Community Right to Know Policy Projects

WEI is working to change public policy in a number of ways. In 2007 we are working with the Minnesota Environmental Partnership, to support legislation which will strengthen Minnesota's Community Right to Know Act and increase its enforcement. and will also continue to support "environmental justice mapping" efforts. This project includes two projects:  state funding for environmental justice mapping and  strengthening and better enforcement of community right to know laws.

(1)  Environmental Justice Mapping
Environmental toxins disproportionately impact low income communities, Native American Indians,  and communities of color.  Women and children experience particular risk, especially during child-bearing years and early childhood when toxic exposure can cause life-altering damage.  Despite federal designation of over 100 Superfund sites throughout the state, recurring air-pollution alerts in high density areas, serious ground water contamination, officially "impaired" rivers and lakes, and increasing evidence of possible environmentally-related diseases, Minnesota lags behind in collecting, examining and correlating environmental exposure data with health and disease data. GIS data on toxic sites at the MN Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) and toxic exposure data at the MN Department of Agriculture have not been correlated with relevant disease data at the MN Department of Health.  As a result all Minnesotans lack access to this evaluation that disproportionately impacts vulnerable communities. WEI will re-introduce "Environmental Justice Mapping" legislation, also known as 'public health tracking".

(2))  Strengthen and Enforce Minnesota's Community Right to Know Law
The existing MN Community Right to Know Act is out-of date and difficult for communities to use.  As federal law right-to-know laws are being weakened, state law requiring both the reporting of toxic releases and their potential health impacts need to be strengthened and better enforced, including protection of "whistle blowers".

THE PROBLEM: Information about toxic substances released into Minnesota's environment has been under-reported and even suppressed by public and private agencies responsible to inform residents about potential exposures.  Thousands of new chemicals and products are being produced and introduced without adequate determination of health-based standards, particularly as they impact children and pregnant woman who are particularly vulnerable to serious and life-long health impacts.  Minnesota's community right-to-know exposure to toxic substances law has not kept up with information about emerging contaminants now being found in our homes, work places and the natural environment.  Enforcement of existing law is weak or non-existent.  Two current examples: 1) Perfluorochemicals produced in Minnesota need to be more thoroughly investigated for contamination of our ground and surface waters, land, and air; both adult and child-based health standards need to be promulgated, and clean-up needs to proceed with greater urgency. 2) Information on the extent of arsenical pesticide contamination in several urban neighborhoods needs to be made public for all potentially exposed residents and health-risk assessments must be done that consider impacts on children, pregnant women, including long-term chronic exposure for both children and adults. WEI's legislation will strengthen our communities' right-to know toxic exposure by expanding toxic release and contamination reporting by public agencies and private sources, better protect "whistle-blowers" in those agencies, require more comprehensive investigation into the potential health impacts caused by toxic exposures, and increase enforcement provisions of the law.

WEI  expects to be joined  by organizations such as  the Lutheran Coalition for Public Policy, Environmental Justice Advocates of MN,  Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, MN Center for Environmental Advocacy and Clean Water Action in this work. We all believe the legislature should create a stronger, more comprehensive Community Right-to-Know state law that empowers communities to better understand and protect their own environmental health and safety.