For Immediate Release
July 1, 2004
Please Contact: Colin Durrant (617)722-1650 or
Dalié Jiménez, 617-722-1650

Senate Approves Bill to Crack Down on Environmental Pollution in “Endangered” Communities

(Boston, MA) – Communities that have long borne the burden of the state’s environmental pollution would receive special attention and new protections under a bill unanimously approved by the Senate today. The bill, sponsored by Senator Jarrett T. Barrios, Senator Dianne Wilkerson and Representative David Sullivan would identify communities facing extreme air and water pollution, direct state agencies to crack down on polluters and institute tough new environmental safeguards. Residents in “endangered” communities often suffer from higher rates of asthma, cancer and illnesses, severely impacting their quality of life.

“It’s simply not fair that a handful of communities have been forced to bear the burden of the majority of the state’s pollution,” said Senator Barrios. “This bill will would protect those communities by cracking down on pollution and creating healthier and safer neighborhoods for children and adults to live, work, and play.”

The Environmental Justice bill, which mirrors a policy developed by former Executive Office of Environmental Affairs Secretary Robert Durand, will define Environmental Justice (EJ) populations, increase public participation and outreach to target communities, and encouraging brownfields redevelopment to attract new and safe jobs to urban areas.

Here are some examples of “endangered” communities and how all three bills would make their neighborhoods safer, cleaner, and healthier:

• The BFI/Fall River landfill is the largest landfill in Massachusetts and located only feet away from the city’s drinking watershed. BFI is currently looking to expand this landfill, which would create additional detrimental effects on the residents of this community. The bills would prevent this further expansion by applying strict new regulations for further development of polluting industries in areas already overburdened.

“We support this Environmental Justice initiative because, frankly, it is the right thing to do,” said Green Futures, a local grassroots group in Fall River, in testimony submitted. “Most of our members live in low-income communities and neighborhoods long burdened with more than their fair share of environmental disasters. We understand that communities similar to ours suffer disproportionately from dirty air, dirty water, poorer citizen health all resulting in a diminished quality of life. Sadly this environmental injustice is happening right now, at this very moment, to those unfortunate enough to live in less affluent neighborhoods. It is past time to remedy this injustice."

• The Eastern Minerals salt pile in Chelsea, at times more than 150,000 tons, is located on the banks of the Chelsea Creek within view of the Tobin Bridge and across from Chelsea’s most densely populated, low-income neighborhood of color. The salt is inadequately covered or not covered at all and distributes salt and ferro-cyanide (an anticaking agent) into the water, land, and air. The Department of Environmental Protection has cited the pile for noncompliance of state environmental laws. The bills would require environmental officials to focus special attention to enforcing the laws being violated by Eastern Minerals.

“The salt pile in Chelsea is just one of the many examples of environmental discrimination throughout our city,” said Roseann Bongiovanni, Director of the Chelsea Greenspace and Recreation Committee. “We need environmental officials to be stepping up to the plate and enforcing the laws these polluters are breaking.”

• Pittsfield residents have been severely impacted by the PCBs released by the GE Plant located there. An EPA Human Health Risk Evaluation found that young children and teenagers playing in or near portions of the river face non-cancer risks that are 200 times greater than EPA considers safe. Noncancer effects from PCBs may include liver and nervous system damage and developmental abnormalities, including lower IQs. Additionally, teenagers growing up near portions of the river face a 1 in 1,000 cancer risk due to exposure to contaminated riverbank soils. The bills would focus much needed resources and attention on cleaning up the PCB related-pollution.

A 2001 study released by Daniel Faber, Northeastern professor, showed that polluting facilities -- such as incinerators, landfills, and toxic chemical plants -- are most likely to be located in communities of color and low-income neighborhoods which have the fewest resources to confront or prevent the potential threats to their health and safety.

“Every child and every resident in this state deserves the right to breath clean air, drink clean water, and live in a neighborhood safe of extreme environmental risks,” added Senator Barrios.

An interactive map of environmental justice populations is available online at: http://maps.massgis.state.ma.us/EJ/viewer.htm 

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