Draft GPUS Platform Amendment Environmental Justice

Section title: Environmental Justice

Section subtitle: A safe environment for all.

Our position: Greens believe that no one -- including people of color and the poor -- should be poisoned nor subjected to specially large doses of toxic chemicals.

Low-income citizens and minorities suffer disproportionately from environmental hazards in the workplace, at home, and in their communities. Inadequate laws, lax enforcement of existing environmental regulations, and weak penalties for infractions undermine environmental protection.

Green Solutions

1. Devote greater resources to the enforcement and prosecution of environmental crimes.

2. Add environmental crime units to district attorneys in counties with significant pollution problems.

3. Impose a moratorium on siting new toxic chemical or waste facilities in those counties with the highest percentage exposure to hazardous substances.

4. Never force workers to choose between a hazardous job or no job at all.

5. Prevent communities, especially low-income or minority communities, from being coerced by governmental agencies or corporations into siting hazardous materials, or accepting environmentally hazardous practices in order to create jobs.

6. Precede the siting of hazardous materials or practices with public hearings, conducted in the language of those community members who will be directly affected.