Fearing that environmental justice policy would affect brownfields redevelopment in downtown Worcester, city officials and the local chamber of commerce oppose a new environmental initiative backed by the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs.

Claiming that it could actually contaminate efforts to clean up the region’s most polluted sites, a variety of civic, business and real estate trade groups are launching a full-scale attack against an environmental justice policy being crafted by the Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs.

“There are some serious problems with the policy,” charged David Begelfer, chief executive officer of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties’ state chapter. “We are very concerned about this as it stands right now.”

The EOEA approach is the latest permutation of a national call for environmental justice, with proponents maintaining that minority and urban neighborhoods have suffered a disproportionate share of heavy industry and uses such as landfills or junkyards, due largely to a lack of political clout. Future projects in those communities should be assessed in the context of the past imbalance, they say, to ensure all cities and towns share the same burden for unpopular proposals.

Among other efforts, state Sen. Dianne Wilkerson, D-Boston, has filed legislation that would establish a formal environmental justice program. In advance of S. 1145’s passage, however, the EOEA has opted to pursue its own policy, including the draft version that is currently being assailed by its critics. NAIOP was among several groups that responded to a recent comment period on the policy, with others who have written letters including Associated Industries of Massachusetts and the city of Worcester.

AIM is troubled by the policy for a number of reasons, said Robert Rio, the association’s vice president of environmental programs. Rio claimed an advisory group that helped create the policy did not adequately represent development and business interests, resulting in a lack of understanding about the complications such an initiative might cause. The added regulations will serve as a disincentive for companies to invest in the state, Rio said, especially in those areas most in need of an economic boost.

“It will basically put a halt to all new development in Massachusetts,” Rio said. “If you don’t have deep pockets, you just aren’t going to be able to put up with it.”

The draft policy will do nothing to reverse the past environmental injustices suffered by a community, Rio also asserted. Rather than discourage new uses, which will be subject to existing environmental laws, Rio said EOEA would be better served going after those businesses operating illegally or currently polluting a given neighborhood.

AIM and other opponents of the policy also claim that the criteria used to evaluate a community’s environmental condition are too vague and not based on scientific evidence. Among the factors being used in the assessment, according to AIM, are such concepts as voter disenfranchisement, a lack of open space or proximity to highways.

Of even greater concern appears to be the prospect of hindering brownfields redevelopment, also known as 21E sites. Brownfields have a level of pollution that need to be cleaned up, something most agree is a better approach than tapping into virgin land. That outlook resulted in the landmark brownfields legislation signed in the state two years ago this month, a measure that provided incentives and a more streamlined process to restoring those properties.

Because most brownfields are located in urban areas, the environmental justice policy would likely impact such properties significantly and might serve to block cleanups. The city of Worcester is especially concerned by that potential outcome, so much so that city officials have joined with the Worcester Chamber of Commerce to protest the EOEA plan.

‘A Step Back’
In a letter to EOEA Secretary Robert Durand, Worcester City Manager Thomas R. Hoover predicts “severe repercussions” for older industrial cities if the draft policy is enacted. “Surely there are enough other disadvantages to remediating a contaminated property in an urban area … without adding an inequitable review process,” Hoover wrote. Worcester has an estimated 500 acres of brownfields at present.

Efforts to contact Hoover were unsuccessful by press deadline, but Worcester Chamber of Commerce spokesman Paul Matthews said his group is also fearful that the policy would push companies and developers elsewhere. Matthews said he believes the city does a solid job of keeping the public engaged in such issues, maintaining that “there are plenty of mechanisms in place to make sure the community’s voices are heard.”

Noah Luskin, brownfields coordinator for the Boston Redevelopment Authority, said he was unaware of the EOEA policy, but added that the city is troubled by Wilkerson’s legislation. As written, he said, it is unclear just how an area would be designated as being environmentally challenged. Also not spelled out is how much clout that designation would have in determining whether a project is approved, Luskin said.

“They need to come up with some more specific criteria,” he said. “Is this going to be a layer on top of the existing regulations? Our community process in the BRA is already pretty significant from start to finish, so we need to see how this would fit in with that.”

Begelfer said NAIOP has received no indication to date that the comments offered will impact the draft policy, but EOEA spokesman Doug Pizzi said that the agency is taking all suggestions seriously. “We are analyzing the comments right now,” he said. “If we need to make adjustments, we will make adjustments.” Pizzi also disagreed that the environmental justice effort would be implemented at the expense of brownfields remediation, stressing that such cleanups are among Durand’s chief desires at the EOEA.

“There is nothing in that policy that we see hindering brownfields development, nor is that our intention,” Pizzi said.

Others, including Beglefer, are not so sure, however. NAIOP is calling on the agency to establish another advisory group to address the broad issue of environmental justice and seek to create a more balanced strategy.

“We’d like everyone to take a step back so all sides can have an open and honest discussion about this,” Begelfer said. Rio concurred with that approach, insisting that “we all share a lot of the same goals.” He praised EOEA for soliciting comments to begin with, but said the agency needs to use that dialogue to develop a stronger approach.

“They have heard our comments, and I think they understand some things now that they didn’t before,” Rio said. “Now, we just have to figure out what is the best way to solve the problem.”