 |
Catholic Perspectives on Urban Life and the Environment
Sprawl and Brownfields Letter to the House of Representatives
From the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
June 9, 1997
Dear Representative:
We write to you to urge expeditious passage of legislation that can help many communities across the United States clean up and revitalize their “brownfields” areas. We are greatly encouraged by the bipartisan efforts to craft legislative remedies that can help clean up the environmental damage to these sites while renewing the social and economic vitality of the affected neighborhoods. A brownfield clean up program coupled with an economic development program targeted to the affected communities offers a genuine opportunity for environmental, economic and community revitalization in low income communities.
As you consider legislation, we want to share with you principles based on our perspectives as religious leaders and pastors.
Disproportionate Burden on the Poor
Our interest in the brownfields issue arises from the Catholic community’s pastoral experiences in and service to communities affected by brownfields. Many brownfield sites are in urban and rural communities of the poor and minorities. |
|
As the Catholic bishops noted in our 1991 pastoral statement, "Renewing the Earth," “[the poor’s] lands and neighborhoods are more likely to be polluted or to host toxic waste sites, their water to be undrinkable, their homes contaminated with lead, their children to be harmed. Too often, the structure of sacrifice involved in environmental remedies seems to exact a high price from the poor and from workers.” It is this disproportionate burden borne by these communities that lies at the heart of our concern. It is fundamentally unjust and needs correction.
Protecting the Community’s Health
Pope John Paul II has called the “right to a safe environment” a human right, which means that the flourishing of the human community is tied directly to a healthy and safe environment. Nature depends upon humans to be responsible stewards, but humans depend upon their natural environment for life itself, economic survival, health, and attractive surroundings. Any clean up effort must first protect the health of the entire surrounding community with particular attention given to protecting the most vulnerable populations especially the elderly and children. Special protection also must be given to cleanup workers and those who will work in future industries in these sites.
We recognize that at times there will be inadequate or uncertain scientific information as to the full extent of the health hazards in many of these situations. However, we urge that special precautions be made to set standards which protect the community and its vulnerable populations from future additional hazardous exposure.
|