Policy Resolution ETE-26-18

WHEREAS, the National Black Caucus of State Legislators (NBCSL) recognizes that environmental justice is a matter of civil rights, public health, and economic equity, ensuring that all people regardless of race, income, or zip code have equal protection from environmental harm and equal access to environmental benefits;

WHEREAS, decades of disinvestment, discriminatory zoning, redlining, and industrial siting have led to disproportionate exposure to pollution, toxic waste, and hazardous industries in communities of color, particularly those inhabited by Black Americans;

WHEREAS, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report that Black Americans are 75% more likely to live in communities adjacent to polluting facilities and are exposed to 40% higher levels of particulate air pollution than their White counterparts;

WHEREAS, these environmental inequities contribute directly to higher rates of asthma, cardiovascular disease, cancer, premature death, and other chronic illnesses among residents of historically marginalized neighborhoods;

WHEREAS, climate change is intensifying these disparities through increased heat exposure, flooding, extreme weather, and food insecurity, which is further threatening the health, safety, and economic well-being of environmental justice communities;

WHEREAS, despite the clear evidence of environmental racism, federal and state programs intended to support environmental justice communities often remain underfunded, fragmented, or inaccessible to local residents and grassroots organizations; and

WHEREAS, this resolution builds upon NBCSL’s long-standing commitment to environmental justice, reaffirming HHS-15-36, ETE-24-12, and ETE-20-51, which established NBCSL’s framework linking environmental inequities to racial, economic, and public health disparities.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the National Black Caucus of State Legislators (NBCSL) calls upon Congress, state legislatures, and relevant federal and state agencies to increase investment and accountability in environmental justice initiatives by:

• expanding federal and state funding for environmental remediation, pollution monitoring, and infrastructure improvement in historically impacted Black and minority communities;
• strengthening and enforcing the Civil Rights Act’s Title VI protections to ensure that state and local environmental permitting decisions do not disproportionately burden communities of color;
• supporting community-led environmental organizations and neighborhood-based green projects, such as tree planting, renewable energy installations, and stormwater management;
• ensuring equitable participation of residents in environmental decision-making processes, including local planning boards and climate resilience task forces;
• promoting equitable access to clean energy jobs, workforce training, and funding for minority-owned green businesses;
• developing statewide environmental justice screening tools and public health data systems to guide fair resource allocation and policy enforcement;
• supporting the preservation and expansion of federal and state environmental justice data;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the NBCSL urges the federal government to ensure that a significant portion of environmental and climate funding is directed to communities with the highest cumulative environmental and social burdens;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the NBCSL affirms that true environmental justice must include community-driven planning, equitable access to green infrastructure investment, renewable energy opportunities, and the redirection of public resources to repair past harm; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that a copy of this resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States, the Vice President of the United States, members of the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate, and other federal and state government officials as appropriate.

• Resolution ID: ETE-26-18
• Sponsored by: Rep. Sonya Marie Harper (IL)
• Policy Committee: Energy, Transportation, and Environment Policy Committee