Sen. Cory Booker Wants To Invest $200B To Fix 'Legacy Pollution'

NEWARK, NJ — When it comes to who suffers the harmful effects of pollution, money matters. And so does race, according to U.S. Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey.

Booker, a Newark resident, recently announced that and Congressman A. Donald McEachin (D-VA) will be reintroducing the Environmental Justice Legacy Pollution Cleanup Act for 2021 (see the full text here).

The federal bill would invest more than $200 billion to clean up “legacy pollution,” which has disproportionally harmed communities of color, Indigenous communities and low-income communities for generations, Booker said.

“In our nation, the biggest determining factor of whether you live near toxic pollution, whether you drink contaminated water, or whether you breathe dirty air is the color of your skin and your economic status,” Booker charged. “That’s wrong – and it’s time to make it right.”

“In order for communities of color, low-income communities, and Indigenous communities to thrive, this legacy of environmental injustice must be addressed,” the senator continued. “The Environmental Justice Legacy Pollution Cleanup Act will make the necessary federal investments to clean up this legacy pollution, and I plan to fight to have this funding included in the upcoming infrastructure and climate change legislation.”

According to a news release from Booker’s office, here’s what the bill would do if it becomes law:

Clean Up Toxic Sites

• Provide $10 billion to the EPA Superfund National Priorities List to accelerate the cleanup of toxic sites and help clear the largest backlog of unfunded sites since 2004.
• Provides $10 billion to the Abandoned Mine Reclamation Fund, an investment that would fund the reclamation of thousands of eligible abandoned mine lands sites.
• Dedicates $10 billion to the Environmental Protection Agency Superfund Program to remediate abandoned hard rock mines, with priority given to sites located on tribal land.
• Provide $3 billion for grants to remediate brownfield sites. Such remediation efforts are a major boon to economically depressed communities, producing roughly $20 in economic benefits for every $1 spent.
• Provide $10 billion to the Formerly Used Defense Sites Program and clean up 90% of these sites. The EJLPA also commits $3 billion to the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program, which will remediate tens of thousands of acres of formerly radioactive land and return hundreds of properties back to public use.

Improve Air Quality

• Provide $30 billion to replace over 50% of diesel school buses with zero emission school buses in the most disadvantaged school districts.
• Commits $25 billion to urban tree planting initiatives, an investment that will plant an estimated 100 million trees with priority given to projects in low-income communities and communities with lower tree canopy cover and higher daytime maximum temperatures.

Address Lead, Clean Water, and Sanitation Issues

• Inject $45 billion into a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development grant program to remediate lead-based paint hazards in low income housing, the leading cause of childhood lead poisoning in the United States. This funding would eliminate lead based paint hazards in nearly 4 million low income households.
• Provides $1 billion for grants to tribal governments to address housing-related safety hazards.
• Provide $45 billion in funding to replace every lead drinking water service line in the country.
• Commits $10 billion in funding to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Decentralized Water Systems Program, which will give nonprofits capacity to provide grants to hundreds of thousands of homes to construct or improve individual household water well and wastewater systems.
• Provide $3 billion to the Indian Health Service (IHS) to build and renovate sanitation infrastructure, which will bring safe drinking water and adequate sewage systems to everyAmerican Indian and Alaskan Native household.
• Provides $25 billion to the EPA to address combined sewer overflows, which will eliminate most overflow problems in economically distressed communities.

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