A group of businesses that includes banks, health care providers and an airline this week wrote to House leaders to urge that lawmakers take up a bill to address environmental injustices before the current session ends.
Advocates and certain business groups have been making a steady push to get the Legislature to act on climate-related bills by the end of the session, currently slated for July 31.
In a letter to Speaker Robert DeLeo and Ways and Means Chairman Aaron Michlewitz, a group of businesses highlighted their support for a bill (H.4264) that would codify a definition of “environmental justice population” in state law and bolster the review process for projects proposed in environmental justice communities.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the profound connections between environmental health and human health. People of color are suffering the worst impacts from both the pandemic and climate change, in large part due to decades of policy reinforcing deep inequities and environmental burdens that continue to harm communities across the Commonwealth,” the businesses, including Biogen, Eastern Bank, Berkshire Bank, Mass General Brigham, Boston Medical Center and Cape Air, wrote. “Every member of our community deserves to be protected from pollution and to live in and enjoy a clean and healthy environment. This should not be dependent on race, income, class, handicap, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, ethnicity or ancestry, religious belief, or English language proficiency.”
The bill is a Committee on the Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture redraft of three bills (H.761, H.826 and H.3922) that was given a favorable report and sent to the House Ways and Means Committee in December.
Earlier this month, The Boston Foundation released a report showing that a lack of sufficient affordable housing is a key indicator of COVID-19 vulnerability and that the communities hardest hit by the effects of COVID-19 – Gateway Cities – are those that have long been among the poorest and most polluted in Massachusetts.
The Baker administration has said it plans to update its environmental justice policies before the end of the year to take into account COVID-19 and other factors.
