NATIONAL RELIGIOUS PARTNERSHIP FOR THE ENVIRONMENT

  • Home
  • Perspectives & Resources
    • Black Church
    • Catholic
    • Evangelical
    • Jewish
    • Mainline/Orthodox
    • Other Faith Perspectives
  • Current Issues
    • Climate
    • Toxics & Environmental Health
    • Species Protection
    • Water
    • Land
    • Take Action
  • About
    • Partners
    • Board
    • Staff
  • News
  • Blog

How Rollbacks of Bedrock Environmental Law Endangers a Healthy Future

11/2/2020

0 Comments

 
Rev. Dr. Steven C. Bland, Jr. is the Senior Pastor at Detroit’s Liberty Temple Baptist Church and the President of the Michigan Progressive Baptist State Convention.

The COVID-19 pandemic has shined a glaring and harsh spotlight on the irrefutable fact that unhealthy air and water can become devastating disasters for communities of color. We have always known that clean air and water is necessary for human health. But the COVID-19 pandemic revealed, yet again, the harsh and tragic reality of what decades of pollution does to communities of color. While as a nation we are rightfully focused on addressing the immediate health needs of infected individuals, we cannot lose sight of the fact that the health and well-being of Black and Brown folks must be addressed through pollution reduction. 

Under the current deregulatory agenda, water protections are drying up, coal is worth more than human life, and new tailpipe emissions standards may actually cause more deaths. Even the nation’s bedrock environmental law, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), is under siege. These rollbacks will increase human exposure to pollution that is linked to higher coronavirus death rates. As a pastor concerned with both protecting human life and God’s creation, this is untenable. 

Cumulative impacts—a phrase to mean systematic and ongoing poisoning of neighborhoods and communities—need to be addressed if we are ever to truly recover from this pandemic. These cumulative impacts cannot be addressed by rolling back regulations in the name of economic progress. Yet, that is exactly what the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is doing -- including the recent executive order to use a national emergency declaration to waive NEPA’s crucial environmental protections.

The rollback of NEPA is of particular concern since it is credited with protecting communities from the devastating impacts of an unwanted and unneeded freeway expansion in the northeastern part of the state and saving Michigan taxpayers $1.5 billion. Yet, even given its effectiveness in minimizing impacts to the environment and to communities during infrastructure development, the EPA is currently planning to revise and undermine this law. Despite public outcry, the EPA is close to finalizing changes to the entire NEPA process that favor polluting industries. 

In a bid to escape the burden of environmental stewardship, the EPA proposed rollbacks aim to change the NEPA review process and pave the way for further degradation of vulnerable communities. We know that these communities—low-wealth neighborhoods and communities of color—often bear the brunt of problems caused by poorly planned infrastructure projects. By rolling back NEPA, the EPA is planning to eliminate one of few environmental protections that these communities have. The changes to NEPA threatens the health of our communities and puts our air and water at risk 

My Christian faith calls on me to care for the earth and most importantly to care for my neighbor. This healthy future that my faith envisions and my community deserves demands more than rollbacks designed to pave the way for unsustainable and irresponsible development. Protecting the environment through regulations like NEPA aligns with a vision of vibrant, healthy communities. NEPA has helped us escape some of the more environmentally tragic infrastructure missteps for more than half a century, and it should be regarded as helping us build a pathway to a healthier future.

The impacts of COVID-19 may have uncovered for many the environmental injustice lived daily by communities of color, but it also unearthed a solidarity among us all to care for our neighbor in their time of need.  We know more acutely now that pollution left unchecked will severely undermine our ability to respond to pandemics. We must, therefore, ensure that protections such as NEPA that protect human health remain intact, because we depend upon these safeguards to build vibrant and just communities.


0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Recent posts:

    More: Holidays for the Haves and Have Nots
    ​

    Purim: Truths Revealed Over The Past Year

    How Rollbacks of Bedrock Environmental Law Endangers a Healthy Future 

    ​Half a Year In, We Know We Have Moral Muscle

    The Six Grandfathers Behind the Four Presidents on Mt. Rushmore

    Rep. John Lewis Lived a Life Devoted to "Good Trouble"

    God is Whispering

    Stretching the Notion of Neighbor

    For the 5th anniversary of Laudato si', let's be charitable

    Sustainability in a Post-Pandemic America

    Stepping into the Frame in a Time of Upheaval

    Clean Water Rule Under Siege

    Lamenting Racism

    ​What is Church in the Midst of a Pandemic?

    The pandemic of PFAS; the non-essential chemical in everything

    Endangered species and the modern-day Noah's ark

    COVID Serves as Dress Rehearsal for Dealing with Climate Crisis

    ​Suffering in the Book of Job: Finding Hope in God's Creation During COVID-19
Proudly powered by Weebly
Photo from Navaneeth Kishor