Hillary visited the Stonewall Inn, designated a national landmark, and
marched in the Pride Parade with Governor Cuomo, Mayor deBlasio, and Reverend Al
Sharpton. Earlier in the day she held a brunch fundraiser close to home.
Reverend Al Sharpton's National Action Network opened its convention in New York today, and Hillary Clinton was there. She spoke on mass incarceration, just as she did shortly after launching her campaign a year ago this month, and unveiled her plan to fight for environmental and climate justice.
Across
America, the burdens of air pollution, water pollution, and toxic
hazards are borne disproportionately by low-income communities and
communities of color.
Air pollution from power plants, factories,
refineries, transportation and waste incineration significantly
exacerbate asthma, and African-American children are twice as likely as white children to suffer from asthma, three times more likely
to be hospitalized, and five times more likely to die from the disease.
Nearly half of Latinos in the United States live in counties where the
air does not meet EPA public health standards for smog.
From
Flint, Michigan, to Toledo, Ohio, to Charleston, West Virginia, families
have been exposed to lead, dangerous algae, and toxic chemicals in
their drinking water.
Exposure to pesticides and chemicals has been linked to childhood cancer,
and the likelihood of such exposure can depend on where children live.
For example, in the Manchester neighborhood of Houston, which is 85
percent Latino and where 27 schools are within one mile of a high-risk
chemical facility, children who attend public schools are 56 percent
more likely to get leukemia than those who live 10 miles away.
Simply
put, this is environmental racism. And the impacts of climate change,
from more severe storms to longer heat waves to rising sea levels, will
disproportionately affect low-income and minority communities, which
suffer the worst losses during extreme weather and have the fewest
resources to prepare.
Hillary believes we need to break down all
the barriers holding Americans back—including the burdens imposed by
unhealthy air, polluted water, and exposure to toxins. Environmental and
climate justice can’t just be slogans—they have to be central goals.
Clean air and clean water aren’t luxuries—they are basic rights of all
Americans. No one in our country should be exposed to toxic chemicals or
hazardous wastes simply because of where they live, their income, or
their race. And the impacts of climate change must be addressed with an
eye to climate justice, so no community gets left out or left behind. As
President, Hillary will:
Eliminate lead as a major public health threat within five years.
Lead is a well-documented neurotoxin, and childhood lead exposure can
irreversibly harm brain development, produce developmental delays, cause
behavioral problems, and negatively impact school performance. There is
no safe blood lead level in children. For every dollar invested in
preventing childhood exposure to lead, between $17 and $200 is saved in
reduced educational, health, and criminal justice expenses and improved
health and economic outcomes—but the few federal programs that exist are
inadequate to address the scope of the problem and have seen
significant budget cuts and volatility in recent years. The ongoing
tragedy in Flint has put a spotlight on the urgency of this crisis, but
Flint is not alone. More than 535,000 children are poisoned by lead in
the United States, and children of color are more likely to be poisoned
than white children.
Eliminating lead as a major public health
threat to our children is a goal we can and must meet as a nation.
Clinton will establish a Presidential Commission on Childhood Lead
Exposure and charge it with writing a national plan to eliminate the
risk of lead exposure from paint, pipes, and soil within five years;
align state, local and philanthropic resources with federal initiatives;
implement best prevention practices based on current science; and
leverage new financial resources such as lead safe tax credits. Clinton
will direct every federal agency to adopt the Commission’s
recommendations, make sure our public water systems are following
appropriate lead safety guidelines, and leverage federal, state, local,
and philanthropic resources, including up to $5 billion in federal
dollars, to replace lead paint, windows, and doors in homes, schools,
and child care centers and remediate lead-contaminated soil.
In
addition, many struggling communities around the United States have
limited or no access to clean, safe water, including farmworker
communities in the Central Valley of California, Navajo and other Native
American communities in the west, and small towns throughout the Great
Plains. Drinking water and wastewater treatment is often the largest
single energy cost for municipalities—meaning inefficient water
treatment is a financial drain on low-income communities. Clinton has a
$275 billion plan to invest in modernizing American infrastructure,
including drinking and wastewater infrastructure, and will work with
states, municipalities, and the private sector to bring our water
systems into the 21st century and ensure that all Americans have access to clean, safe drinking water.
Prosecute
criminal and civil violations that expose communities to environmental
harm and work with Congress to strengthen public health protections in
our existing laws. When companies and individuals break the
law and expose communities to harm, they should be held accountable with
appropriate criminal or civil enforcement under environmental, public
health, and safety laws. When residents of Flint were exposed to
harmful lead pollution, there were no criminal violations of the Safe
Drinking Water Act, even though officials knew or should have known that
the drinking water had been contaminated. When Freedom Industries
polluted the drinking water in Charleston, West Virginia, the corporate
officials involved were allowed to plead guilty
to misdemeanor violations of the Clean Water Act. The judge said that
they were “hardly criminals,” and no one went to jail for more than 30
days. After 29 miners died at the Upper Big Branch Mine, our worst
mining disaster in 40 years, prosecutors charged and convicted Don
Blankenship, the former head of Massey Energy, for conspiracy to violate
the Mine Safety and Health Act. Blankenship received only one year in jail, however, because violations of the Mine Safety Act are only misdemeanors. The same is true for the Occupational Safety and Health Act,
where willful violations that cause death only authorize misdemeanor
charges. The Lead Disclosure Rule, which protects children from lead
paint, does not contain any criminal provisions, relying instead on a
separate law, the Toxic Substances Control Act, which only authorizes
misdemeanor charges. And even when there is a criminal conviction for
environmental violations, too often, victims receive no restitution for
the harm they have suffered.
Clinton will work with Congress to
update our environmental, public health, and safety laws by enhancing
the criminal provisions of the Safe Drinking Water Act, adding criminal
provisions to the Lead Disclosure Rule, improving the lead inspection
standards of the Renovation, Repair and Painting Rule, and increasing
the penalties for violations of the Mine Safety and Health Act and the
Occupational Safety and Health Act so that they are felonies that carry
the possibility of serious jail time. Clinton will also work with
Congress to ensure that victims of environmental crimes receive
compensation for their injuries, direct the EPA and Justice Department
to work together on using Title VI of the Civil Rights Act to prevent or
rectify environmental injustices, and direct Justice Department
prosecutors to be just as tough on environmental criminals as they are
on other criminals who endanger our communities.
Create new economic opportunity through brownfield clean-up and redevelopment. There are over 450,000 brownfield
sites across the United States where the presence of hazardous
substances, pollutants, and contaminants pose threats to public health
and deprive local communities of economic development opportunities.
EPA’s Superfund program has insufficient resources to clean up the
remaining sites on the National Priority List, and most brownfields are overseen by capacity-constrained state and local governments.
Clinton
will work to replenish the federal Superfund, partner with state and
local governments in pushing responsible parties to pay their fair share
of clean-up costs, and collaborate with local leaders to redevelop
brownfields in a way that creates good-paying jobs and new economic
opportunities for impacted communities. To protect the health and safety
of local residents, workers will be trained by accredited
organizations. To help create long-term career paths, contractors
working on these projects will be required to participate in registered
apprenticeship programs and newcomers to the workforce will be
encouraged to join these programs.
Reduce urban air pollution by investing in clean power and transportation. The
US has made important progress in reducing sulfur dioxide, particulate
matter, nitrogen oxides and other pollutants through cleaner power
generation and more efficient cars and trucks. Yet in many
communities, particularly communities of color, air pollution continues
to threaten public health and safety. More than 40 percent of Americans live in places where pollution levels are often too dangerous to breathe.
Urban air pollution contributes to asthma episodes, missed school and
work days and reduced life expectancies for community residents. Clinton
will defend and implement President Obama’s Clean Power Plan and ensure
that states prioritize environmental and climate justice when designing
their compliance plans. Through her Clean Energy Challenge,
Clinton will provide competitive grants to states, cities, and rural
communities that exceed federal standards and take the lead in deploying
cost-saving and pollution-reducing clean energy and energy efficiency
solutions. In the transportation sector, which is the leading source of
ground-level ozone and other urban air pollutants, Clinton will defend
and extend federal pollution standards for cars, trucks, and buses, and
invest in efficient transit that connects people to jobs and
opportunity. Clinton will accelerate the transition to zero or near-zero
emission trucking and shipping and award Clean Energy Challenge grants
to states and cities that develop innovative transportation solutions
that cut air pollution and oil consumption, while improving access to
employment and education opportunities for low-income communities and
communities of color.
Broaden the clean energy economy,
build career opportunities, and combat energy poverty by expanding solar
and energy efficiency in low-income communities and communities of
color. Clinton is committed to ensuring that no one is left
behind or left out in the transition to a clean energy economy. In
addition to addressing the ways that low-income communities and
communities of color face disproportionate burdens from air pollution
and a changing climate, Clinton will ensure that the economic benefits
of clean energy and energy efficiency are broadly shared. Through her
Clean Energy Challenge, Clinton will overcome barriers that prevent
low-income families from reducing energy costs through solar panel
installations and residential energy efficiency improvements. Clinton
will ensure that states, cities and rural communities prioritize
environmental and climate justice when receiving Clean Energy Challenge
grants. Clinton will also work to expand good-paying job opportunities
for people of color throughout the clean energy economy and support
prevailing wage and project labor agreements for new infrastructure that
utilize skilled labor and help recruit and train workers from
communities most heavily impacted by pollution. In today’s economy,
African Americans hold only 1.1 percent of energy jobs and receive only 0.01 percent of energy sector profits. This must change in the clean energy economy we build for the future.
Protect communities from the impacts of climate change by investing in resilient infrastructure.
Climate change will target every community in America, and we know the
poorest and most vulnerable communities will suffer the most. Climate
change will cause more frequent and severe downpours in the Northeast,
potentially overwhelming aging drainage systems and causing sewerage
backups in predominantly low-income areas. Sea level rise will threaten
vulnerable communities from Baltimore to New Orleans. More frequent and
severe heat waves disproportionately threaten the health of those who
cannot afford adequate air conditioning or have preexisting health
conditions. State and local leaders are beginning to recognize the need
to factor climate risks into infrastructure planning and find creative
solutions that protect their communities. For instance, Philadelphia’s
Green City, Clean Waters program installed porous pavements, rain
gardens, rain barrels, and other green infrastructure solutions to
reduce stormwater runoff and prevent sewer overflows. Clinton will give
states and local communities the data, tools, and resources they need to
make smart investments in resilient infrastructure and to help diminish
the local impacts of climate change.
Establish an
Environmental and Climate Justice Task Force to make environmental and
climate justice, including cumulative impacts, an integral part of
federal decision-making. While multiple federal agencies
already consider environmental justice when awarding grants or
permitting projects, including through the National Environmental
Justice Advisory Committee at EPA, more needs to be done to tackle the
cumulative health, economic, and environmental impacts of pollution and
climate change in vulnerable communities.
On her first day in
office, Clinton will establish an Environmental and Climate Justice Task
Force and charge it with finding and fixing the next 50 Flints—the
low-income urban and rural communities facing the most acute
environmental risks. The Task Force would also:
Be directed to
make recommendations on addressing cumulative environmental impacts and
preventing other communities from facing similar burdens in the future,
particularly in light of the additional challenges posed by climate
change, including through stronger enforcement of Title VI of the Civil
Rights Act.
Include outside experts, the environmental justice
community, and federal, state, and local officials, and draw on all of
the resources of the federal government to conduct its work.
Be
supported by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences’
research and partnership grant programs, which Clinton would
significantly expand.
Clinton’s vision for
ensuring environmental and climate justice is one pillar of both her
Breaking Every Barrier agenda to confront all our challenges together
and deliver results for every American, and of her comprehensive energy
and climate agenda, which includes major initiatives in the following areas:
Clean Energy Challenge:
Develop, defend and implement smart federal energy and climate
standards. Provide states, cities and rural communities ready to lead on
clean energy and exceed these standards with the flexibility, tools and
resources they need to succeed.
Modernizing North American Infrastructure:
Improve the safety and security of existing energy infrastructure and
align new infrastructure we build with the clean energy economy we are
seeking to create.
Safe and Responsible Production:
Ensure that fossil fuel production taking place today is safe and
responsible, that taxpayers get a fair deal for development on public
lands, and that areas that are too sensitive for energy production are
taken off the table.
Revitalizing Coal Communities:
Protect the health and retirement security of coalfield workers and
their families and provide economic opportunities for those that kept
the lights on and factories running for more than a century.
Energy and Climate Security:
Reduce the amount of oil consumed in the United States and around the
world, guard against energy supply disruptions, and make our
communities, our infrastructure, and our financial markets more
resilient to risks posed by climate change.
Collaborative Stewardship:
Renew our shared commitment to the conservation of our disappearing
lands, waters, and wildlife, to the preservation of our history and
culture, and to expanding access to the outdoors for all Americans.
At the National Urban League in New York City, Hillary Clinton met with civil rights leaders this morning.
Democratic
U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton meets with civil rights
leaders at the National Urban League in the Manhattan borough of New
York City, February 16, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Segar
Democratic
U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton gestures as she meets with
civil rights leaders at the National Urban League in the Manhattan
borough of New York City, February 16, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Segar
Democratic
U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton makes remarks as she meets
with civil rights leaders at the National Urban League in the Manhattan
borough of New York City, February 16, 2016. At left is Marc H. Morial,
President and CEO, National Urban League and at right is The Reverend Al
Sharpton, Founder and President, National Action Network. REUTERS/Mike
Segar
Democratic
U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton (L) sits with The Reverend
Al Sharpton, Founder and President of the National Action Network, as
she meets with civil rights leaders at the National Urban League in the
Manhattan borough of New York City, February 16, 2016. REUTERS/Mike
Segar
Civil
rights activist Al Sharpton talks about "collective leverage" on
presidential candidates after meeting with Hillary Clinton and other
African-American leaders. Rough Cut (no reporter narration).
This week Hillary will meet with top civil rights leaders, Reverend Al among them. On his Sunday morning show, Politics Nation,
Reverend Al pointed out that Hillary's history in civil rights has
been consistent. She spoke about inequities in the system that need to
be addressed.
Hillary talked about civil rights from the most
basic like safe water, safe food and air, and safe circulation on the
streets to voting rights. She said the debate in Flint will keep a
spotlight on the important issues.
Regarding the millennials
supporting Sanders: "Elections are about the future... Even though they
don't support me, I support them." She said that Bernie's camp doesn't
really have a plan. "I do," she affirmed.
"The Supreme Court is
right on top of important reasons to vote in this election... I don't
know what it is about democracy that the Supreme Court and Republicans
are afraid of... This court can undo the progress of more than a century
that people voted for, people marched for, people died for and I'm
going to make sure that doesn't happen."
One last note with regard
to SCOTUS: Hillary, Reverend Al, and Democratic voices in general are
reminding people that President Obama was elected in 2012 to a four-year
term, not a three-year term. Constitutionally, he is empowered and
obliged to make a SCOTUS appointment when a vacancy exists. We all
share in extending condolences to Justice Scalia's family, friends, and
colleagues. His loss, obviously, creates potential gridlock and
stagnation on decisions. Following a respectful period of mourning, the
government needs to get on the road and moving again and that includes
Supreme Court decisions. We should move ahead with a full court of nine,
and President Obama is the person who should nominate a successor.
Period.
Outrageous is right! There is a very unfortunate metaphor beneath every effort by the GOP
over the past seven year to shackle President Obama and prevent him from
doing the job the American people elected him to do. A different but
similar metaphor underlies GOP efforts to prevent Hillary Clinton from
running for the highest office. It is most unfortunate to see young
people buying into the latter.
Obama is president until Jan. 20, 2017. It's his job to nominate a justice, the Senate has a responsibility to vote. pic.twitter.com/nY2f60Yiso
