Climate Justice Advisory Groups Are in Vogue. But Are State Agencies Listening?
Residents from Brownsville, Brooklyn, disrupted National Grids construction site at the intersection of Junius St. and Linden Boulevard halting their so-called Metropolitan Reliability Infrastructure Project, better known as the North Brooklyn Pipeline, successfully shutting it down for the day, on December 10, 2020.
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As hurricanes flood superfund sites and prompt chemical leaks at oil refineries, corporations and governments can no longer hide the fact that low-income communities of color are disproportionately exposed to industrial toxins and particularly vulnerable to the climate crisis.
In an attempt to address these injustices, state and federal agencies have launched formal groups to advise government agencies, designed to bring in representatives from communities most impacted by the climate crisis in what is often expressed as an effort to make climate policy-making more participatory. The movement for Black lives has amplified attention to countless instances of environmental racism. That same spotlight has also shed light on agencies that decide not to deliver justice when put to the test, leading some members of these groups to question the degree to which the state agencies they advise are actually listening.