Connecticut Coalition for
Environmental Justice

Connecticut's Environmental Justice Law

In May 2008, after five years of advocacy by CT Coalition for Environmental Justice, the CT legislature passed the state's first major environmental justice law. The law, that went into effective January 1, 2009, recognizes 25 low income towns (called distressed municipalities) and low income neighborhoods in 34 other Connecticut towns as environmental justice communities. If certain types of major polluting facilities are proposed in these neighborhoods, the applicant for a permit from the Department of Environmental Protection or the Siting Council would be required to do two things before building or expanding one of these facilities: 

-- They would be required to get approval for an enhanced public outreach plan, to include a public meeting to explain what is being proposed at least 60 days before the agency makes its decision, and

-- They would negotiate with the chief elected official and the environmental justice community about environmental benefits to offset some of the proposed environmental hazards. These optional benefits may include funding for environmental education, diesel reduction, walking or biking trails, or urban forestry.

Read more about the new law on the CCEJ website; or you can link directly to the full text of CT's new EJ law, an Act Concerning Environmental Justice Communities and Storage of Asbestos-Containing Materials.