Summary

This legislation calls for the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to prepare an existing burden report before DEC can issue or renew a permit. If the report finds the project will pose either a direct or indirect disproportionate or inequitable pollution burden on a disadvantaged community, then the permit cannot be granted. 

Explanation

This bill amends the environmental conservation law to incorporate measures to help course correct the historical pattern of siting industrial facilities in disadvantaged communities.  

Low-income communities and communities of color have notoriously been disproportionately impacted by industrial contaminants, pollution, and other toxics that degrade the community’s water, air, and soil. Black people in America are 1.54 times more likely to breathe the fine particulate matter, leading to a myriad of health impacts; while Latinx and US Indigenous communities suffer higher rates of dangerous airborne pollution. Over half of people living within 1.8 miles of hazardous waste facilities are Black Americans. 

This legacy of disproportionate and inequitable siting of industrial and commercial facilities have left communities already struggling with basic needs, vulnerable to adverse health and environmental impacts.  

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