Warren Plans To Hand Out $1 Trillion In Climate Reparations To Fight “Environmental Racism”

Here's what Elizabeth Warren's campaign had to say about the "climate reparations" plan on their Twitter page:

More from Elizabeth Warren's website (key parts in bold):

From predominantly black neighborhoods in Detroit to Navajo communities in the southwest to Louisiana’s Cancer Alley, industrial pollution has been concentrated in low-income communities for decades - communities that the federal government has tacitly written off as so-called “sacrifice zones.” But it’s not just about poverty, it’s also about race. A seminal study found that black families are more likely to live in neighborhoods with higher concentrations of air pollution than white families - even when they have the same or more income. A more recent study found that while whites largely cause air pollution, Blacks and Latinxs are more likely to breathe it in. Unsurprisingly, these groups also experience higher rates of childhood asthma. And many more low-income and minority communities are exposed to toxins in their water - including lead and chemicals from industrial and agricultural run-off.

The federal government must do more to support and uplift the efforts of these and other communities. Here’s how we can do that:

• Improve environmental equity mapping. The EPA currently maps communities based on basic environmental and demographic indicators, but more can be done across the federal government to identify at-risk communities. We need a rigorous interagency effort to identify cumulative environmental health disparities and climate vulnerabilities and cross-reference that data with other indicators of socioeconomic health. We’ll use these data to adjust permitting rules under Clean Air and Clean Water Act authorities to better consider the impact of cumulative and overlapping pollution, and we’ll make them publicly available online to help communities measure their own health.
• Implement an equity screen for climate investments. Identifying at-risk communities is only the first step. The Green New Deal will involve deploying trillions of dollars to transform the way we source and use energy. In doing so, the government must prioritize resources to support vulnerable communities and remediate historic injustices. My friend Governor Jay Inslee rightly challenged us to fund the most vulnerable communities first, and both New York and California have passed laws to direct funding specifically to frontline and fenceline communities. The federal government should do the same. I’ll direct one-third of my proposed climate investment into the most vulnerable communities - a commitment that would funnel at least $1 trillion into these areas over the next decade.
• Strengthen tools to mitigate environmental harms. Signed into law in 1970, the National Environmental Policy Act provides the original authority for many of our existing environmental protections. But even as climate change has made it clear that we must eliminate our dependence on fossil fuels, the Trump Administration has tried to weaken NEPA with the goal of expediting even more fossil fuel infrastructure projects. At the same time, the Trump Administration has moved to devalue the consideration of climate impacts in all federal decisions. This is entirely unacceptable in the face of the climate emergency our world is facing. As president, I would mandate that all federal agencies consider climate impacts in their permitting and rulemaking processes. Climate action needs to be mainstreamed in everything the federal government does. But we also need a standard that requires the government to do more than merely “assess” the environmental impact of proposed projects - we need to mitigate negative environmental impacts entirely. 

• Build wealth in frontline communities. People of color are more likely to live in neighborhoods that are vulnerable to climate change risks or where they’re subject to environmental hazards like pollution. That’s not a coincidence - decades of racist housing policy and officially sanctioned segregation that denied people of color the opportunity to build wealth also denied them the opportunity to choose the best neighborhood for their families. Then, these same communities were targeted with the worst of the worst mortgages before the financial crisis, while the government looked the other way. My housing plan includes a first-of-its-kind down-payment assistance program that provides grants to long-term residents of formerly redlined communities so that they can buy homes in the neighborhood of their choice and start to build wealth, beginning to reverse that damage. It provides assistance to homeowners in these communities who still owe more than their homes were worth, which can be used to preserve their homes and revitalize their communities. These communities should have the opportunity to lead us in the climate fight, and have access to the economic opportunities created by the clean energy sector. With the right investments and with community-led planning, we can lift up communities that have experienced historic repression and racism, putting them on a path to a more resilient future.

CNBC has more to say about Elizabeth Warren's plan to fight "environmental racism":

Presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., introduced on Wednesday an environmental justice plan to defend low-income and minority communities against pollution, contamination and extreme weather events that are exacerbated by climate change.

The plan calls for spending at least $1 trillion in the next decade on the country’s most vulnerable communities, which are often concentrated in highly polluted areas and exposed to contamination from lead and other toxic chemicals from industrial and agricultural runoff.

“Our crisis of environmental injustice is the result of decades of discrimination and environmental racism compounding in communities that have been overlooked for too long,” Warren wrote in her plan.

“The same communities that have borne the brunt of industrial pollution are now on the front lines of climate change, often getting hit first and worst,” she wrote.

The senator’s plan calls for improving equity mapping of marginalized communities to better identify climate risk damage from increasingly intense storms, droughts and wildfires.

Warren would mandate that all federal agencies consider climate impacts in developing rules, and she would restore the Obama-era water rule, which the Trump administration recently rolled back. The plan also instructs the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Justice to enhance enforcement against industrial polluters.

Environmental justice is defined by the EPA as the fair treatment of all people and communities with respect to protection from environmental and health hazards.

One recent study shows that black families are more likely to live in neighborhoods with higher concentrations of air pollution than white families, despite having equal or higher incomes. Another study finds that while white people largely cause air pollution, blacks and Latinos are more likely to breathe in that polluted air.

The Boston Globe also said:

Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren released a plan Wednesday calling for environmental justice in responding to climate change, proposing steps to reduce what she called the disproportionate effect that pollution has on low-income and minority communities.

Warren, who has made the fight against climate change a key to her Democratic presidential campaign, said a “just transition” to clean energy as outlined in the Green New Deal has to happen by “prioritizing communities that have experienced historic disinvestment.” She cited studies indicating that toxic waste sites, landfills, congested highways, and other sources of pollution hit harder in places such as predominantly black and Latino neighborhoods.

Warren would direct the Environmental Protection Agency to extensively map which communities are most vulnerable to the effects of climate change so federal clean air and water rules can be adjusted, and she promised to hold an environmental justice summit within her first 100 days in office. She would also direct one-third of a proposed climate investment under the Green New Deal into communities most at risk of adverse environmental effects, which she said would equal at least $1 trillion over the next decade.

“We didn’t get here by accident,” Warren said in the 12-page plan. “Our crisis of environmental injustice is the result of decades of discrimination and environmental racism compounding in communities that have been overlooked for too long. It is the result of multiple choices that put corporate profits before people, while our government looked the other way. It is unacceptable, and it must change.”

Warren’s climate justice plan also would fully fund environmental health programs at the federal Centers for Disease Control, bolster the EPA’s ability to fight environmental discrimination, and enable the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council to report directly to the White House. She also explained how many of the policies she already has proposed including environmental justice elements, such as building more “well-located” affordable housing and holding corporate polluters more accountable through criminal penalties for executives.

Summit News shared some thoughts on Warren's plan:

Elizabeth Warren’s “climate justice” plan calls for handing over $1 trillion in environmental reparations to black families.

Because in case you didn’t know – pollution is racist.

The plan, called Fighting For Justice As We Combat The Climate Crisis, asserts that “black families are more likely to live in neighborhoods with higher concentrations of air pollution than white families – even when they have the same or more income.”

The plan doesn’t address why, if they have the same income, the black families don’t just move, but does claim that studies show “whites largely cause air pollution” (surely this is due to demographics alone) and that “Blacks and Latinxs are more likely to breathe it in.”

What do you think of Warren's proposed plan to combat the "racism" of climate change?

Share your thoughts with us on Facebook & Twitter!