•HRES 479 IH 
Whereas inequities in environmental protection based on race 
and income status are recognized across the United 
States; 
Whereas research has shown that income and race are di-
rectly correlated to greater exposure to pollution, closer 
proximity to toxic pollution sources, and greater health 
impacts from particulate matter air pollution; 
Whereas African-Americans, Hispanics, and Asians are ex-
posed to greater air toxics concentrations than Whites in 
every metropolitan city in the United States; 
Whereas communities with a higher percentage of low-income 
citizens bear a disproportionate level of society’s environ-
mental burdens; 
Whereas race, independent of poverty, is a predictor of great-
er exposure to environmental toxics; 
Whereas minority, low-income, and tribal communities are 
more exposed to air pollution from highways, power 
plants, incinerators, landfills, waste sites, and vehicle de-
pots in these communities; 
Whereas 68 percent of African-Americans and 39 percent of 
Latinos live within 30 miles of a coal plant; 
Whereas tribal communities are disproportionately exposed to 
pollution and health burdens across the United States 
due to siting of pollution sources, cultural activities, and 
legal gaps in the regulatory framework; 
Whereas environmental mitigation in tribal communities is 
behind that of nontribal communities in the United 
States; 
Whereas inner-city, low-income, and minority children have 
the highest asthma rates and subsequent asthma-related 
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•HRES 479 IH 
death rates resulting from greater exposure to indoor and 
outdoor air pollutants; 
Whereas cumulative effects such as substandard housing and 
inadequate health care can increase vulnerability to pollu-
tion; 
Whereas climate change is one of the biggest public health 
threats of this century, disproportionately impacting com-
munities less able to recover from extreme weather events 
that are caused and exacerbated by climate change; 
Whereas low-income communities, tribal communities, and 
communities of color have greater climate vulnerability 
due in part to lack of health care, dependence on public 
transportation and other public services, higher energy 
costs, less-than-adequate protection from severe weather, 
and higher insurance costs; 
Whereas risk factors for heat-related deaths are higher for 
people with low incomes and people of color, and climate 
change will lead to an increase in frequency and intensity 
of heat waves, and a stronger heat island effect; and 
Whereas reducing greenhouse gas emissions and building cli-
mate resiliency in low-income, minority, and tribal com-
munities can create economic stability through good jobs 
in clean energy, energy efficiency, and green infrastruc-
ture industries: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) commemorates the achievements of the en-
vironmental justice movement over the last 20 years, 
including— 
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•HRES 479 IH 
(A) the institution of an environmental jus-
tice law, Executive order, or policy by the 50 
States and the District of Columbia; 
(B) the reinstatement of the Federal Inter-
agency Working Group, Federal agency stra-
tegic plans, and Plan EJ 2014; 
(C) the growth in the number of publica-
tions, research, and university-based environ-
mental justice centers, legal clinics, and aca-
demic programs; and 
(D) the over 3,000 groups and a dozen 
networks of community-based organizations 
that have formed; 
(2) affirms that Congress should uphold the 
principles of environmental and climate justice by— 
(A) recognizing that legislation passed by 
Congress has foreseeable and unforeseeable ef-
fects on the existing disparities between com-
munities of differing socioeconomic statuses and 
racial composition; 
(B) committing to policies and practices 
that protect the health, economic vitality, and 
human and civil rights of low-income, tribal, 
and minority communities; and 
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•HRES 479 IH 
(C) creating policies that proactively ad-
dress climate vulnerabilities and promote resil-
iency in low-income, tribal, and minority com-
munities; and 
(3) urges the President to— 
(A) explicitly address environmental justice 
issues in his climate change initiatives; 
(B) commit to focusing on greater over-
sight and supporting Federal agency advance-
ment of environmental justice; and 
(C) work with tribal leaders and commu-
nities to address their unique environmental 
justice concerns. 
Æ 
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