Draft GPUS Platform Amendment Environmental Justice

Section title: Environmental Justice

Section subtitle: A safe environment for all Americans

Our position: Greens believe that people of color and the poor should not 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. Aggressive enforcement and prosecution of environmental crimes.

2. Establish environmental crime units in district attorneys' offices in counties with significant pollution problems.

3. Moratoriums on siting new toxic chemical or waste facilities in counties with the greatest exposure to hazardous substances.

4. Stop forcing workers to choose between a hazardous job or no job at all.

5. Stop coercing low-income or minority communities to accept the siting of hazardous materials, or environmentally hazardous practices, to create jobs.

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