LWVPA Applauds Executive Order To Create Office Of Environmental Justice

Contact:
Kathy Cook, Director of Environmental Policy
League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania 
environmentalpolicy@pawlv.org

The League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania (LWVPA) applauds the October 28 Executive Order (2021-07) establishing the Pennsylvania Office of Environmental Justice (OEJ). Governor Wolf’s action establishes a means to formally expand the same protections from environmental hazards to everyone. The Commonwealth is accountable for providing a safe and clean environment for all communities and correcting environmental injustice. No community should bear the undue costs of industrial pollution at the expense of another’s protection from it. 

LWVPA joins the Pennsylvania Black Caucus, Pennsylvania Utility Law Project and other stakeholders in supporting the formation of this office. The new Office of Environmental Justice will be part of the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). Establishment of a 15 member Environmental Justice Interagency Council (EJIC) brings critical voices from disenfranchised and at risk communities into the environmental policy-making process. 

Legislation to codify the OEJ is being introduced by the Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus. We support this legislation, which will further address the policy concerns of these burdened communities and develop a task force and action plan to strengthen policies and build awareness of environmental justice issues. We support this legislation. 

The League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania and its members are committed to nonpartisanship and to diversity, equity, and inclusion policies. We support and promote a just society and the rights of every individual to health, wellbeing, and a voice in their government. We support the work of OEJ and DEP to protect our environment and combat climate change. It is our responsibility to ensure that our path to a clean environment in Pennsylvania is inclusive of everyone.