John,

I refuse to allow our residents in frontline communities to continue to be sacrificed for fossil fuel industry profits.

For months, I’ve stood with environmental justice leaders to defeat Joe Manchin’s Dirty Deal, which was written by fossil fuel corporations. And this week, we again succeeded in blocking it.

The fossil fuel industry is trying to fast-track dangerous oil and gas projects like pipelines. Their bill would destroy environmental protections and devastate Indigenous, Black, brown, and low-wealth communities, while further taking away power from local communities to give input or fight these projects.

And disappointingly, Democratic House and Senate leaders keep trying to tie this awful bill to must-pass legislation, so Congress can’t even debate on it. So far we’ve overcome these attempts, but the fight is not over, and I will not back down.

Instead of weakening our governmental permitting process, we need to make it stronger. For too long, our federal permitting process has enabled corporations to concentrate their industrial pollution in communities of color.

To help rectify this environmental racism, I’ve introduced a new bill: the Cumulative Impacts Act. The bill would require the EPA to consider the cumulative harms of pollution in an area before granting permits—and to deny permits unless the applicant can demonstrate a reasonable certainty of no harm to the community or to vulnerable groups.

Please sign on as a grassroots co-sponsor of my new bill to address environmental racism: the Cumulative Impacts Act.

Our government has enabled corporations to concentrate their industrial pollution in communities of color, treating our communities as disposable sacrifice zones.

Black Americans are 75% more likely to live near industrial polluting facilities than white people. Living in such heavily polluted areas has compounding harms for public health, leading to high rates of asthma, cancer, respiratory diseases, infant mortality, and more.

Having grown up in Detroit by the Marathon Oil Refinery and other corporate polluters, I know what it’s like to be in a frontline community treated as a dumping ground.

Theresa Landrum, a community advocate who lives in my district and in the state’s most polluted zip code, said: “As a resident living in a frontline community, cumulative impacts are one of the most important considerations when it comes to reducing pollution. This legislation is greatly needed to protect the life and well-being of our residents.”

We cannot sacrifice the health and safety of our communities in the name of corporate greed. Instead of letting the fossil fuel industry write our laws, we must center the people bearing the brunt of pollution and the climate crisis. We need MORE public review and accountability, not less.

Please add your name today to demonstrate your support for the Cumulative Impacts Act.

I’m committed to fighting for environmental justice, including our right to drink clean water and breathe clean air. Thank you for fighting by my side.

In solidarity,

Rashida