HYANNIS – Attorney General Maura Healey recently joined a coalition of 20 attorneys general calling on Congress to respond to the climate crisis and advance environmental justice.
They want funding prioritized for programs which combat pollution, improve water and air quality, and promote clean energy in the upcoming budget reconciliation bill.
The letter sent to Congress by the coalition said the effects of the climate crisis have disproportionately burdened marginalized communities and advocated for remediation of the environmental injustices faced by immigrant communities, communities of color, and Tribal and indigenous communities.
“For decades, there’s been a lack of decisive national action on climate change and a failure to enact policies that protect our communities of color, immigrant communities, and families with low incomes from climate and other environmental harms, forcing them to breathe dirty air and drink dirty water,” Healey said.
“Congress must help us undo these longstanding injustices by including funding in the budget reconciliation bill that helps fight the climate crisis, transforms our economy with clean energy and jobs, and delivers solutions that promote environmental justice,” she said.
Measures recommended by the coalition included transformative investments in clean energy such as the enactment of the Clean Energy Payment Program, accelerating the electrification of transportation, funding energy efficiency programs for schools and affordable housing units, investing in air quality monitoring in at-risk communities, and investing in clean drinking water infrastructure.
The coalition also urged congress to ensure that 40 percent of improvements funded by the budget reconciliation bill benefit disadvantaged communities, in alignment with the Biden Administration’s Justice40 initiative to deliver at least 40 percent of the benefits from federal investments in climate and clean energy to disadvantaged communities.
Joining Healey were the attorneys general of New York, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Maine, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and the District of Colombia.
To read the letter, click here.
By, Matthew Tomlinson, CapeCod.com NewsCenter
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