State opens climate justice discussion

Adirondack public meeting to take place May 10 in Tupper

By Cayte Bosler

In June of 2020, the Department of Environmental Conservation announced the Climate Justice Working Group to steer the implementation of New York’s ambitious Climate Act, passed in 2018. Now, the working group is asking the public to review and comment on their determination of areas in most need of state-assisted support to face climate and environmental-related problems. 

For many state officials and environmental justice activists, this represents an opportunity to address two structural problems together – climate change and inequality. The state’s overarching framework for curbing emissions and transitioning to low-carbon economies, spelled out in the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act , is considered by experts as leading in the nation. Prioritizing community engagement to understand the best approaches is all part of that plan.

According to an interactive map created by the DEC, the following areas on the outskirts of the Blue Line qualify for climate justice support: Tribes Hill, Nelliston, St. Johnsville, Fort Plain and Fultonville in the Mohawk Valley; Hammond, Heuvelton and Massena in St. Lawrence County; the Mohawk community of Akwesane, as well as Fort Edward and parts of Johnstown and Plattsburgh. In the Adirondack Park, Keeseville is the only community to receive this designation. State agencies plan to work with these communities on climate protections focused on issues such as clean air, sustainable economic growth and access to renewable energies.

The Climate Action Council will hold public hearings across the state throughout April and May to receive feedback on the climate goals as stated under the Climate Act.

The 10 public hearings include an Adirondacks-based session May 10 in Tupper Lake. The final hearing will be virtual May 11.

According to the recent meeting notes by the council, they have reached out to leaders from Indigenous communities to ask if they’d like to engage in discussion. 

For many — especially people of color and those living in lower-income areas — the impacts of climate change and the degradation of environmental harm are not a future concern but a part of daily life now. For example, the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Center for Environmental Assessment released a study in 2018 indicating that people of color are much more likely to live near polluters and breathe polluted air. One out of every six black children has asthma, almost twice the national average, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In addition to poverty, lack of clean air, safe drinking water, health care, and more—all of which lead to “preexisting conditions”—many communities of color are confronted with the threat of coronavirus and are more vulnerable to the pandemic. Reports estimate that people of color are twice as likely to die from COVID-19.

The Climate Justice Group targets these inequalities with “clean energy and efficiencies, projects or investments in the areas of housing, workforce development, pollution reduction, low-income energy assistance, energy, transportation, and economic development.”

For more information, visit the group here and check out Adirondack Diversity Solutions co-founded by Donathan L. Brown of the Climate Justice Group.

Submit comments online at public comment form, email at DACComments@dec.ny.gov, or by mail to: Draft DAC Comments, NYS DEC, Attn. Office of Environmental Justice, 625 Broadway, 14th Floor, Albany, NY, 12233.

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