Sierra Club Statement on the Environmental Justice For All Act

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today Reps. Raúl Grijalva and Barbara Lee and Sens. Tammy Duckworth and Cory Booker introduced the A. Donald McEachin Environmental Justice for All Act. Named in honor of the late Rep. McEachin who was a champion and previous cosponsor of the bill, the Environmental Justice for All Act is a landmark piece of legislation addressing environmental justice, health equity, and climate justice for underserved communities. 

The bill covers a number of important environmental justice issues, including:

• Supporting more equitable access to parks and recreational opportunities in underserved urban communities. 
• Funding resiliency projects that combat heat islands, enhance water and air quality, and provide wildlife habitat.
• Improving transportation infrastructure serving critically underserved communities to increase access to public lands.
• Repealing the sunset of the Every Kid Outdoors program which grants all fourth graders free access to federal public lands.
• Requiring deeper consideration of environmental impacts when granting permits under the Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act.
• Encouraging intentional engagement with communities and Tribes under the National Environmental Policy Act.
• A fund to support communities and workers transitioning to greener economies.

In response, Sierra Club's National Director of Policy, Advocacy, and Legal Leslie Fields, issued the following statement:

“We are encouraged to see focus brought to environmental justice communities through this bill. So often Black, Indigenous, People of Color, and lower income communities are treated as an afterthought in legislation when they are the ones most affected by environmental injustice, industrial pollution, and climate change impacts. This bill goes a long way to addressing that by putting these communities in the forefront and attempting to mitigate the harm fossil fuel industries perpetuate on them as well as ensuring they can receive equitable, healthy access to healthy nature around them.”