MTC Stalls Adoption of EJ Principles

MTC Stalls Adoption of EJ Principles

Earlier this month, the MTC’s Minority Citizens Advisory Committee (MCAC) proposed Environmental Justice Principles before the MTC’s Legislation Committee. The MTC’s Legislation Committee decided to further postpone the adoption and thus, the implementation of the EJ principles. The MCAC has been working for the past year and a half on drafting their proposed set of EJ principles. The effort began as a result of MCAC’s work in reviewing the methodology used in the MTC’s Equity Analysis of the Transportation 2030 Alternatives. The MCAC adopted these principles late in 2004, and voted to submit them to the Commission for its consideration and approval more than a year ago. At that time, however, the Commissioners refused, claiming that the principles wrongly implied that MTC’s distribution of funding was discriminatory. The TJWG will continue to support the MCAC in their efforts to incorporate EJ considerations into all of the MTC’s planning, decision-making, funding and operations.

See below for TJWG letter to MCAC on EJ principles: