Ending Environmental Racism

In Connecticut, facilities emitting hazardous air pollutants are concentrated in areas with the highest populations of poor people and people of color. For example, Hartford alone has within its borders eight regional waste facilities, including: a trash incinerator, ash landfill, bulky waste landfill, sewage sludge incinerator, sewage treatment plant, paper and cardboard recycling plant, plastic and metal recycling plant, demolition and construction and debris transfer station. Pollutants from these facilities cause asthma and other serious and damaging health effects. Today, it is asthma that distinguishes our capital city of Hartford nationally, rather than the strength and vigor of its community. We’re hoping to change that with the passage of this legislation.

Unfortunately, the effects of these polluting facilities are not limited to Hartford. According to the Department of Economic and Community Development, Seventy-one communities have been identified in Connecticut as being “environmentally stressed”, meaning they are home to three or more polluting facilities within a one mile radius. Is your town one of them? What can your community do to protect itself against further concentration of pollution?

Currently, state regulatory agencies, when considering the location of new facilities or upgrading existing ones cannot consider their proximity to homes, schools, hospitals or other vulnerable populations. This legislation would correct these inequities by allowing state agencies to consider existing conditions before building another polluting facility in an environmentally stressed community. It would also provide for enhanced community notification and participation in the decision-making process.

Congregations United for Racial Equality and Justice (CUREJ) invites you to a Prayer Breakfast and Press Conference in support of “An Act Concerning Environmental Improvement for Stressed Communities.” This event will be held in the Old Appropriations Room at the Connecticut State Capitol on Thursday, February 28, 2008 at 10:00 a.m.