy
Lisa Arkin
Beyond Toxics
Mark Hefflinger
Bold Alliance
Lisette van Vliet
Breast Cancer Prevention Partners
Groger McNew
Cambio Inc.
Elizabeth Alex
CASA
Cathleen Kelly
Center for American Progress
Brett Hartl
Center for Biological Diversity
Dr. Sacoby Miguel Wilson
Center for Community Engagement, Environmental Justice and Health
Thomas Fox
Center for Environmental Health
Darya Minovi
Center for Progressive Reform
Catherine Garoupa White
Central Valley Air Quality Coalition
Julie Waterman
City Parks Alliance
Kim Gaddy
Clean Water Action
Esteban Arenas‐Pino
Climate Justice Alliance
Laura Gardner
Climate Reality Massachusetts Southcoast
Rabbi Daniel Swartz
Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life
Ruth Santiago
Comite Dialogo Ambiental, Inc.
Elaine Cimino
Common Ground Community Trust
Sofia Martinez
Concerned Citizens of Wagon Mound and Mora County
David Feinman
Conservation Lands Foundation
Naina Panthaki
Cottonwood Gulch Expeditions
Karyn Bigelow
Creation Justice Ministries
Dahlia Rockowitz
Dayenu: A Jewish Call to Climate Action
Kyli Wagner
Defend Our Future
Cameron Walkup
Defenders of Wildlife
Omar Sarabia
Defiende Nuestra Tierra
Hazel James
Dine' Centered Research Evaluation
Yolanda Whyte
Dr. Yolanda Whyte Pediatrics
Bianca Sopoci‐Belknap
Earth Care
Mary Gutierrez
Earth Ethics, Inc.
Lauren Pagel
Earthworks
Bianca Encinias
El Chante: Casa de Cultura
Kendra Hughes
Environmental Defense Fund
Ann Mesnikoff
Environmental Law & Policy Center
Thomas Wheeler
Environmental Protection Information Center‐ EPIC
Mona Munroe‐Younis
Environmental Transformation Movement of Flint
Leah Redwood
Extinction Rebellion San Francisco Bay Area
Vernon C Butler
Families United for Education
John Peck
Family Farm Defenders
nayyirah shariff
Flint Rising
Shannon Smith
FracTracker Alliance
Louise Lears
Franciscan Action Network
Elaine Tanner
Friends For Environmental Justice
Michael Hansen
GASP
Christina Schlegel
Global Center for Climate Justice
Jerry Otero
Grand Canyon Trust
Adrien Salazar
Grassroots Global Justice Alliance
Shelley Silbert
Great Old Broads for Wilderness
Mark A Dunlea
Green Education and Legal Fund
Barbara Carey
Green Faith Olympia
Amy Brooks Paradise
GreenFaith
Irene Burga
GreenLatinos
Deborah Jackson
Harambee House
Charlotte Brody
Healthy Babies Bright Futures
Lexi Tuddenham
Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah
naomi yoder
Healthy Gulf
Shanna Edberg
Hispanic Access Foundation
Laura Esquivel
Hispanic Federation
Camilla Simon
Hispanics Enjoying Camping, Hunting, and the Outdoors
Cheryl Barnds
Honor the Earth
Marc Brenman
IDARE LLC
Tom BK Goldtooth
Indigenous Environmental Network
Krystal Curley
Indigenous Lifeways
Lance Kittel
Inland Ocean Coalition
Nadira Narine
Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility
Tiffany Hartung
Interfaith Power & Light
Carson Barylak
International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW)
Kimberly Baker Klamath
Forest Alliance
Monica Kleimeyer
Laudato Si Circle
Madeleine Foote
League of Conservation Voters
Alejandra Ramirez‐Zarate
League of Conservation Voters ‐ Chispa
Dr. Terrie E. Griffin
League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania
Dave Shukla
Long Beach Alliance for Clean Energy
Richard Moore
Los Jardines Institute
Molly Rauch
Moms Clean Air Force
Kera Panni
Monterey Bay Aquarium
Leslie Raff
Morristown United Methodist Church Greenfaith Circle
Susan Gordon
Multicultural Alliance for a Safe Environment
Maggie Ostdahl
National Aquarium
Jesse Walls
National Audubon Society
Kyle Simpson
National Recreation and Park Association
Rebeca Villegas
National Wildlife Federation
Roberto Morales
Nature For All Coalition
Jodi Lasseter
NC Climate Justice Collective
Mariel Nanasi
New Energy Economy
Dr. Virginia Necochea
New Mexico Environmental Law Center
Sr. Joan Brown
New Mexico Interfaith Power and Light
Anthony Rogers‐Wright
New York Lawyers for the Public Interest Next 100 Colorado
Carol R. Foss, Ph.D.
NH Audubon
Carol Gay
NJ State Industrial Union Council
Fernanda Banda
NM Dream Team
Jerry Rivers
North American Climate, Conservation and Environment
Timothy Judson
Nuclear Information and Resource Service
Cari Gardner
NYPAN Environ Committee
Jeff Slyfield
Ocean Conservancy
Lara Levison
Oceana
NaTisha C. Washington
One Pennsylvania
Jackie Antalan
Operation HomeCare, Inc.
Emily Martin
Our Climate
Alexandra Merlino
Partnership for Responsible Business
Andrea Vidaurre
Peoples Collective for Environmental Justice
Deborah L. Lynch
PHE INC
Liz Robinson
Philadelphia Solar Energy Association
Tonyehn Verkitus
Physicians for Social Responsibility Pennsylvania
Alexia Leclercq
PODER
Bishop Dwayne Royster
POWER Interfaith
Beatriz Soto
Protegete
Julia Bernal
Pueblo Action Alliance
César G. Abarca
Quelites Instutute
Dr. Robert K. Musil
Rachel Carson Council
Donna Chavis
RedTailed Hawk Collective
Gabriel Thoumi, CFA, FRM, Founder
Responsible Alpha
Mustafa Santiago Ali
Revitalization Strategies
Linda Starr
Rio Grande Valley Broadband, Great Old Broads for Wilderness
Michael Richardson
Rivers & Mountains GreenFaith Circle
Nora Nickum
Seattle Aquarium
Elizabeth Perera
Sierra Club
Lauren Reliford, MSW
Sojourners
Nat Mund
Southern Environmental Law Center
Terry Sloan
Southwest Native Cultures
Nathan Taft
Stand.earth
Shoshana Hershkowitz
Suffolk Progressives
Jean Tepperman
Sunflower Alliance
Lauren Maunus
Sunrise Movement
Timothy Edward Duda
Terra Advocati
Hal Connolly
The Climate Reality Project
Rev. Michael Malcom
The People's Justice Council
Myke Bybee
The Trust for Public Land
Shayna Han
The Union for Reform Judaism
Tamanna Brar
The Wilderness Society
Anita Amstutz
Think Like a Bee
Christopher Ramirez
Together for Brothers
Gerry Seavo James
Together Outdoors ‐ Outdoor Recreation Roundtable
Connor Kippe
Toxic Free NC
Tina M Cordova
Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium
Taofik Oladipo
Union of Concerned Scientists
Elizabeth Chun Hye Lee
United Methodist Women
Diana Dorn‐Jones
United South Broadway Corporation, community partner
Wyatt G. Sassman
University of Denver Sturm College of Law
Desiree Luckey
URGE: Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity
Kelsey Anderson
Voices for Progress
Odette Mucha
Vote Solar
Rachel Dawn Davis
Waterspirit
Susan Jane Brown
Western Environmental Law Center
Jennifer Byrne
White River Natural Resources Conservation District
Aubrey Bertram
Wild Montana
Juli Slivka
Wilderness Workshop
Jamie McConnell
Women's Voices for the Earth
Amara Jones
Youth Emergency Auxiliary Service Sierra Leone (YEAS‐SL)
Seneca Johnson
YUCCA Youth United for Climate Crisis Action
Zanagee Artis
Zero Hour
Colton R. Dean
Bruce A. Rose