DMV Clean Cities Coalition Launches Environmental Justice Advisory Group
In some D.C. neighborhoods, homes sit for decades next to industrial plants directly exposed to air pollution, while residents lack quality healthcare. Others face higher risks of flooding without enough money to afford increasing flood insurance costs. Outside city limits, residents await extensions on public transportation and the infrastructure to support electrical vehicles.
A new coalition called the Community Energy & Environmental Justice & Inclusion (CEEJI) Advisory Group recently convened its inaugural meeting to address such environmental disparities and advance equity in the greater Washington region. Their focus is on the principle that minority and historically underserved communities face unequal environmental burdens and shoulder more negative effectsburdens in the face of climate change.
“We are the only Clean Cities office in the country that is doing this right now,” said Antoine Thompson, Executive Director of the Greater Washington Region Clean Cities Coalition (GWRCCC), about the creation of the advisory group. Funded by the federal government, GWRCCC is part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Clean Cities Coalition Network, a public-private partnership focused on clean energy transportation initiatives.
A 2022 report from the D.C. Office of the People’s Counsel, an independent agency representing utility consumers, found that 27% of the District’s population lives in an environmental justice community, meaning they are more likely to shoulder the negative impacts of climate change and be exposed to environmental hazards.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) environmental justice index shows that Wards 4, 5, 7, and 8 experience the highest rates of environmental burden among D.C. wards. Its indicators include environmental factors like air pollution, exposure to toxic sites, walkability, and access to public transportation, as well as social considerations like access to quality housing and healthcare.
The launch of the advisory group comes at a time of unprecedented investment in clean energy. Last year, the Biden Administration created $369 billion in climate funding through the Inflation Reduction Act, and the President directed that 40% of climate change investments flow to underserved communities. In a 12-month period between 2022–2023, private investments in clean energy projects and manufacturing exceeded $270 billion.
The group plans to advise the DC Clean Cities Coalition and wantsplans to harnessuse the funding for projects such as clean energy transportation, workforce development, community engagement, and research and analysis to help advance environmental justice. It’s also supporting existing initiatives such as EcoLatinos, a regional non-profit with social and environmental justice programs for Latino communities like bilingual outreach for environmental events and urban tree plantings. EcoLatinos is represented by Ruby Stemmle, Founder and CEO, in the Advisory Group with services like bilingual outreach for environmental events and urban tree plantings.
“This is a critical time to ensure the resulting investment across the region is done equitably. We want to see these types of conversations pushed further so that no one will be left behind,” said Reverend George Gilbert of Holy Trinity United Baptist Church, who sits on the advisory group.
Other members include D.C. Council representatives Zachary Parker (D-Ward 5) and Charles Allen (D-Ward 6), Maryland State Delegate Deni L. Taveras (D-Prince George’s County), and local D.C.-area residents and advocates Dennis Chestnut of Historic Anacostia and Leah Boggs of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments.
In the near term, the group says it hopes to secure funding to establish a viable electric vehicle charging infrastructure in the region and host more clean energy economy job fairs. However, it will take more time to address some of the complex, deep-seated environmental issues such as the disproportionate health impacts of pollution on low-income communities.
Conscious efforts to invest in underserved communities require changing patterns of racist and inequitable policies such as deciding where new infrastructure will be built or where polluting facilities will be located.
“We have a long road ahead,” Thompson said. “It won’t be done in two years.”
The Advisory Group’s next public meeting is planned for Feb. 28, 2024.
