-Commentary By Dr. Mark Mitchell
As a Connecticut physician specializing in environmental health and the former director of the Hartford Department of Health, I know too well that communities of color here live on the front lines of pollution, the climate crisis, and now the COVID-19 pandemic. As an African American who suffers from asthma myself, I am looking to state legislators for help, as asthma is one of the few diseases that can respond immediately to regulation and legislation. I believe that we now have the greatest opportunity to reduce Connecticut’s high asthma rates in at least 25 years, if the state legislature will act during a special session this month.Pollution from cars, trucks, and buses threaten everyone’s health. Yet the data are clear. African Americans and Latinos in Connecticut breathe in toxic pollution at 30 and 27% higher concentrations, respectively, than white residents. In fact, this disproportionate exposure to air pollution increases the likelihood of death from COVID-19. But even before the COVID-19 pandemic struck, public health physicians like me have sounded the alarm that heart attacks, cancer, asthma and early death in low-wealth communities and communities of color of any income level can be traced back to our higher exposure to air pollution from road vehicles.
This uneven picture stems from a history of inequitable transportation planning and housing policies, which placed communities of color like those in Hartford and Waterbury closer to sources of health-harming pollution including incinerators, power plants, and major highways.
To address this discriminatory status quo – and tackle those disparate health impacts – we must center equity in future transportation policies. Right now, that means putting equity at the center of a policy that Connecticut legislators are considering, the Transportation and Climate Initiative Program (TCI-P for short).
In December 2020, Governor Lamont signed Connecticut onto this program. Now, Connecticut legislators have a chance to adopt the policy as we head into a special session this fall. TCI-P would cap carbon emissions from our transportation system, force polluters (fuel distributors) to pay for their pollution, and invest the up to $100 million per year that results. This funding could go to projects like expanded public transit, affordable housing near transit, zero emission electric school and transit buses, and safer walking and biking lanes.
This legislation has the potential to not only address climate change, but also can address health and equity. We need to make sure these investments actually benefit the same communities of color that are hurting under the broken status quo. Legislators have indicated a commitment to dedicate at least 50% of raised proceeds toward disproportionately impacted communities. Without other crucial guardrails in place, however, the program risks deepening historic health and economic disparities in our state. That’s why I have been working with Green for All and more than two dozen other environmental, transit equity, racial justice, unions and social justice groups that have called on Connecticut legislators to incorporate three key equity elements in the final bill.
First, disproportionately impacted communities must have a meaningful say over how the program gets implemented. The Equity and Environmental Justice Advisory Board, a body made up mostly of community members, must have authority to shape investment decisions – for instance, by developing criteria to evaluate which programs should receive funding. Additionally, trusted community-based organizations should nominate community members to serve on the board so that the body stays accountable to community needs no matter who is in office.
Second, the program needs clear accountability mechanisms to ensure it is reducing local air pollution in hotspot areas where people breathe the dirtiest air, often in urban communities. That means expanded air quality monitoring, air pollution reduction targets, and regular reporting on progress. If the program does not yield improved air quality in areas with the greatest pollution burden, more funds from the program should go toward pollution reduction in these communities.
Lastly, as our state recovers from the pandemic, it is crucial that program investments support prevailing wage jobs and workforce training for communities struggling to make ends meet or access employment.
These equity components should be the pillars of the Transportation and Climate Initiative Program in our state. By strengthening TCI-P in these ways, Connecticut can begin to tackle persistent health disparities, address climate change, and generate more high quality jobs. And that will help me – and so many of the communities I work with — breathe easier in the coming years. Let’s call on our state legislative leaders to support TCI-P and clean up our air!
