Today we mark Indigenous Peoples’ Day by reflecting on the history of environmental racism in this country. We remember the people who cared for the land, the water, and natural resources, long before New York became New York.  

For NCLEJ, we amplify the call of our community partners who are continuing to shine a light on the gas currently flowing through Black and Brown neighborhoods as phases one through four of the North Brooklyn Pipeline are currently active.  
 
In September, community partners called out National Grid's sponsorship of Climate Week NYC, while continuing to allow gas to be leaked in communities of color. Our clients include Brownsville Green Justice, the Ocean Hill-Brownsville Coalition of Young Professionals, Mi Casa Resiste, and Indigenous Kinship Collective. 

You can read the groundbreaking federal civil rights complaint we filed against the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), the New York State Department of Public Service (DPS), and National Grid for violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and check out media coverage in The City, News 12, and Grist. 

In summary, the complaint alleges that:   

• New York State Departments of Environmental Conservation and Public Service failed to evaluate the adverse health, safety, and economic impacts on communities of color when making decisions around the pipeline, in violation of both Title VI and state laws. 

• National Grid constructed the pipeline route to run through communities of color without consideration of the dangers and risks. 

• National Grid did not follow the required procedures to meaningfully notify or educate the public about the pipeline or its risks or safety precautions.  

• National Grid failed to submit critical information about the pipeline route to state and federal regulators.  

• National Grid never conducted an environmental analysis of the pipeline’s harms to the surrounding community, despite applying for discretionary permits to expand its LNG facility and to dump millions of gallons of wastewater into New York City’s Sewers.  

• National Grid did not seek or obtain the approval of the New York City Council for the pipeline route, as required by state law.  

Next steps include continued community outreach, advocacy with the New York City Council and the federal agencies, and exploring other legal mechanisms, in addition to continuing to put pressure on the federal government (the EPA, Department of Transportation, Department of Energy, and Department of Justice) to launch an investigation into the discriminatory construction and operation of the pipeline. 

Today, we lift the struggles for environmental justice happening around the country, especially those led by Indigenous communities. 

Ranit previously served as an Equal Justice Works Fellow (sponsored by the Venture Justice Fund) with The Bronx Defenders, where she represented clients facing unaffordable and predatory fines, fees and mandatory surcharges. Ranit helped spearhead the Driven by Justice campaign to end debt-based driver’s license suspensions in New York and was instrumental in the passing and implementation of the Driver’s License Suspension Reform Act, which went into full effect on June 29, 2021. 

After completing her J.D. at New York University School of Law in 2017, Ranit joined the Criminal Justice Policy Program (CJPP) at Harvard Law School. As a fellow with CJPP, Ranit worked with judges in North Carolina, Arkansas, and Arizona to more equitably impose and enforce criminal legal debt. Ranit clerked for Judge Alvin Thompson of the United States District Court, District of Connecticut. Prior to law school, Ranit worked as a paralegal in the ACLU’s Racial Justice Program. She graduated from Wellesley College in 2011.