“We all have a stake in advancing environmental justice for underserved communities overburdened by pollution.”
Governor Roy Cooper has used his executive order authority to re-establish a key environmental justice board as the Governor’s Environmental Justice Advisory Council. His order is designed to ensure the continuation of this important work through 2024, and be ready for a new governor to pick up and carry on.
The transition is intended to “build upon the success at [the Department of Environmental Quality] and create a forum for environmental justice concerns and opportunities throughout state government and the Governor’s cabinet.”
“The cause of environmental justice began in North Carolina more than forty years ago and this effort will help our state take this challenge head on,” said Governor Cooper. “This Executive Order directs a whole of government approach that listens to communities that are suffering from pollution and the effects of climate change, and takes action to help them become safer, healthier and more sustainable environments.”
From an original order for creation of the environmental justice effort within a single department (the Dept. of Environmental Quality, or DEQ), the new order expands the effort to include all 11 Cabinet-level agencies under the Governor’s authority. The new Council will be composed of 22 individuals, 11 appointed by the Governor and the others made up of the designee of each Cabinet Secretary. The Governor’s appointees are to include (but not be limited to) “representatives of academic institutions, environmental organizations, community organizations, local governments, and American Indian Tribes. The Council should represent the diverse interests, people, and perspectives in North Carolina.”
“We all have a stake in advancing environmental justice for underserved communities overburdened by pollution,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. “As Secretary of the North Carolina DEQ, I was proud to establish the Environmental Justice and Equity Advisory Board. Today, I am thrilled to see that Governor Cooper’s leadership has led to reconstituting the board as the Governor’s Environmental Justice Advisory Council. North Carolina is a national leader in delivering government-wide solutions to our most pressing environmental justice challenges.”
“The environment where we live, work, and play has a tremendous effect on our health throughout our lifetime,” said North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kody H. Kinsley. “Unfortunately, some communities in North Carolina experience greater health impacts from environmental threats. That’s especially true for communities of color. Collaboration across agencies and partnerships with the diverse communities we serve are critical to building a healthier environment for all North Carolinians.”
“People who are poor, brown, Black and Indigenous have suffered from a lack of access to the levers of power,” Sherri White-Williamson, a member of the current advisory board, said at the signing ceremony. “This is an important and welcomed step. There remains much more that North Carolina can do to protect frontline communities from outsized exposures to pollution. Solving these problems will require building greater trust and transparency between state government and impacted communities. And this new board offers an opportunity and perhaps an obligation to do just that.”
Of course, to see this environmental justice work carried on by the next governor requires that the newly elected governor support environmental justice. Declared candidate for governor and current N.C. Attorney General Josh Stein is a vocal supporter of environmental justice work. In contrast, the announced candidate for governor and current N.C. Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson denies even the reality of climate change.
Who we elect in 2024 matters enormously to the environmental future of our state, and especially to our most vulnerable communities disproportionately impacted by pollution.
