MCEA's Healthy Communities Director on why MN needs a law to protect overburdened communities from more pollution

MN EJ Table's Krystle D'Alencar, COPAL's Carolina Ortiz, Cecilia Calvo of ME Partnership, Janiece Watts of Fresh Energy, Sasha Lewis-Norelle of COPAL, Tim Schaefer of COPAL, Sophia Benrud of MN EJ Table, COPAL's Emma Rage, and Health Professionals for a Healthy Community's Kathleen Schuler. Photo by Mair Allen of MCEA

My name is Evan Mulholland and I lead the Healthy Communities program at MCEA. The mission of this program is to dedicate our skills and resources to the environmental justice movement and the communities that are leading the way. We seek to help build power collectively to rectify the societal patterns that have concentrated harm on what are often called areas of “environmental justice concern”.  

In plain language, these are the neighborhoods and communities that have little or no political or economic power, because of systemic racism and other entrenched systems. They are the parts of our cities that have been split apart by freeways and zoned for industries that vent toxic pollution into the air. They are mostly comprised of low-income earners, people of color, and people for whom English is a second language. For decades these neighborhoods have been used as “sacrifice zones” where polluters are permitted to degrade our shared environment.

That’s why MCEA is working in coalition to pass the Frontline Communities Protection Bill, legislation that would help prevent further overburdening of these neighborhoods and make Minnesota a more environmentally just place for people to live. 

The bill gets at this by addressing gaps in the permitting process. Currently, when a facility applies for a new permit in Minnesota or tries to renew an existing one, permitting authorities consider the pollution it will cause in isolation. The problem with this approach is that it ignores the pollution already present in a community. The reality is people don’t breathe in pollution from just one source. They inhale all the pollution present, from nearby asphalt shingle factories, trash incinerators, highway traffic, and any other nearby pollution source. It's time our permitting processes reflect that reality. 

This work is important to me because it’s simply not fair that your health, quality of life, and life expectancy depend on your zip code and the color of your skin. As long as our system subjects the most marginalized and  vulnerable people to extra pollution and toxins, our work continues. 

I’ve learned a lot from people whose health is at stake because of the polluting industries and traffic concentrated in their neighborhoods, specifically that more policy makers need to listen to them.  I’ve also learned that people are generally appalled when they learn polluters have direct access to government policy makers, and that permits in this country are largely designed as permission slips to pollute, rather than shields we can trust to meaningfully protect people’s health. 

People know when their neighborhoods have a lot more pollution than other neighborhoods. It changes every aspect of their daily lives. They can feel and smell it in the air when they’re walking their dogs; they’re warned that they can’t grow a garden because of heavy metals in the soil. They see the health impacts in themselves and their children. Nobody should have to live like that, and we need to listen when people  understandably demand to be free from that pollution. 

Cumulative impacts from pollution cause health conditions such as asthma, heart disease, cancer and cardiovascular disease, all of which can be particularly harmful to our young children and elders. Living with heightened health risks only exacerbates other social and economic challenges facing these communities, 

I believe it’s the responsibility of all of us to advocate for environmental justice so everyone in Minnesota can breathe clean air and live in neighborhoods free from toxins. 

The Frontlines Community Protection Bill would require a mandatory assessment of the cumulative impacts of new or expanding polluting facilities and a no further harm approach.  This legislation is a crucial first step toward creating a cleaner and more equitable future for everyone, and I’m proud to have played a small part in it. You can be a part of it too.