Landmark bill to protect poor communities from pollution just passed N.J. Legislature
New Jersey lawmakers have passed major new environmental protections for low-income communities.
On Thursday, both houses of the state Legislature passed a bill (S232/A2212) that seeks to promote environmental justice by ensuring that low-income communities of color are not burdened with unfair shares of pollution.
The measure requires the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection to consider how projects seeking state permits for facilities such as power plants, incinerators and landfills would affect environmental and public health in already overburdened communities.
It requires the DEP to produce a list of “overburdened communities” in the state, which would be defined as census block groups in which at least 35% of the households qualify as low-income, at least 40% of residents identify as minority or as members of a State-recognized tribal community, or at least 40% of the households have limited English proficiency.
Gov. Phil Murphy previously said more than 300 of the state’s 565 municipalities have at least one community that qualifies.
State Sen. Troy Singleton, D-Burlington, said the bill was a critical and long-overdue measure for protecting the health of the Garden State’s marginalized communities.
https://www.nj.com/news/2020/08/landmark-bill-to-protect-poor-communities-from-pollution-just-passed-nj-legislature.html
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