New Jersey signs landmark environmental justice bill into law

Story at a glance Gov. Phil Murphy signed a bill into law that would require more oversight into developing pollution centers in certain communities. This follows an outcry for environmental justice alongside racial justice. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) signed a stalled environmental justice bill into law on Friday that aims to halt the development of new pollution centers like sewage treatment plants, landfills, transfer stations, scrap metal facilities and medical waste incinerators in low-income communities, Reuters reports . The move comes amid a push for environmental justice that affects communities of color as new data emerges showing historically marginalized populations, such as Black and Hispanic Americans, living in areas with higher concentrations of pollution. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, with Black and Hispanic Americans facing higher death and hospitalization rates than their white counterparts, scientific literature has focused on how the exposure to more air pollutants worsens that outcome for a severe illness. HALF THE WORLD’S SANDY BEACHES COULD BE WASHED AWAY BY CLIMATE CHANGE THE GREENLAND ICE SHEET IS MELTING TO A POINT OF NO RETURN: STUDY Speaking with reporters, Mustafa Santiago Ali, a former Environmental Protection Agency official in the Obama administration, said that low-income neighborhoods […]

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