Environmental Justice Leaders, Housing Advocates, and Experts Call for Legislative Action
BOSTON, MA: A broad coalition led by the Massachusetts Environmental Justice Legislative Table and the Massachusetts Healthy Homes Program Coalition hosted a joint legislative briefing featuring firsthand testimony and expert opinions on the importance of indoor and outdoor air quality and healthy living spaces, particularly in environmental justice communities.
Advocates and public health experts are calling for passage of H.2369/S.1548 An Act to ensure cleaner air for communities overburdened by outdoor air pollution, H.2427/S.1546 An Act to improve indoor air quality for highly-impacted communities, and budget support for grants and loans to income eligible homeowners and small landlords to make needed housing quality improvements to support residents’ health. The bills’ sponsors - Representatives Cruz, Montano, Garcia, Barber, and Connolly, as well as Senator Jehlen - were also in attendance.
“Now more than ever, we know that breathing clean air is a matter of life and health. Environmental Justice neighborhoods in my district near highways bear the most burden of poor air quality,” said Representative Christine Barber (D - 34th Middlesex). “This bill aims to improve outdoor air quality and minimize the health risks of traffic proximity, including heart problems, stroke, and asthma.”
"We must prioritize the health of our neighbors in environmental justice communities. This bill will ensure the DEP will work on reducing harmful air pollutants by monitoring the current levels of pollution and working to achieve reduction goals over the next several years. In my own district, we've seen increased cases of asthma, heart disease, strokes, lung cancer and other diseases in residents near highways and other major roads due to their proximity to pollutants," said Senator Pat Jehlen (D - Second Middlesex).
"Minority and disadvantaged communities have long borne the brunt of environmental injustice, often the first to experience harmful pathogens being introduced to their communities and the last to receive the assistance they need," said Senator Adam Gomez (D-Springfield). "Improving indoor air quality across a range of important facilities is paramount to the long-term health of our citizens, and I am proud to fight for these vital changes to our public health practices and infrastructure."
“There’s an old saying that you can’t fix what you don’t measure,” said Dan O’Brien, Professor of Public Policy and Urban Affairs and Director of the Boston Area Research Initiative at Northeastern University. “We need to collect more data on air pollution in the Commonwealth—especially who is impacted the most and why—so we can develop targeted strategies for improving the environmental health of our communities.”
“We are witnessing a dangerous abdication of responsibility from the federal government through the dismantling of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA),” said Tristan Thomas, Director of Policy, at Alternatives for Community & Environment (ACE). “When communities like Roxbury are abandoned by weakening federal safeguards, the state cannot look away. Air pollution is a direct threat to public health, and our state legislators have a moral obligation to act. Our communities deserve a state government that fights for their right to breathe, not one that mirrors federal failure.”
“Last session ended without meaningful legislative action on air quality, even as studies show that air pollution is literally killing people in Massachusetts, with the highest burden falling on Environmental Justice communities,” said Emma Weis, Climate Justice Organizer, Clean Water Action. “This session, we have built a larger coalition for change, and we’re excited to work with environmental champions in the legislature to get these policies passed.”
“Communities across Massachusetts deserve the same basic things: clean air and healthy families,” said Paulina Muratore, director of transportation justice and infrastructure at Conservation Law Foundation. “These two bills center the needs of communities that have experienced inequitable exposure to persistent mold, chronic asthma, and other debilitating health impacts from air pollution. This is an opportunity for Massachusetts to lead and to pave the way for a cleaner, healthier future.”
“Having visited hundreds of homes in Massachusetts, I've witnessed the direct impact of unhealthy living environments on individuals managing asthma. A key asthma management strategy is avoiding triggers, which is especially challenging when those triggers are present in the home environment, where people sleep, and children play,” said Aneida Molina, a healthy homes coordinator at Revitalize Community Development Corporation. “To truly improve community health outcomes and reduce health disparities, we must address the issues within these unhealthy homes.”
“This air quality issue isn’t just an issue affecting one of us, it's affecting all of us," said Vi 'Shon Ginyard, 18-year-old youth organizer with ACE. “No matter our age nor the time period we grew up in, air pollution affects us all. These initiatives can truly make a change and be solutions to decades long problems.”
A July 2022 study in Environmental Health estimated that air pollution caused 2780 deaths and over 15000 cases of childhood asthma in Massachusetts in 2019. 20-50% of US homes have mold, which is linked to respiratory illnesses, asthma and allergies. Environmental Justice communities disproportionately suffer from poor indoor and outdoor air quality.
Advocates have been fighting for years for improved monitoring of air quality and legislation mandating reductions in air pollution. They plan to rally on World Asthma Day, May 6th, in East Boston, a community overburdened by air pollution.
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