This commentary is by Elena Mihaly, vice president of the Conservation Law Foundation in Vermont.
I chose to become an environmental lawyer because I wanted to protect the environment. But I’ve learned throughout my career that “the environment” means a lot of things.
It’s the wild undeveloped places in the mountains, deserts, or river valleys. But it’s also the surroundings where people live, go to school, work and worship. And similarly, the concept of “environmental protection” has several connotations. It means protecting our natural resources from destruction. And it also means protecting the right for everyone to have access to a clean and healthy environment — otherwise known as environmental justice.
I’m grateful to lead a team of advocates at Conservation Law Foundation in Vermont, where we promote both these forms of environmental protection. At the foundation, we’ve worked to protect the water quality of our treasured Lake Champlain and we’ve safeguarded prime agricultural soils in the state from being developed. We’ve also fought to keep toxic lead out of drinking water in schools and child care centers and worked to keep harmful PFAS chemicals out of Vermonters’ homes.
Throughout this work, we see that certain Vermonters — particularly Black, Indigenous and people of color, and Vermonters living with lower incomes — bear a disproportionate share of these environmental harms and hazards, such as drinking water contamination or exposure to other toxins. These populations also tend to have less access to the benefits of the clean, healthy environment that we are fighting to protect (such as access to fresh, locally grown food or clean renewable energy).
A recent study led by Dr. Bindu Panikkar at the University of Vermont showed that the census tracts with BIPOC and Vermonters with limited English proficiency were significantly more at risk from environmental harms, historic sites of pollution, heat vulnerability, and air pollution than the rest of the population.
Similarly, BIPOC people were twice as likely as white Vermonters to lack access to public transportation, not own a vehicle, have trouble paying for food, not have a primary care doctor, and report autoimmune disorders. They were three times more likely to rely on public transportation, have trouble paying for electricity, go hungry in a month, and report higher rates of Lyme disease compared to the white population.
Those below the federal poverty limit were also twice as likely to have lower access to fresh food, and to report asthma, cardiovascular diseases and cancer. And it’s noteworthy that about 46 percent of those who earned below the federal poverty limit in this study were also people of color.
Some of these inequities stem from historical policies, but many are due to a current lack of access to government decision-makers.
Fortunately, we have a unique opportunity right now to respond to these injustices by advocating for the Vermont General Assembly to pass a Senate bill, S.148, An Act Relating to Environmental Justice.
This environmental justice bill sets out a framework for the state to proactively redress these inequities by developing community engagement plans, incorporating cumulative environmental burden analysis into permit and project decision-making, setting up and empowering an environmental justice advisory council, and more equitably distributing funding associated with environmental benefits, such as investments in clean water, public transportation and renewable energy infrastructure.
With the help of the REJOICE collective, community-focused groups across Vermont have been organizing for five years to inform the creation of S.148. The BIPOC Advisory Council of the Vermont Renews Coalition has also been instrumental in guiding the direction of S.148. It is crucial that the environmental justice movement be led by the communities who have the most at stake.
The Conservation Law Foundation supports and relies on this community knowledge and expertise, and we are committed to co-developing transformative approaches toward building sustainable, just and resilient futures for overburdened and underserved communities in Vermont.
The environmental justice bill is not a cure-all solution, but it is a foundational step toward achieving environmental justice in Vermont. As Thom Davies and Alice Mah note in their 2020 book, Toxic Truths, “Environmental justice is an affirmation of an unequal present and a yearning for a better future.”
Many Vermonters yearn for a better future, and S.148 gets us one step closer.
If you support a Vermont where no segment of the population bears a disproportionate share of environmental hazards, where all Vermonters have a seat at the table when decisions are being made about their health, environment and community, and where environmental benefits are equitably distributed throughout the state, then please consider contacting your legislators and urging them to support the passage of S.148.
