Statement on Governor Northam’s Threat to Dissolve Council on Environmental Justice Because He Cannot Control It
Virginia- After attempts to derail it, Governor Ralph Northam’s (D-Va.) Advisory Council on Environmental Justice (ACEJ) raised significant concerns regarding the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP). The report released on 8/16 by the Governor’s task force has called for a halt on new gas infrastructure project while a proposed emergency task force would review the evidence it has found of “disproportionate impacts for people of color and for low-income populations due to gas infrastructure expansion.”
In response, the Governor is now threatening to in effect dissolve the ACEJ.
The following is a statement by Orin Langelle of Global Justice Ecology Project:
“As a photographer I have been invited by members of the community to document the injustice of Dominion’s proposed pipeline.
“Global Justice Ecology Project assisted in getting out ACEJ’s message which was meant to alert Governor Northam about the environmental and environmental justice abuses associated with the Atlantic Coast Pipeline.
“I know that many in the community who often have felt marginalized or discounted held out hope that the ACEJ would be a voice for them and a voice for justice.
“It is despicable that instead of embracing the report, the Governor chooses to threaten to disband the ACEJ because they have chosen to do their job and refuse to be coopted by a Governor clearly more interested in political expediency than justice.”
