Natural Resources Committee Democrats Explore Intersection of Environmental Justice and the Coronavirus

Although the coronavirus pandemic has impacted everyone’s lives, not all demographic groups and communities are being affected in the same way. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have reported a disproportionate mortality rate for COVID-19 among racial and ethnic minority groups, and research from Harvard University has illuminated environmental hazards as a factor driving the disease’s unequal burden. On April 28, 2020, Democrats on the House Natural Resources Committee held a virtual roundtable on Environmental Justice Community Impacts from the Coronavirus Health & Economic Crises to explore the connections between environmental hazards and the novel coronavirus.

Connecting Coronavirus and Environmental Justice

Committee Chair Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.) opened the roundtable by explaining some of the connections between environmental justice and the coronavirus. Environmental justice communities, which tend to be working class and majority-minority, are exposed to high levels of pollution and toxic chemicals. Long-term exposure to these environmental hazards leads to a higher risk of an individual contracting the coronavirus. Vice Chair Debra Haaland (D-N.M.) used her district as an example of environmental justice communities' increased risk: Native Americans comprise 11 percent of her district, but 47 percent of its confirmed cases. According to Haaland, this can, in part, be traced back to the history of uranium mining and methane leakages from oil and gas drilling near the predominantly Native American communities, which increased incidences of respiratory illness.

According to Dr. Francesca Dominici of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and an author of the study referenced above, environmental racism is a contributing factor to disproportionate mortality rates from the coronavirus. Black Americans systematically breathe in higher levels of fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) than white Americans, and in 2018 a study found that black Americans’ risk of all-cause mortality associated with long-term PM_2.5 exposure is three times higher than the rest of the U.S. population. Dr. Dominici’s research analyzed the relationship between PM_2.5 exposure and COVID-19 mortality, and found that even a small increase of PM_2.5 exposure increases the mortality risk from the virus by 8-10 percent. This research provides a scientific explanation for trends seen nationwide. For example, the Boston Globe reported that the six communities in Massachusetts hit hardest by the pandemic had also been previously designated by the state as environmental justice communities with high exposure to air pollution.

Cumulative Challenges to Communities

Speakers at the roundtable said that the pandemic is magnifying existing environmental and socioeconomic inequalities. Rev. Wayne Henley of Cedar Grove Baptist Church in Charles City, Va., said that the pandemic is worsening challenges already faced by the community, since many residents already struggle to afford food or do not have access to reliable internet. In the case of Charles City, low internet access has implications for the future of the community’s environment. Activists in the county are working to oppose a proposed pipeline that would run through Charles City County, but the State Corporation Commission’s public hearing on the project is scheduled to be conducted online. According to Henley, this prevents community members from speaking out against something they see as a threat to their environment and health.

Sylvia Betancourt of the Long Beach Alliance for Children with Asthma (LBACA), shared her experience of how the pandemic has exacerbated environmental health risks in the communities she serves. Stay-at-home orders have caused families to spend more time in unsafe housing that, in many cases, acts as an asthma trigger. Although LBACA can no longer conduct house visits, it is working to educate families on ways to minimize asthma-caused hospital visits to reduce exposure to the coronavirus.

Recommendations for Recovery

Lawmakers and speakers at the roundtable agreed that the pandemic response and recovery efforts should prioritize vulnerable communities and remedy the underlying factors that have driven the unequal impacts of the virus. Giving environmental justice communities a voice in the process was a major priority. Michele Roberts of the Environmental Justice Health Alliance for Chemical Policy Reform called for a process similar to the one taken for the Environmental Justice for All Act (H.R.5986), which brought in members of environmental justice communities to guide the bill. (For more information on the Act, check out EESI’s articles, “Environmental Justice Bill Seeks to Incorporate Climate Justice into Federal Actions” and “Assistance to Fossil Fuel-Dependent Communities Included in Environmental Justice Bill”).

Dr. Cecilia Martinez of the Center for Earth, Energy and Democracy presented a list of recommendations for policymakers to incorporate environmental justice into coronavirus recovery. She called for a recognition of the cumulative impacts of multiple pollution sources over time; updates to the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act to address inequality; investments in air monitoring and community science; an Office of Community Impacts within the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); increased funding for the EPA; improvements to water infrastructure; increased data collection on race and income; and an inclusion of equity goals in all legislation and agency action.

The speakers also said that recovery must not be aimed at going back to business as usual, because under “normal” conditions certain groups faced disproportionate exposure to pollutants. Dr. Dominici suggested strengthening environmental and air quality regulations rather than just restoring them, saying that now is an opportunity to make regulations more equitable. Betancourt said that when people begin to go back to work, efforts must be made to ensure that jobs are safe and sustainable.

Interest in promoting environmental justice in the federal coronavirus response has not been limited to members of the House. On April 20, 16 Democratic Senators submitted a letter to Senate leadership calling for the fourth stimulus package to include protections and assistance for environmental justice communities. Their requests include measures to help families improve household energy efficiency, prevent and clean up toxic pollution, increase funding for clean water programs, and promote economic opportunity for disadvantaged groups.

The coronavirus crisis does not exist in a vacuum but in relation to existing environmental hazards and inequalities. According to Democratic Congresspeople, the federal response should address these intersecting concerns. Representative Donald McEachin (D-Va.) emphasized this in his closing remarks at the roundtable.

“I believe that how we handle this pandemic will shape our society for decades to come,” he said. “We have to make sure that the needs of environmental justice communities—from funding critical programs to reducing pollution that will make it harder for communities to recover from the pandemic—are addressed in our response.”

Author: Abby Neal