"The environmental injustice that disadvantaged communities suffer affects the country’s overall health and economic bottom line, witnesses told House lawmakers Tuesday.
“These injustices cost our country a huge amount of money” related to health impacts on people in communities that have historically been ignored, said Mustafa Santiago Ali. He spoke during a virtual Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing with several Democrats and Republicans. “Everything from education to housing to a number of other components that stop communities from being able to move from surviving to thriving,” he said.
Investing in more clean energy jobs and greener infrastructure is necessary to deal with future pandemics, but also to tackle the unfolding “climate emergency,” he said.
Waiting to act is “going to end up costing us much more. So, it just makes sense to invest today,” said the former longtime official at the Environmental Protection Agency. Ali is the current vice president of environmental justice, climate, and community revitalization at the National Wildlife Federation."
Kellie Lunney reports for Bloomberg Environment June 9, 2020.
SEE ALSO:
"In Trump Response To Coronavirus, Left Sees Environmental Injustice" (The Hill)
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