Environmental-justice (EJ) activists in Connecticut are urging passage of a bill to protect the state’s low-income and minority citizens from bearing the brunt of pollution problems. Yesterday, a coalition of activists unveiled a map showing that power plants, transfer stations, and other heavily polluting facilities are disproportionately likely to be located in the state’s poor and minority neighborhoods. New Haven, home to many such neighborhoods, has three times the national rate of asthma, which can be caused or exacerbated by air pollution. If the bill backed by the coalition is signed into law, Connecticut would be required to develop an EJ action plan that would assess the human and environmental health impacts of state programs, policies, and activities on poor and minority communities.
