On Thursday, September 13th, Lawrence suffered a catastrophic gas explosion resulting in over 80 homes reporting fire damage in Lawrence, Andover, and North Andover. The gas explosion has been accredited to over-pressurized gas lines which ran through the affected areas. One death has been reported, and 24 other residents have reported injuries related to the gas explosions.
The aftermath of the event has been chaotic as city and state officials grapple with the details of what occurred. On Friday, Governor Charlie Baker declared a state of emergency and directed another energy company, Eversource Energy, to lead the recovery- removing Columbia Gas as the primary due to their inadequate response to the crisis.
Environmental injustice can be measured as unequal access to healthy and clean environments, including environmental amenities. For this case, environmental amenities could have been provided in terms of a more efficient response from Columbia Gas during the crisis; but more importantly the preventative actions needed from the utility company to ensure safe systems for our residents and their homes.
Columbia Gas of Massachusetts, has been fined tens of thousands of dollars by the state’s utilities regulator in recent years, and its corporate parent linked to serious blasts in at least two other states. One of the communities which faced a gas explosion in the hands of Columbia Gas is Springfield, MA- another community with a high concentration of Hispanics.
A 2015 report by Northeastern University professor, Dr. Faber found that Massachusetts has some of the most profound racial and class disparities with respect to the unequal exposure to ecological hazards that you will find anywhere in the United States. Communities of color and low-income communities are disproportionately exposed to environmental hazards of all kinds. Massachusetts’ residents do not share the same access to a healthy environment and low-income communities of color often don’t have the political clout and resources to fight back.
Among Dr. Faber’s report findings, high minority communities face a cumulative exposure rate to environmentally hazardous facilities and sites that is nearly nine times greater than that for low-minority communities. Lawrence ranked 14th out of 368 cities and towns in the study’s report that was intensively overburdened by hazardous environmental sites. Nationally, these patterns remain with race and poverty being the two most critical demographic factors for determining where commercial hazardous waste facilities are located in the United States. The report goes on to recommend that overburdened communities must be granted additional protections by the state which include providing incentives for preventive behavior that help offset the harm in our affected cities. Our communities do not deserve to be a dumping ground for big corporations and then left for us to pick up the pieces.
There is a stark difference between the needs of Lawrence residents and their affected neighbors in Andover and North Andover. For one, those affected in Andover and North Andover are mostly homeowners- which may entitle them to claim damages through their homeowner’s insurance. Most affected families in Lawrence were renters and are less likely to have such protections and more limited personal means. A delay in recovery from a crisis of this magnitude is detrimental to the community of Lawrence as it risks job and home security for many residents, delays in school services for our children, and less revenues for our small businesses. The aftermath may also extend as residents deal with displacement pressures and the trauma of the incident.
Overpressurized gas lines- a result of neglect from a major gas company combined with the accumulative harm of hazardous exposures in our city of Lawrence are having a molotov cocktail effect on our community. The lack of transparency from Columbia Gas has added insult to injury.
We must hold Columbia Gas and its affiliated partners accountable for the catastrophe that occurred in our city.
There is hope for our community. As shown by the dozens of volunteers who showed up at the Lawrence Senior Center to help the affected families of the gas explosions. Within hours of the explosions, an assembly line had been organized to properly sort through donations, food was prepared, translation and information services were provided and more. The residents of Lawrence know what it takes to make it to another day, another night. As of 6pm Saturday, a third shelter at Central Catholic High School had opened to deal with the crisis for families displaced by the fires.
I am filled with pride for the strength of our first responders including firefighters, police, ambulatory services and their staff, volunteers and our Mayor Dan Rivera. We can move forward from this crisis, and vow to work as a city to ensure justice is served. We deserve answers about what happened, how we will prevent it from happening again, and what we will do moving forward to ensure a safe city for all who live here.
We can take lessons from Dr. Atyia Martin, most recently known for her role as Chief Resilience Officer for the City of Boston, and her framework detailing ways to help cities better prepare for emergencies to ensure safer future outcomes in our cities by studying social vulnerability factors. Dr. Martin notes “the resilience of our communities depends upon engaging people to build healthy, safe, and economically strong communities”. Her study recommends that the most vulnerable of a community’s citizens must be strategically engaged to ensure a more equitable future.
Addressing systemic racism and its health effects on low-income and people of color requires a long-term and multi-layered process. We know that our public environment shapes our health and well-being.
What is the Commonwealth of Massachusetts willing to do to ensure our communities achieve equal access to clean and healthy environments for all residents? Senators Edward J. Markey and Elizabeth Warren, who visited a command center in Lawrence on Friday, urged Congress to hold a hearing on the disaster, saying regulators and Columbia Gas executives must explain “how this incident occurred and what must be done to ensure these types of dangerous accidents do not happen again.” I urge our state officials to go a step further: We need solutions that include a focused lens on racial and economic equity principles that address environmental justice concerns.
Let’s also work closely to amplify the work of grassroots organizations who care about these issues such as Groundwork Lawrence, who empower people, businesses and organizations to promote environmental, economic and social well-being and Mass Sierra Club, which has called for more state regulatory oversight of gas and utility companies.
The city of Lawrence can’t breathe today.
I hope our city’s future tomorrow has clean air, safer spaces, and our residents happily awaiting a brighter day.
I pray for the recovery of Merrimack Valley and for the dismantling of the structural racial systems that offer the perfect setting for these tragedies to occur in the first place. We need solutions that dig deeper, leaders who can speak bluntly about our pain, and engaged citizens to create new circumstances for our city and beyond. Let’s stay vigilant.
If you’d like to donate to the affected families: Please submit your donations to the Essex County Community Foundation at www.eccf.org/lawrenceemergencyfund
