Hi friend,

When we look at the dangerous impacts of pollution and climate change, Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities and low-income communities have long been disproportionately affected. That’s because decades of structural racist systems like redlining have concentrated power plants, pipelines, garbage incinerators, landfills, sewage treatment plants, and other polluting facilities in these communities and away from whiter and wealthier ones.

Thankfully, the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is working to correct how these types of facilities get approved so that they don’t continue to be built in communities of color, and is looking for input on its plan.

As a white-led organization, Conservation Voters of PA is listening to and taking our lead from our allies of color — including Black Church Center for Justice & Equality, Center for Coalfield Justice, Moms Clean Air Force, One PA, POWER, and PULP — about what they want to see in this new policy. And while they believe that the proposed policy is a step in the right direction, they recommend a number of changes to expand the ability of residents living in overburdened communities to weigh in on development that will impact their health, homes, and livelihoods. 

We’ve signed onto these recommendations, and hope you do as well. Will you submit a comment urging the DEP to strengthen its proposed policy? The deadline is 5 p.m. TOMORROW >> 

We commend the DEP for striving to improve the way communities are notified and engaged when they are the site of a future incinerator, landfill, or pipelines, but more should be done to address the disproportionate environmental burdens faced by low-income communities and communities of color. Here are some of the improvements we are standing with our allies and calling for:

• Lengthening public comment periods on environmental justice related policies to 60 days
• Ensuring that all affected communities are protected and part of the conversation
• Paying a fair wage to community liaisons who have been doing the work without compensation for years
• Strengthening partnerships across sectors and the public – particularly frontline community groups
• Requiring applicants to explain the steps they will take to engage with the community during the permit process

This is our chance to take action on behalf of communities that are disproportionately impacted by both the sources and impacts of pollution and climate change. We’ve drafted a comment for you, but encourage you to personalize it >> 

Thanks for all that you do.

Michelle Giles

Policy Analyst

Conservation Voters of PA

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Conservation Voters of PA
P.O. Box 2125
Philadelphia, PA 19103
United States