Corporations concentrate their industrial pollution in Black and brown communities, which has compounding harms for public health—leading to high rates of cancer, respiratory diseases, infant mortality, and more.

To end this environmental racism and protect our public health from corporate polluters, Rep. Rashida Tlaib just reintroduced the Cumulative Impacts Act.

When approving new polluting facilities, the EPA doesn’t currently take into account the cumulative impacts—the public health and environmental effects of past, present, and future pollution releases in the community.

The Cumulative Impacts Act would require the EPA to analyze cumulative impacts in permitting decisions under the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act, and deny permit applications unless the applicant can demonstrate a reasonable certainty of no harm to the community or vulnerable groups.

This legislation will protect and empower residents of frontline communities who are living with the devastating effects of climate change and fossil fuel development. That includes residents of Dearborn’s South End, which is home to an extreme concentration of corporate polluters that sit directly across from schools, homes, and playgrounds.

Samra’a Luqman, a community advocate in the neighborhood, says: “We refuse to continue being the nation’s dumping ground for industries and corporations in the name of corporate greed. My family and our neighbors deserve to breathe clean air and drink clean water as basic human rights, and we need new laws that will put the well-being of impacted communities before the profits of the companies poisoning us.”

We all deserve to breathe clean air and drink clean water. Where pollution occurs is a policy choice, and we can change the EPA’s permitting process to put people’s health first—particularly in communities already overburdened by air and water pollution.

The Cumulative Impacts Act would require the EPA to consider the cumulative harms of pollution in an area before granting permits for polluting facilities—and to deny permits for facilities that would endanger public health. This would be a revolutionary, transformative change for our neighbors who just want to breathe clean air.