The nation is finally beginning to grapple with the widespread disparities in public health, economic opportunity, and community well-being across race and class that stem from longstanding systems of oppression and injustice. As systems thinkers, CPR's Board, staff, and Member Scholars have devoted considerable time to researching and understanding the roots of these inequities, considering the disproportionate impacts on frontline communities, and advocating for just policy reform.
Our Regulation as Social Justice project is an example. It recognizes that EPA, OSHA, and other "protector agencies" have a vital role to play in preventing harm to people and the environment through their statutory authority to adopt and enforce regulations. As they exercise that authority, agencies also have the capacity, indeed the moral obligation, to redress environmental and public health injustices by prioritizing the needs of overburdened communities in the development of their regulatory agenda and enforcement policies.
In this project and in all our work, the analysis and commentary that our staff and Member Scholars produce is infused with values of justice and equity. But over the past year-plus, we have been engaged in a thoughtful self-critique about how we do our work and whose voices and interests are a part of it. Last week, we took an important step toward realizing our potential. Our Board of Directors voted unanimously to adopt the following statement on justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion, developed in partnership with our staff:
Pursuing justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) is a moral imperative for CPR. Inadequate regulatory safeguards and disparities in implementation and enforcement of public interest laws disproportionately harm vulnerable communities, especially people of color and low-wealth families. We recognize these injustices are born of longstanding systemic inequalities, and are forms of continued systemic oppression.
CPR is committed to working with communities that experience disproportionate harm from existing and emerging environmental hazards, from climate change to workplace safety risks. Their lived experiences, CPR's analytical capabilities, and our collaborative advocacy can enhance federal, state, and local government responses to those hazards. Since the government has failed to provide the necessary access, information, and resources for these communities to influence policy development and legal implementation, CPR is also committed to identifying legal reforms that enhance their influence in government and access to the courts.
By incorporating JEDI principles into CPR's work, we will position ourselves to most effectively and thoughtfully protect and strengthen health, safety, and environmental safeguards and empower the people whose lives depend on them.
This statement embodies our overall commitment to JEDI values, and we are working to implement that commitment with more specific goals and activities addressing how we collaborate internally, how we work with partner organizations, what projects we take on, and more.
As we work to contribute to the ongoing American enterprise of building a just and equitable society, we are mindful of the monumental achievements of the many who have gone before us – men and women upon whose shoulders we have the good fortune to stand today. We are grateful, too, to the many people and organizations who have done inspirational and pathbreaking work in the field of JEDI-focused organizational change.
As we go forward, we invite all to let us know how we're doing and to hold us accountable.
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Matt Shudtz | August 3, 2020
The nation is finally beginning to grapple with the widespread disparities in public health, economic opportunity, and community well-being across race and class that stem from longstanding systems of oppression and injustice. As systems thinkers, CPR's Board, staff, and Member Scholars have devoted considerable time to researching and understanding the roots of these inequities, considering the disproportionate impacts on frontline communities, and advocating for just policy reform.
Brian Gumm, Matt Shudtz | August 3, 2020
Based on its current projected path, Tropical Storm Isaias could bring heavy rains up and down the East Coast, from the Carolinas and Virginia to the Delmarva Peninsula, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. Along the way, the storm could swamp industrial facilities, coal ash ponds, concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), and more. From Hurricane Florence to Hurricane Harvey and beyond, in the past 15 years, we've seen numerous tropical storms flood unprepared facilities. This has caused significant infrastructure damage and unleashed toxic floodwaters into nearby communities and waterways, threatening public health and making residents sick.
Katie Tracy | July 29, 2020
Workers presently have no right to bring a lawsuit against employers under the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act) for failing to provide safe and healthy working conditions. If an employer exposes workers to toxic chemicals or fails to guard a dangerous machine, for example, they must rely on the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to inspect, find a violation, and issue a citation. This omission in the 1970 statute is especially troubling in the context of COVID-19, as workers across the United States continue to face a massive workplace health crisis without any meaningful support from OSHA or most of its state and territorial counterparts. As the pandemic makes crystal clear, workers need and deserve the right to step up and enforce the law when OSHA is unable or unwilling to do its job. In a new CPR report, CPR Member Scholars Michael Duff, Thomas McGarity, Sidney Shapiro, Rena Steinzor, and I call on Congress to update the OSH Act and provide workers with a private right of action.
Joel A. Mintz | July 29, 2020
In an article headlined, "Dozens of facilities skipping out on EPA pollution monitoring have prior offenses," The Hill reported the following on Wednesday: "More than 50 facilities across the country that have faced enforcement actions for alleged Clean Water Act violations are among those taking advantage of an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) policy that lets companies forgo pollution monitoring during the pandemic, an analysis by The Hill found. The temporary EPA policy, announced in March, says industrial, municipal and other facilities do not have to report pollution discharges if they can demonstrate their ability to do so has been limited by the coronavirus. The Hill first reported that 352 facilities have skipped water pollution monitoring requirements under the policy, which applies to air pollution as well. Of those facilities, 55 have faced formal enforcement actions in the past five years from either the EPA or state regulators." As disturbing as this news is, it is absolutely no surprise.
James Goodwin | July 28, 2020
Today, a group of 136 law professors from across the United States, including 31 Center for Progressive Reform (CPR) Member Scholars, will send a letter to congressional leaders urging them to “ensure that our courthouse doors remain open to all Americans for injuries they suffer from negligence during the COVID-19 pandemic.” The letter, spearheaded by CPR Member Scholars Dan Farber and Michael Duff, comes in response to a push by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other corporate special interests to include a “federal liability shield” in the next COVID relief bill, which is now being negotiated in Congress. This shield would prevent ordinary Americans from holding corporations accountable in the civil courts when their unreasonably dangerous actions cause people to become sick with the virus.
James Goodwin | July 22, 2020
Donald Trump is no stranger to leaving things worse off than he found them, and this is precisely what his administration now aims to do with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), not just one of the most successful government institutions in the history of the United States, but indeed the world. Having worked quickly, if not sloppily, to dismantle every vestige of the Obama administration's efforts to promote cleaner air and water, the Trump EPA is now heading down a path of self-destruction. The agency's proposed "benefits-busting" rule, released early last month, is a big part of this campaign.
Katlyn Schmitt | July 21, 2020
The Maryland Department of the Environment recently issued a general discharge permit that covers pollution from most livestock farms, including concentrated animal feeding operations, across the state through July 2025. Unfortunately, the permit, which went into effect on July 8th, will likely jeopardize the 2025 nitrogen reduction goals under the Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load and does not align with Maryland’s Phase III Watershed Implementation Plan commitments.
Alexandra Klass | July 21, 2020
In late June, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison acted in the state's tradition of guarding the public interest when he filed a consumer protection lawsuit against three of the nation’s largest fossil fuel entities — ExxonMobil, Koch Industries, and the American Petroleum Institute (API). In the lawsuit, he seeks to recover civil penalties and restitution for the harm to Minnesotans caused by these companies’ decades-long efforts to intentionally mislead the public about the relationship between fossil fuels, the climate crisis, and the resulting harm to public health, agriculture, infrastructure, and the environment.
Darya Minovi | July 13, 2020
Nine months ago, residents of the Chicago suburb of Willowbrook, Illinois, scored a major victory in their fight to prevent emissions of a dangerous gas, ethylene oxide, into the air they breathe. In fact, their victory appeared to have ripple effects in other communities. But like so many other aspects of life in the midst of a pandemic, things changed in a hurry.