In light of repeated incidents of anti-Asian hate in the United States, the Applied Economics Clinic reaffirms its statement on racial equity: AEC stands in solidarity with demands for racial justice, without which environmental and economic justice can never be achieved. In this regard, blog posts for this week will center the connection between environmental justice and Asian American communities.
The City of Quincy has the largest Asian American population in the Greater Boston area, second only to Boston itself. Asians make up nearly 30 percent of Quincy’s population. Quincy includes census tracts that meet Massachusetts’ environmental justice communities status for indicators of: Income (Households earn 65 percent or less of the statewide household median income) or Minority (25 percent or more of the residents are racial/ethnic minorities) or both.
Environmental justice status is especially relevant not only as it relates to the rise of anti-Asian sentiment, but also when looking at systemic indicators of racism. Environmental justice, as discussed in a prior AEC blog, is a key issue in formulating measures to mitigate climate change. By viewing climate change through the lens of environmental justice and equity, disproportionate impacts of the climate crisis can be acknowledged and rectified. Quincy is directly impacted by the Weymouth Compressor, a project that would help move gas between two pipelines, delivering gas to New England and Canada. The Weymouth project posed a direct threat via air and noise pollution to Quincy Point and Germantown, two Quincy communities with predominant Asian ethnicities (29.6 and 39.3 percent, respectively). According to October 2020 reporting by a local news station, residents impacted by the project already had “statistically higher rates of cancer, pediatric asthma, and cardiovascular respiratory diseases”, and the compressor station would exacerbate these preexisting conditions.
AEC Senior Economist Liz Stanton provided testimony critiquing the project, however, it was never filed as the Town of Weymouth ultimately settled with the Enbridge, the compressor station’s developer. Nonetheless, the compressor continues to spark controversy. In March 2021, concerns regarding the need for a gas compressor station in Weymouth were elevated to the federal level, with FERC beginning a review process into the compressor. Notably, FERC Chairperson Glick publicly commented on the environmental justice concerns surrounding the compressor.
A rise in Anti-Asian racism at the societal level directly is closely related to these systemic issues, ranging from government exclusion acts to implementing harmful environmental practices to already vulnerable communities. The Weymouth Compressor project has the potential to further perpetuate inequities in environmental justice communities and, more specifically, promote a systematic undermining of underrepresented minorities, like the large Asian community in Quincy.
