In Arizona, with its drought, some of Sen. “The assumption was that rural communities have always had it, and that’s not true.” “When people talk about environmental justice, they never talk about sanitation,” she said. Water sanitation and scarcity issues top of the list of pressing needs for many in disadvantaged communities as rural areas countrywide lack modern sewage and sanitation systems, and the West deals with a megadrought.Ĭatherine Flowers, who serves on Biden’s White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council and long has advocated for clean water and sanitation systems in rural areas, is concerned for places like predominately Black Lowndes County, Alabama, where many residents have to release their wastewater directly into the environment. We just experienced this summer of record-breaking flooding.” “And now with the climate crisis, things are getting worse here in Michigan. “Our people are already struggling,” Jhong-Chung said. “It would represent another broken promise by our elected officials.”Įnvironmental advocates have been banking on Biden’s promise just days before the presidential election to pass “the most ambitious environmental justice agenda ever.” He was speaking at a news conference in Flint, Michigan, where residents have been dealing with a lead contamination crisis in its water systems since 2014.
#Digging jim game download full#
“If Congress does not pass a full deal, … it would be devastating,” said Juan Jhong-Chung, policy associate with the Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition. With a reduction in the package looming, activists worry environmental justice projects that could improve the health of their communities will be sacrificed. Local and regional environmental activists have held protests across the nation for several weeks, calling on Senate Democrats to pass the entire $3.5 trillion package.
“The urgency of now really cannot be (overstated).” “When we hear that the $3.5 trillion will be watered down … it’s honestly unacceptable,” said Ellen Sciales, communications director for Sunrise Movement, a national, youth-led environmental group. climate change summit known as COP26.Īs domestic spending talks take place in Washington, environmental justice advocates around the country are watching closely and lobbying lawmakers to preserve as many initiatives and as much money for them as possible. The high-stakes wrangling is taking place about two months after the United Nations’ International Panel on Climate Change called the warming planet a “code red for humanity” and just weeks before world leaders, including Biden, convene to determine global climate and environment policy at the U.N. Among the other initiatives were $5 billion in block grants to environmental and climate justice projects, $2.5 billion for providing access to solar in low-income communities and $2.5 billion for abandoned mine cleanup. The biggest spending proposals were $20 billion for replacing America’s lead water pipes, nearly $15.5 billion for a greenhouse gas reduction fund and $10 billion for expanding access to public transit near affordable housing. Several congressional aides who spoke on background to discuss ongoing negotiations said no one can venture an estimate of how much environmental justice spending will be cut from the reconciliation bill, but the overall amount for such initiatives certainly will be less than the roughly $80 billion originally proposed. 31 voting deadline, but that may slip as they struggle for consensus. With Republicans in lockstep against President Joe Biden’s proposal, Democrats must hold together slim House and Senate majorities to pass it.
Now, Democratic leaders are trying to bridge divergent views of progressive and moderate lawmakers over the size and scope of the bill. Investments in a wide range of these projects were proposed in the Build Back Better plan, but Senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Krysten Sinema of Arizona demanded that the bill be reduced, with Manchin asking for it to be cut by as much as half.
#Digging jim game download how to#
environmental justice initiatives originally proposed in a $3.5 trillion domestic spending package now hang in the balance as Democrats decide how to trim the bill down to $2 trillion.
0 kommentar(er)
