Mayor Bill de Blasio. Image credit: CityLand
The report will help shape the City’s Environmental Justice Plan. On August 5, 2021, Mayor Bill de Blasio and the NYC Environmental Justice Advisory Board announced the start of a public comment period for the Environmental Justice for All Report. The Environmental Justice for All Report is a comprehensive study of environmental justice issues that impact New York City in order to develop a citywide Environmental Justice Plan. For CityLand’s prior coverage of the Environmental Justice for All Report, click here.
The public comment period will be used to help determine the scope of the report, which will define the concerns under review and outline the methodologies used to examine policy and programs. The report will study environmental justice areas, analyze climate issues, and identify communities that are disproportionately impacted by climate and environmental issues. Earlier this year, the report’s draft scope was shaped by comments from 1,070 citizens, groups and elected officials.
The draft scope covers many areas, including but not limited to drinking water quality; sewer infrastructure and quality; hazardous materials exposure; indoor air and housing quality; outdoor air quality; access to fresh food and nutrition; energy use; transit options; park, waterfront and public green space access; traffic and congestion; and land use issues.
The open comment period runs from August 5th to September 5th. There are multiple ways to submit a comment:
– By phone at (212) 788-4144
– By email at EJ@climate.nyc.gov
– Online at nyc.gov/ejstudy to read the draft scope and submit comments under the Public Comment section. The draft is available in English, Spanish, Chinese, Bengali, Haitian Creole and Russian.
– At a virtual town hall on Wednesday, August 18th from 6 – 8 PM. To register, click here.
– In-person at The People’s Festival, which include community-led public arts events across all five boroughs from August 20th to September 3rd. For more information, click here.
Mayor de Blasio stated, “Addressing environmental injustice and racism requires accountability, reflection, and collaboration. The Environmental Justice for All Report needs to be shaped around New Yorkers’ lived experiences and expertise. Their voices will be the cornerstone of the City’s plan for environmental justice and equity moving forward.”
Peggy Shepard, Co-Founder & Executive Director of WE ACT for Environmental Justice and Chair of the NYC Environmental Justice Advisory Board stated, “The city’s Environmental Justice Interagency Task Force has completed its first draft of the citywide environmental justice study which the advisory board is eager to get underway. Now we need feedback from residents living and working in environmental justice communities to ensure that the city has accurately captured concerns and input from the most affected residents in the city’s frontline neighborhoods before beginning the study, which will serve as the basis for our citywide report and plan of action. The Environmental Justice Advisory Board urges affected residents living in environmental justice communities to offer their concerns and recommendations to inform the scope of the study so it will be comprehensive and relevant.”
By: Veronica Rose (Veronica is the CityLaw fellow and a New York Law School graduate, Class of 2018.)