ACTION ALERT
CURB Pollution Act Senate Hearing!
THANK YOU to all of you who signed in PRO for House Bill 1303 (the CURB Pollution Act) before the House Appropriations Committee hearing!
Senate Bill 5380, the Senate version of the CURB Act, will be heard this Friday, Feb. 21, at 10:30am by the Senate Environment, Energy, and Technology Committee.
The CURB Pollution Act can’t be voted on by the full House and Senate unless these committees move them forward. That means we need YOU to help us to move our SB 5380 forward by signing in PRO!
(What does it mean to sign in PRO? It means you enter your name and contact information into a form, where you will also mark your position as PRO to show you support our bill!)
Take action in less than a minute by signing in PRO for CURB! You must sign in at least one hour before the committee hearing—after that the submission form will be closed:
Olympia, WA (Jan. 16, 2024) — Front and Centered coalition members and
staff pose together after a committee hearing for the CURB Pollution Act
What’s the latest on the CURB Act?
Our priority legislation House Bill 1303—a modified version of the CURB Pollution Act—did not make it to the floor for a full House vote. This means that the bill will not advance any further this year. While this is disappointing, we are committed to using the time between now and next session to strengthen our CURB coalition and continue pushing for policies that address the cumulative harm facing Washington’s frontline communities.
We want to extend our deepest gratitude to our supporters (that’s you!) for taking action in support of this environmental justice bill in both the House Environment and Appropriations Committees, as well as the Senate Environment Committee. With your support, we were able to showcase the excitement behind this bill and demonstrate that Washingtonians want and need an environmental justice review as a part of our state’s permitting process. Many different projects and facilities are being propped up across the state, and we need to be able to take a beat, assess any potential harm these projects might bring to community and human health, and deny permits to the most harmful facilities.
We also want to take time to thank and appreciate our legislative champion for HB 1303, Representative Sharlett Mena, and the dedicated staff in Olympia who have worked tirelessly on this effort. There’s a lot of work that takes place behind the scenes at the Capitol, and we wouldn’t be here without their support and expertise.
Stay tuned for more updates or get in touch if you have questions on how you can help us CURB pollution in Washington State!
No matter who you are or where you live, we all deserve to breathe clean air, drink clean water, and be safe from toxic pollution. But across Washington State, communities of color and Indigenous peoples carry the greatest burden when it comes to environmental pollution, affecting their health, well-being, and life expectancy.
Why do our frontline communities face these challenges? It’s because of decades of racist practices that placed polluting facilities in our neighborhoods. It’s because of big businesses who were given permits to pollute by our state government.
Communities that have historically borne the worst effects of pollution due to redlining and institutional racism shouldn’t have to bear the ongoing harm being inflicted on their health, well-being, and even life expectancy today. Yet under current laws, reviews of project proposals that may have an environmental impact are not required to consider the ongoing legacy of environmental racism and the very real health concerns that our state’s most impacted communities face.
We all suffer when we allow these environmental injustices to continue, but we can do something about it! Join us in supporting House Bill 1303.
Key Priorities of the CURB Act
The CURB Act in the News
Environmental justice advocates are hoping lawmakers will move to address pollution in communities surrounded by major industries.
Redlining, racial covenants and other discriminatory mortgage and land-use processes shaped some of the environmental health disparities experienced by some pollution-overburdened communities today — flanked by highways, with limited tree canopy to protect from extreme heat, and downwind of industrial centers.
The Cumulative Risk Burden Pollution Act, or CURB, would require permitting agencies to produce an environmental justice review for all projects. For neighborhoods already exposed to high levels of toxic pollution, it would require a review of the cumulative impacts. It would make permitting agencies require businesses that would add unacceptable levels of pollution in these communities to mitigate the impacts, or the proposed project could be denied.
The bill, as drafted, would deny businesses the ability to claim economics as a public benefit of a potentially toxic project.”
- Conrad Swanson and Isabella Breda, WA Legislature considers climate, environmental bills this session, The Seattle Times, January 13, 2025
A Thank You, and Next Steps
Thank you for an amazing 2024 legislative session!
During this year’s short legislative session, we saw tremendous support for the Cumulative Risk Burden (CURB) Pollution Act. Besides the twenty-eight partners and member organizations who formally endorsed our campaign, we saw many other organizations show their support, and crucially, we are so thankful to the thousands of you who took action by contacting lawmakers and signing in PRO for CURB.
Unfortunately, it’s usually very hard to get a bill out of committee the first year that it is introduced, especially during a short session. But thanks to your overwhelming support, the momentum behind the CURB Act will be significant as we head into the 2025 legislative session!
We can’t wait to bring the CURB Act back, but until we do, check down below for ways you can stay in the loop and be a part of the movement to CURB pollution!
Sign Up for Updates
Join the Movement
Do you represent an organization that would like to join us in curbing pollution? Complete this form to endorse the CURB Act and join our campaign listserv for email updates! Your participation is meaningful and strengthens our campaign to allow everyone in Washington to live in a healthy and safe environment no matter who they are, what language they speak, or where they live. Thank you!
Endorsements
Resources
The CURB Act: Background and Brief Summary
CURB Act Briefing (November 2023)
Thank you so much for the enthusiastic response to our first policy briefing on CURB! Those who joined us learned about the next phase of ensuring that cumulative impacts analysis is a core part of our state’s environmental justice strategies.
Attendees heard from environmental justice trailblazer Charles Lee and Just Solutions Collective’s Zully Juarez, who provided a national perspective. We were also joined by Dr. Todd Wildermuth, Director of the UW Environmental Law Program, as well as Front and Centered coalition members and staff who laid out challenges and opportunities for policy change in Washington State.
“A testimonial could go here.”
— Firstname, a Front and Centered member in Citytown
