AG Campbell Celebrates Creation Of New Environmental Justice Trust To Support Disadvantaged Communities Across Massachusetts
Money from State Court Settlements and Judgments will Provide Economic, Environmental, and Health Benefits to Disadvantaged Communities
8/14/2024
Office of the Attorney General
BOSTON — Today, Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell celebrated a new Environmental Justice Trust, signed into law by Governor Maura Healey. The Trust, proposed by AG Campbell, Representative Brandy Fluker-Oakley, and Senator Adam Gomez, will support projects that address environmental harms in disadvantaged communities across the Commonwealth. Funded through civil penalties obtained in judgments and settlements from state cases in the AGO’s Environmental Protection Division (EPD), the Trust will benefit community health by addressing economic, environmental, or health-related burdens people face every day.
“From day one, I’ve made it a priority to use all the tools of this office to advance environmental and climate justice. This Trust marks a huge step towards carrying out that mission,” said AG Campbell. “Many of the communities that will benefit from the Trust already suffer from the devastating effects of environmental injustice and climate change. I am extremely grateful to Representative Fluker Oakley and Senator Gomez for partnering with me to champion this important legislation and to Governor Healey for seeing it across the finish line.”
“Today, we’re taking a crucial step towards ensuring that all communities in Massachusetts, especially those most impacted by environmental harm, receive the support they deserve,” said Representative Fluker Oakley. “The Environmental Justice Trust Fund will direct funds to where they’re needed most, addressing longstanding disparities in environmental health. I’m proud to have helped create this Trust, which will make a real difference in the lives of our most vulnerable residents.”
“Environmental justice communities in the Hampden district and throughout the Commonwealth will no longer continue to bear the burden of environmental harms without the resources they are owed,” said Senator Gomez. “Securing the creation of an Environmental Justice Trust Fund was a top priority for me this session, so I am thankful to Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell and State Representative Fluker Oakley for their advocacy and collaboration on this issue and to Governor Healey for including this vital piece of legislation in the FY2025 budget.”
EPD has long enforced Massachusetts’s nation-leading environmental laws, bringing cases against companies that emit toxins and other pollutants into the air, demolition contractors who ignore the presence of asbestos and expose workers and residents to carcinogenic asbestos dust, companies that dump pollutants into rivers and streams and disrupt recreation and subsistence fishing, and organizations that pave over valuable wetland resources and green spaces for parking lots, increasing flood risk and decreasing community resilience in a changing climate. Many of these enforcement cases address conduct that occurs in communities that are already disproportionately impacted by environmental, health, and economic burdens.
As a result of this legislation, civil penalties from these types of cases can now be directed to impacted communities rather than going into the Commonwealth’s General Fund and leaving communities to bear the financial burdens of nearby violations. The Environmental Justice Trust will allow the AGO to respond to the needs of disadvantaged communities across the Commonwealth, both rural and urban.
Under the new law, the Trust will be administered by the AGO and can be used for:
- The restoration of any natural resource,
- The investigation, remediation or mitigation of any environmental pollution or harm at any property located in a disadvantaged community,
- Any project to benefit the community health or well-being, including those related to economic, environmental or health needs of a disadvantaged community, and
- An academic or government-funded research project related to environmental protection or conservation of natural resources in a disadvantaged community.
In her strategic plan, AG Campbell pledges to fight for environmental justice by ensuring that all residents can live in healthy and safe communities, especially those in low-income communities, rural communities, and communities of color disproportionately harmed by environmental degradation.
This article was originally published by the Office of the Massachusetts Attorney General.