{"id":3810,"date":"2023-07-27T13:00:17","date_gmt":"2023-07-27T17:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/weact.org\/updates\/we-act-for-environmental-justice-and-the-sabin-center-launch-model-environmental-justice-bills\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T20:32:39","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T01:32:39","slug":"we-act-for-environmental-justice-and-the-sabin-center-launch-model-environmental-justice-bills","status":"publish","type":"update","link":"https:\/\/weact.org\/es\/updates\/we-act-for-environmental-justice-and-the-sabin-center-launch-model-environmental-justice-bills\/","title":{"rendered":"WE ACT for Environmental Justice and the Sabin Center Launch Model Environmental Justice Bills"},"template":"","class_list":["post-3810","update","type-update","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","update_type-press-release","person_tax-peggy-shepard"],"acf":{"details":{"":null,"featured_image":5221,"update_type":[366],"focus_area":false,"authors":[232],"abstract":""},"page_layout":[{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_wysiwyg":{"content":"

Dismantling Injustice M.O.D.E.L. Highlights Five Key Areas for Immediate Change<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<\/strong>
\r\nJuly 27, 2023
\r\nMedia Contacts:
\r\nCatalina V. Silva, Humanity Communications Collective, catalina@humanitycom.com, 571-488-5020
\r\nJama Joseph, WE ACT for Environmental Justice, jama.joseph@weact.org, 646-951-1648<\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n

WASHINGTON<\/strong> \u2013 In an effort to advance environmental justice solutions across the U.S., WE ACT for Environmental Justice<\/a> and the Columbia Law School\u2019s Sabin Center for Climate Change Law<\/a> launched a suite of model local and state environmental justice bills today for legislators and advocates to adopt and introduce in their state\u2019s 2024 legislative sessions.<\/p>\r\n

Dismantling Injustice: A M.O.D.E.L.(Model for Optimizing and Designing Environmental Legislation) For Empowering Communities<\/em> was created to arm interested legislators with tools to accelerate proposed policy changes quickly. The suite contains model legislative language, fact sheets, memos and regulatory briefing information across five topic areas: (1) cumulative impact reports, (2) source permits, (3) permit renewals, (4) environmental advisory boards and (5) zoning.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cLegislators and other advocates interested in environmental injustice face myriad constraints with their time and the most effective ways to address constituent concerns,\u201d said Peggy Shepard, co-founder and executive director of WE ACT for Environmental Justice. \u201cBy identifying the most impactful actions that can be taken and giving legislators a blueprint to adapt to their state, we\u2019re ensuring they can take meaningful action quicker and more effectively. We are grateful to the partnership and insight of the Sabin Center for their work and collaboration on this.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

The five model bills included the addition of regulatory oversight by state environmental agencies to address environmental injustice, new data metrics and increased public engagement, two critical components in understanding the full extent of cumulative impacts. WE ACT brought this partnership idea to the Sabin Center in hopes to leverage New Jersey and New York\u2019s cumulative impacts legislation to positively impact other communities.<\/p>\r\n

The work with WE ACT was part of an initiative the Sabin Center took in alignment with its Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Anti-Racism (DEIA) plan.<\/a><\/p>\r\n

\u00a0<\/em>“Many disadvantaged communities suffer from cumulative impacts — the overlapping sources of pollution and other environmental harms,\u201d said Michael Gerrard, founder and faculty director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia Law School. \u201cWe are honored to partner with WE ACT in drafting and promoting model bills that state legislatures can tailor to their own needs and enact to reduce the cumulative impacts that already exist and to prevent new ones from arising.”<\/p>\r\n

Cumulative Impacts are critical when evaluating impacts on communities with environmental justice concerns, as the combined exposures to pollutants, according to the EPA<\/a>, \u201coften increases their vulnerability to new or ongoing environmental hazards, which can cause, perpetuate, or exacerbate disproportionate environmental and public health harms and risks.\u201d As a result, community members suffer from higher adverse health effects, including asthma, cancer, elevated blood lead levels, respiratory and cardiovascular disease, and development disorders, especially found in children.<\/p>\r\n

Environmental justice topics and, specifically, cumulative impacts, have been the subject of renewed interest under the Biden Administration, which issued an Executive Order<\/a> in 2021 with a goal that 40 percent of the overall benefits of certain Federal investments flow to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized, underserved, and overburdened by pollution.<\/p>\r\n

The timing of the new suite is also essential in light of recently weakened or repealed federal environmental protections, which has led to uncertainty regarding the evaluation, guidance and regulatory enforcement associated with the assessment of cumulative impacts.<\/p>\r\n

While some states have already enacted cumulative impacts and environmental justice laws, such as New York, New Jersey and Maryland, additional efforts at the state level are needed to continue addressing cumulative impacts.<\/p>\r\n

The full suite can be found at dismantlinginjustice.org<\/a>. And you can watch the introductory video here<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n

###<\/em><\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n

WE ACT for Environmental Justice is a Northern Manhattan membership-based organization whose mission is to build healthy communities by ensuring that people of color and\/or low-income residents participate meaningfully in creating sound and fair environmental health and protection policies and practices. WE ACT has offices in New York and Washington, D.C. Visit us at weact.org<\/a> and follow us on Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n

The core mission of the Sabin Center is to develop and promulgate legal techniques to address climate change and to train the next generation of lawyers who will be leaders in the field. The Sabin Center is both a partner to and resource for public interest legal institutions engaged in climate change work. Further, the center addresses a critical need for the systematic development of legal techniques to fight climate change and the compilation and dissemination of information for lawyers in the public, private and NGO sectors.<\/p>\r\n","include_drop_cap":false}}]},"yoast_head":"\nWE ACT for Environmental Justice and the Sabin Center Launch Model Environmental Justice Bills - WE ACT for Environmental Justice<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/weact.org\/es\/updates\/we-act-for-environmental-justice-and-the-sabin-center-launch-model-environmental-justice-bills\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"es_ES\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"WE ACT for Environmental Justice and the Sabin Center Launch Model Environmental Justice Bills - WE ACT for Environmental Justice\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/weact.org\/es\/updates\/we-act-for-environmental-justice-and-the-sabin-center-launch-model-environmental-justice-bills\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"WE ACT for Environmental Justice\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-17T01:32:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/weact.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Press-Release.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/weact.org\/updates\/we-act-for-environmental-justice-and-the-sabin-center-launch-model-environmental-justice-bills\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/weact.org\/updates\/we-act-for-environmental-justice-and-the-sabin-center-launch-model-environmental-justice-bills\/\",\"name\":\"WE ACT for Environmental Justice and the Sabin Center Launch Model Environmental Justice Bills - 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