[House Hearing, 116 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]




    POLLUTION AND PANDEMICS: COVID-19'S DISPROPORTIONATE IMPACT ON 
                   ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE COMMUNITIES

=======================================================================

                            VIRTUAL HEARING

                               BEFORE THE

             SUBCOMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT AND CLIMATE CHANGE

                                 OF THE

                    COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE
                        HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                     ONE HUNDRED SIXTEENTH CONGRESS

                             SECOND SESSION

                               __________

                              JUNE 9, 2020

                               __________

                           Serial No. 116-112


		 [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

      Printed for the use of the Committee on Energy and Commerce

                   govinfo.gov/committee/house-energy
                        energycommerce.house.gov
                        
                        
                        
                               __________
                               
                   U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
			       
44-852 			    WASHINGTON : 2021
                        
                        
                        
                        
                        
                        
                    COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE

                     FRANK PALLONE, Jr., New Jersey
                                 Chairman
BOBBY L. RUSH, Illinois              GREG WALDEN, Oregon
ANNA G. ESHOO, California              Ranking Member
ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York             FRED UPTON, Michigan
DIANA DeGETTE, Colorado              JOHN SHIMKUS, Illinois
MIKE DOYLE, Pennsylvania             MICHAEL C. BURGESS, Texas
JAN SCHAKOWSKY, Illinois             STEVE SCALISE, Louisiana
G. K. BUTTERFIELD, North Carolina    ROBERT E. LATTA, Ohio
DORIS O. MATSUI, California          CATHY McMORRIS RODGERS, Washington
KATHY CASTOR, Florida                BRETT GUTHRIE, Kentucky
JOHN P. SARBANES, Maryland           PETE OLSON, Texas
JERRY McNERNEY, California           DAVID B. McKINLEY, West Virginia
PETER WELCH, Vermont                 ADAM KINZINGER, Illinois
BEN RAY LUJAN, New Mexico            H. MORGAN GRIFFITH, Virginia
PAUL TONKO, New York                 GUS M. BILIRAKIS, Florida
YVETTE D. CLARKE, New York, Vice     BILL JOHNSON, Ohio
    Chair                            BILLY LONG, Missouri
DAVID LOEBSACK, Iowa                 LARRY BUCSHON, Indiana
KURT SCHRADER, Oregon                BILL FLORES, Texas
JOSEPH P. KENNEDY III,               SUSAN W. BROOKS, Indiana
    Massachusetts                    MARKWAYNE MULLIN, Oklahoma
TONY CARDENAS, California            RICHARD HUDSON, North Carolina
RAUL RUIZ, California                TIM WALBERG, Michigan
SCOTT H. PETERS, California          EARL L. ``BUDDY'' CARTER, Georgia
DEBBIE DINGELL, Michigan             JEFF DUNCAN, South Carolina
MARC A. VEASEY, Texas                GREG GIANFORTE, Montana
ANN M. KUSTER, New Hampshire
ROBIN L. KELLY, Illinois
NANETTE DIAZ BARRAGAN, California
A. DONALD McEACHIN, Virginia
LISA BLUNT ROCHESTER, Delaware
DARREN SOTO, Florida
TOM O'HALLERAN, Arizona
                                 ------                                

                           Professional Staff

                   JEFFREY C. CARROLL, Staff Director
                TIFFANY GUARASCIO, Deputy Staff Director
                MIKE BLOOMQUIST, Minority Staff Director
             Subcommittee on Environment and Climate Change

                          PAUL TONKO, New York
                                 Chairman
YVETTE D. CLARKE, New York           JOHN SHIMKUS, Illinois
SCOTT H. PETERS, California            Ranking Member
NANETTE DIAZ BARRAGAN, California    CATHY McMORRIS RODGERS, Washington
A. DONALD McEACHIN, Virginia         DAVID B. McKINLEY, West Virginia
LISA BLUNT ROCHESTER, Delaware       BILL JOHNSON, Ohio
DARREN SOTO, Florida                 BILLY LONG, Missouri
DIANA DeGETTE, Colorado              BILL FLORES, Texas
JAN SCHAKOWSKY, Illinois             MARKWAYNE MULLIN, Oklahoma
DORIS O. MATSUI, California          EARL L. ``BUDDY'' CARTER, Georgia
JERRY McNERNEY, California           JEFF DUNCAN, South Carolina
RAUL RUIZ, California, Vice Chair    GREG WALDEN, Oregon (ex officio)
DEBBIE DINGELL, Michigan
FRANK PALLONE, Jr., New Jersey (ex 
    officio)
                             C O N T E N T S

                              ----------                              
                                                                   Page
Hon. Paul Tonko, a Representative in Congress from the State of 
  New York, opening statement....................................     2
    Prepared statement...........................................     3
Hon. John Shimkus, a Representative in Congress from the State of 
  Illinois, opening statement....................................     4
    Prepared statement...........................................     6
Hon. Frank Pallone, Jr., a Representative in Congress from the 
  State of New Jersey, opening statement.........................     7
    Prepared statement...........................................     8
Hon. Greg Walden, a Representative in Congress from the State of 
  Oregon, opening statement......................................    10
    Prepared statement...........................................    12

                               Witnesses

Jacqueline Patterson, Senior Director, Environmental and Climate 
  Justice Program, National Association for the Advancement of 
  Colored People.................................................    13
    Prepared statement...........................................    16
    Answers to submitted questions...............................   100
Mustafa Santiago Ali, Vice President, National Wildlife 
  Federation.....................................................    18
    Prepared statement...........................................    20
    Answers to submitted questions...............................   101
Shay Hawkins, President, Opportunity Funds Association...........    25
    Prepared statement...........................................    27
    Answers to submitted questions \1\...........................   104

                           Submitted Material

Letter of June 8, 2020, from Andrew R. Wheeler, Administrator, 
  Environmental Protection Administration, to Mr. Pallone, et 
  al., submitted by Mr. Shimkus..................................    75
Letter of May 13, 2020, from Susan Parker Bodine, Assistant 
  Administrator for Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, 
  Environmental Protection Administration, to Letitia James, 
  Attorney General of New York, submitted by Mr. Shimkus.........    78
Letter of June 8, 2020, from Andrew R. Wheeler, Administrator, 
  Environmental Protection Administration, to Members of 
  Congress, submitted by Mr. Shimkus.............................    84
Letter of August 23, 2018, from Steve Benjamin, President, and 
  Tom Cochran, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director, 
  U.S. Conference of Mayors, to David J. Kautter, Acting 
  Commissioner, Internal Revenue Service, submitted by Mr. 
  Shimkus........................................................    86
Report of the Association of Air Pollution Control 
  Agencies,``State Air Trends & Successes: The StATS Report, 2020 
  Edition,'' submitted by Mr. Shimkus \2\

----------

\1\ Mr. Hawkins did not answer submitted questions for the record by 
the time of publication.
\2\ The report has been retained in committee files and also is 
available at https://docs.house.gov/meetings/IF/IF18/20200609/110773/
HHRG-116-IF18-20200609-SD011.pdf.
Letter of June 9,2020, from Kerene N. Taylor, Esq., Director of 
  Federal Legislative Affairs, and Caitlin Buchanan, Federal 
  Policy Associate, WE ACT for Environmental Justice, to Mr. 
  Pallone, et al., submitted by Mr. Tonko........................    90
Letter of June 9, 2020, from Omega Wilson, West End 
  Revitalization Association, to Mr. Pallone, et al., submitted 
  by Mr. Tonko...................................................    93
Report of the Environmental Protection Agency, ``Our Nation's 
  Air: EPA Celebrates 50 Years!,'' June 2020, submitted by Mr. 
  Tonko \3\
Letter of May 20, 2020, from Tammy Duckworth, U.S. Senator, and 
  Ms. Blunt Rochester, et al., to Andrew R. Wheeler, 
  Administrator, Environmental Protection Administration, 
  submitted by Mr. Tonko.........................................    95

----------

\3\ The report has been retained in committee files and also is 
available at https://docs.house.gov/meetings/IF/IF18/20200609/110773/
HHRG-116-IF18-20200609-SD004.pdf.

 
    POLLUTION AND PANDEMICS: COVID-19'S DISPROPORTIONATE IMPACT ON 
                   ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE COMMUNITIES

                              ----------                              


                         TUESDAY, JUNE 9, 2020

                  House of Representatives,
    Subcommittee on Environment and Climate Change,
                          Committee on Energy and Commerce,
                                                    Washington, DC.
    The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 12:00 p.m., via 
Cisco Webex online video conferencing, Hon. Paul Tonko 
(chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.
    Members present: Representatives Tonko, Clarke, Peters, 
Barragan, McEachin, Blunt Rochester, Soto, DeGette, Schakowsky, 
Matsui, McNerney, Ruiz, Dingell, Pallone (ex officio), Shimkus 
(subcommittee ranking member), Rodgers, McKinley, Johnson, 
Flores, Mullin, Carter, Duncan, and Walden (ex officio).
    Also present: Representatives Rush, Castor, Sarbanes, 
Kennedy, and Burgess.
    Staff present: Jeffrey C. Carroll, Staff Director; 
Jacqueline Cohen, Chief Environment Counsel; Adam Fischer, 
Policy Analyst; Waverly Gordon, Deputy Chief Counsel; Tiffany 
Guarascio, Deputy Staff Director; Anthony Gutierrez, 
Professional Staff Member; Caitlin Haberman, Professional Staff 
Member; Rick Kessler, Senior Advisor and Staff Director, Energy 
and Environment; Brendan Larkin, Policy Coordinator; Dustin J. 
Maghamfar, Air and Climate Counsel; Elysa Montfort, Press 
Secretary; Joe Orlando, Executive Assistant; Kaitlyn Peel, 
Digital Director; Tim Robinson, Chief Counsel; Nikki Roy, 
Policy Coordinator; Jen Barblan, Minority Chief Counsel, 
Oversight and Investigations; Mike Bloomquist, Minority Staff 
Director; Jerry Couri, Minority Deputy Chief Counsel, 
Environment and Climate Change; Jordan Davis, Minority Senior 
Advisor; Theresa Gambo, Minority Financial and Office 
Administrator; Tyler Greenberg, Minority Staff Assistant; 
Tiffany Haverly, Minority Communications Director; Peter 
Kielty, Minority General Counsel; Mary Martin, Minority Chief 
Counsel, Environment and Climate Change; Brandon Mooney, 
Minority Deputy Chief Counsel, Energy; and Brannon Rains, 
Minority Legislative Clerk.
    Mr. Tonko. Good afternoon.
    The Subcommittee on Environment and Climate Change will now 
come to order. Today, the subcommittee is holding a hearing 
entitled ``Pollution and Pandemics: COVID-19's Disproportionate 
Impacts on Environmental Justice Communities.''
    Due to the COVID-19 public health emergency, today's 
hearing is being held remotely. All Members and witnesses will 
be participating via video conferencing. As part of our 
hearing, microphones will be set on mute for purposes of 
eliminating inadvertent background noise. Members and 
witnesses, you will need to unmute your microphone each time 
you wish to speak. Documents for the record can be sent to Adam 
Fischer at the email address we have provided to staff. All 
documents will be entered into the record at the conclusion of 
the hearing.
    I now recognize myself for 5 minutes for an opening 
statement.

   OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. PAUL TONKO, A REPRESENTATIVE IN 
              CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF NEW YORK

    COVID-19 obviously has drawn a lot of attention, and as an 
epidemic, we know that it has exposed and, in many cases, 
worsened long-standing environmental injustices. Communities 
exposed to particulate matter and other air pollutants that 
cause asthma, COPD, and other respiratory illnesses are now at 
even greater risk of death from COVID-19, a devastating illness 
that we know is disproportionately impacting communities and 
affecting minority and low-income communities.
    According to a recent CDC analysis, African Americans 
represented 33 percent of COVID-hospitalized patients and 
nearly a quarter of COVID deaths, despite only comprising 18 
percent of the communities studied. These disparities are even 
greater in certain communities. EPA has taken numerous 
deregulatory actions over the past 3\1/2\ years, including 
adopting a nonenforcement policy during the pandemic, leaving 
many communities wondering who, if anyone, will stand up to 
protect their health and their safety from very real and 
lasting harm.
    Our members of this subcommittee have made environmental 
justice a top priority, and we are committed to ensuring 
environmental justice is central to our work moving forward.
    I want to recognize and thank several of our subcommittee 
members, in particular, Dr. Ruiz and Mr. McEachin, who fought 
to include language in the HEROES Act to codify EPA's 
environmental justice grants program, and provide up to $50 
million to build capacity of environmental justice community 
groups. The HEROES Act also requires States and utilities 
receiving Federal emergency funds to take steps to prevent 
water and energy shutoffs for the duration of the COVID-19 
emergency and establishes a new program to help people with 
payments for drinking water and wastewater expenses. I want to 
recognize Mrs. Dingell for her leadership on these vital 
measures.
    These are good and important policies, but this work is 
nowhere close to done. Communities that have long faced the 
worst injustices continue to suffer more air pollution and 
vulnerability to our changing climate. Our approach must be 
equal to this challenge, building a comprehensive strategy that 
works to restore environmental justice for communities of color 
and low-income neighborhoods.
    Today, we will hear from experts on how COVID is impacting 
communities that already face disproportionate harms from 
pollution. We welcome Ms. Patterson and Mr. Shay to the 
subcommittee, and welcome back Mr. Ali. Thank you for grounding 
us in this timely and necessary discussion as we grapple with 
our national history and presence of systemic racism. We need 
to deepen our awareness of our environmental policies and their 
disproportional consequences.
    There is a reason we call this convening a hearing. As 
Members of Congress, we need to listen, listen to the 
communities who have felt these unfair, unjust impacts for 
decades, listen to the experts who have done the work for years 
and are best prepared to offer meaningful perspectives and 
material solutions. And we must resolve to hear them, and then 
act accordingly to address these longstanding harms.
    I look forward to hearing your perspectives on the 
intersection of environmental justice and COVID-19.
    And I yield the remaining time to one of the great leaders 
in Congress on this issue, the subcommittee vice chair, Dr. 
Ruiz.
    [The prepared statement of Mr. Tonko follows:]

                 Prepared Statement of Hon. Paul Tonko

    We know the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed and, in many 
cases, worsened longstanding environmental injustices.
    Communities exposed to particulate matter and other air 
pollutants that cause asthma, C.O.P.D., and other respiratory 
illnesses are now at even greater risk of death from COVID-19, 
a devastating illness that we know is disproportionately 
affecting minority and low-income communities.
    According to a recent CDC analysis, African Americans 
represented 33 percent of COVID hospitalized patients, and 
nearly a quarter of COVID deaths, despite only comprising 18 
percent of the communities studied. These disparities are even 
greater in certain communities.
    EPA has taken numerous deregulatory actions over the past 
three and a half years, including adopting a nonenforcement 
policy during the pandemic, leaving many communities wondering 
who, if anyone, will stand up to protect their health and 
safety from very real and lasting harm.
    Our members of this subcommittee have made environmental 
justice a top priority, and we are committed to ensuring 
environmental justice is central to our work moving forward.
    I want to recognize and thank several of our subcommittee 
members. In particular, Dr. Ruiz and Mr. McEachin, who fought 
to include language in the HEROES Act to codify EPA's 
environmental justice grant program and provide up to $50 
million to build capacity of environmental justice community 
groups.
    The HEROES Act also requires States and utilities receiving 
federal emergency funds to take steps to prevent water and 
energy shutoffs for the duration of the COVID-19 emergency and 
establishes a new program to help people with payments for 
drinking water and wastewater expenses. I want to recognize 
Mrs. Dingell for her leadership on these vital measures.
    These are good and important policies, but this work is 
nowhere close to done.
    Communities that have long faced the worst injustices 
continue to suffer more air pollution and vulnerability to our 
changing climate.
    Our approach must be equal to this challenge, building a 
comprehensive strategy that works to restore environmental 
justice for communities of color and low-income neighborhoods.
    Today, we will hear from experts on how COVID is impacting 
communities that already face disproportionate harms from 
pollution.
    We welcome Ms. Patterson and Mr. Shays to the subcommittee, 
and welcome back Mr. Ali.
    Thank you for grounding us in this timely and necessary 
discussion.
    As we grapple with our national history--and present--of 
systemic racism, we need to deepen our awareness of our 
environmental policies and their disproportional consequences.
    There is a reason we call this convening a ``hearing.'' As 
Members of Congress, we need to listen. Listen to the 
communities who have felt these unfair, unjust impacts for 
decades. Listen to the experts who have done this work for 
years and are best prepared to offer meaningful perspectives 
and material solutions.
    And we must resolve to hear them and then act accordingly 
to address these longstanding harms.
    I look forward to hearing your perspectives on the 
intersection of environmental justice and COVID-19, and I yield 
the remaining time to one of the great leaders in Congress on 
these issues, the subcommittee vice chair, Dr. Ruiz.

    Mr. Tonko. Dr. Ruiz.
    Mr. Ruiz. Thank you, Chairman Tonko and the witnesses, for 
joining us today.
    COVID-19 has exacerbated what we have known all along, that 
low-income rural communities and minority communities have 
greater disparities in health. One reason is because they are 
more likely to experience environmental justice 
disproportionately, breathing polluted air, and drinking dirty 
water due to neglect or decisions by others that affect their 
environment. That is why I introduced H.R. 6692, the 
Environmental Justice COVID-19 Act, which would authorize $50 
million for EPA EJ grant programs to monitor pollution and 
investigate the impact of COVID-19 on environmental justice 
communities.
    I also introduced the comprehensive H.R. 3923, the 
Environmental Justice Act of 2019, which requires agencies to 
consider the environmental justice implications of their 
programs, policies and activities to help protect our 
communities and vulnerable populations. I want to thank Mr. 
Ali, one of our witnesses here today, who worked with us on 
this bill.
    As a physician and someone who represents constituents who 
have experience too many environmental injustices, I am 
committed to working with members of this committee to create a 
cleaner and healthier environment for all.
    Thank you. I yield back.
    Chairman, you are on mute.
    Mr. Tonko. I will learn this thing eventually.
    The Chair now recognizes Mr. Shimkus, ranking member of the 
Subcommittee on Environment and Climate Change. Good to see 
you, Mr. Ranking Member, and the floor is yours for 5 minutes 
for an opening statement.
    You need to unmute.

  OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN SHIMKUS, A REPRESENTATIVE IN 
              CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF ILLINOIS

    Mr. Shimkus. Thank you.
    I am in DC with Congress Member McKinley and Congressman 
Johnson. I did check the doors to 2123. You did have them 
locked this time, so that is why we are down here, and it is 
great to be with you.
    An important hearing. I know Doc Burgess also asked for 
racial disparities on health outcomes, so this kind of merges 
along with Dr. Burgess's request, and he is joining us and 
waiving on to the hearing today.
    Today's hearing topic is especially timely, given all that 
the Nation has confronted in recent weeks. Amid the human toil 
of the pandemic from disease and deaths and unprecedented 
economic shutdown, our Nation is now having raw and necessary 
conversations in response to George Floyd's tragic and 
unnecessary death.
    Against this backdrop, this hearing aims to explore the 
impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on minority, low-income and 
other disadvantaged communities around the Nation. I agree with 
the chairman's comments announcing the hearing that we should 
focus on the resources to address the environmental and 
economic hardships the pandemic has laid bare. Nobody should 
dispute the human toll when economic opportunity abandons 
communities.
    February's testimony this year from the United Utility 
Workers Union in America described how harmful effects on 
family and the economic social and physical collapse of 
communities that followed the loss of good blue-collar and 
middle-class jobs, as factories pull out or power plants close 
down.
    Whether community collapses from losing economic 
opportunity or not having the opportunity in the first place, 
the solution is the same: Remove barriers and provide 
incentives to lift economic prospects for those most in need. 
This is the surest way to help people, their health, and their 
environment.
    The good news is there are practical policies and resources 
available to address some of the environmental issues, 
revitalization needs, and barriers to increasing economic 
opportunity for disadvantaged communities. During the 
subcommittee's hearing on this subject last fall, we examined 
how EPA works to help ensure these communities have the 
information, the know-how to participate in local and State 
planning. Witnesses provided compelling examples how EPA's 
technical assistance, EJ grants, and Land Revitalization and 
Brownfields Program improved environmental quality and economic 
prospect for communities, in large part, providing the front-
end improvements that leveraged tremendous amount of additional 
private economic investment.
    It is a credit to this committee's bipartisan work of 
updating the Brownfields Program that today we can look forward 
to increased economic progress for low-income, minority, and 
other disadvantaged communities across the Nation that use 
these tools.
    In terms of the pandemic and the environment, we are a long 
way from having a full picture of the relationship of COVID and 
pollution on low-income and minority communities. To be sure, 
CDC's official data shows that there has been a 
disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on Black mortality overall 
in many States, but not all States. It is widely understood 
that pollution burdens can have a disproportionate impact on 
people with chronic underlying health problems, like diabetes, 
asthma, cardiovascular disease, and on disadvantaged 
communities, given all of these other factors that impact 
welfare and healthcare access. A one-off study should not 
prioritize how we address the problems. Congressional critics 
of the administration have cited a widely reported and 
criticized Harvard University study in early April to say EPA 
air quality decisions are off track. This study hypothesized 
that particulate matter levels increased COVID-19 risk. But 
even the unpublished paper's senior author told The Washington 
Post that this was preliminary and the study should not be used 
for policymaking.
    For committee purposes, it is more helpful to take lessons 
from EPA's official annual air trends report, which was 
released yesterday, and I ask for unanimous consent that that 
be submitted for the record. This shows continued reduction in 
air pollution around the Nation. It reports 40 percent 
reduction in the number of days listed as unhealthy for 
sensitive groups. This demonstrates that allowing States to 
implement existing standards continues to drive cleaner air and 
is positive news for everyone. Let's focus on what worked.
    In the same way, programs to accelerate economic 
opportunities should also be allowed to make a difference. For 
that reason, I would like to welcome Shay Hawkins today, 
president of the Opportunity Funds Association. Mr. Hawkins 
will talk about the great potential for bipartisan 
establishment of Opportunity Zones enacted in the 2017 Tax Cuts 
and Jobs Act, to tie into existing programs in low-income and 
disadvantaged communities to attract the private capital 
necessary to assist economic development and jobs creation. Mr. 
Hawkins can talk about how the program works, how it can work 
with existing EPA programs, and what can be done to improve and 
expand it to better address the pressing issues confronting 
disadvantaged communities today.
    This is the kind of bipartisan program we should work with 
to the benefit of all people and communities in need as we seek 
economic recovery. And I look forward to discussion.
    I also have with me, Mr. Chairman, a list of the economic 
zones in Illinois. There are 326 of them throughout the State, 
many in my district in rural, poor areas, but also 180 in Cook 
County.
    And with that, I yield back my time.
    [The prepared statement of Mr. Shimkus follows:]

                Prepared Statement of Hon. John Shimkus

    Mr. Chairman, today's hearing topic is especially timely 
given all the Nation has confronted in recent weeks.
    Amid the human toll of the pandemic, from disease and 
deaths and the unprecedented economic shutdown, our Nation is 
now having raw and necessary conversations in response to 
George Floyd's tragic and unnecessary death.
    Against this backdrop, this hearing aims to explore the 
impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on minority, low-income, and 
other disadvantaged communities around the Nation.
    I agree with the chairman's comments announcing the hearing 
that we should focus on the resources to address the 
environmental and economic hardships the pandemic has laid 
bare.
    Nobody should dispute the human toll when economic 
opportunity abandons communities.
    February testimony this year from the Utility Workers Union 
of America described the harmful effects on families from the 
economic, social, and physical collapse of communities that 
follow the loss of good blue-collar, middle-class jobs, as 
factories pull out or power plants close.
    Whether community collapse is from losing economic 
opportunity or not having the opportunity in the first place, 
the solution is the same: Remove barriers and provide 
incentives to lift economic prospects for those most in need. 
This is the surest way to help people, their health, their 
environment.
    The good news is there are practical policies and resources 
available to address some of the environmental issues, 
revitalization needs, and barriers to increasing economic 
opportunity for disadvantaged communities.
    During the subcommittee's hearing on this subject last 
fall, we examined how EPA works to help ensure these 
communities have the information and know-how to participate in 
local and State planning.
    Witnesses provided compelling examples how EPA's technical 
assistance, EJ grants, and Land Revitalization and Brownfields 
programs improve environmental quality and the economic 
prospects for communities--in large part by providing the 
front-end improvements that leverage tremendous amounts of 
additional, private economic investment.
    It is a credit to this committee's bipartisan work updating 
the Brownfields Program that today we can look forward to 
increased economic progress for low-income, minority and other 
disadvantaged communities across the Nation that use these 
tools.
    In terms of the pandemic and the environment: We are a long 
way from having a full picture of the relationship of COVID and 
pollution on low-income or minority communities.
    To be sure, CDC's official data show that there has been a 
disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on Black mortality overall, 
and in many States (but not all States). And it is widely 
understood that pollution burdens can have a disproportionate 
impact on people with chronic underlying health problems like 
diabetes, asthma, cardiovascular disease, and on disadvantaged 
communities-given all the other factors that impact welfare and 
healthcare access.
    But one-off studies should not prioritize how we address 
the problems.
    Congressional critics of the administration have cited a 
widely reported, and criticized, Harvard University study in 
early April to say EPA air quality decisions are off track. 
This study hypothesized that particulate matter levels 
increased COVID-19 risk, but even the unpublished paper's 
senior author told The Washington Post that this was 
preliminary and the study should not be used for policymaking.
    For committee purposes, it is more helpful to take lessons 
from EPA's official annual air trends report, which was 
released yesterday. This shows continued reduction in air 
pollution around the Nation. It reports a 40 percent reduction 
in the number of days listed as unhealthy for sensitive groups.
    This demonstrates that allowing States to implement 
existing standards continues to drive cleaner air and is 
positive news for everyone. Let's focus on what works.
    In the same way, programs to accelerate economic 
opportunity should also be allowed to make a difference.
    For that reason, I would like to welcome Shay Hawkins 
today, president of the Opportunity Funds Association. Mr. 
Hawkins will talk about the great potential for the bipartisan 
establishment of Opportunity Zones, enacted in the 2017 Tax 
Cuts and Jobs Act to tie into existing programs in low-income 
and disadvantaged communities to attract the private capital 
necessary to assist economic development and jobs creation.
    Mr. Hawkins can talk about how the program works, how it 
can work with existing EPA programs, and what can be done to 
improve and expand it to better address the pressing issues 
confronting disadvantaged communities today.
    The is the kind of bipartisan program we should work with, 
to the benefit of all people and communities in need as we seek 
economic recovery. I look forward to the discussion.

    Mr. Tonko. The gentleman yields back.
    The Chair now recognizes Chairman Pallone, chair of the 
full Committee of Energy and Commerce for 5 minutes for your 
opening statement, please.

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. FRANK PALLONE, Jr., A REPRESENTATIVE 
            IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY

    Mr. Pallone. Thank you, Chairman Tonko.
    Today, we are continuing the committee's work to combat the 
COVID-19 pandemic by looking at its disproportionate impact on 
environmental justice communities, and it is heartbreaking to 
think that more than 100,000 Americans have died from this 
horrible virus.
    It is also alarming to see the devastatingly high rates of 
infection and death for communities of color, low-income 
communities, Native American communities, and fence-line 
communities, those that--for example, the communities adjacent 
to chemical plants or Superfund sites, of which we have many in 
my home State of New Jersey. And we often refer to these 
committees as environmental justice committees, because they 
are the ones most in need of environmental justice. For too 
long, the people living in these communities have borne a 
disproportionate share of pollution and its health risks. It is 
these risks that are contributing to people of color dying from 
the coronavirus at significantly higher rates than others. And 
we have long known that particulate matter and other forms of 
air pollution cause respiratory disease, including asthma. We 
have also known that low-income communities and communities of 
color are exposed to higher concentrations of air pollution, 
because for years, polluters have chosen to build their 
facilities in these communities, and as a result, low-income 
people and people of color suffer greater incidence of 
respiratory disease and other adverse effects.
    And now we have scientific evidence showing a direct link 
between communities living with more air pollution and high 
rates of COVID-19 deaths.
    So we simply can't allow this to continue. And, 
unfortunately, the Trump administration is only making the 
public health and environmental crisis worse. When the Trump 
administration rolls back protections under the Clean Air Act, 
it hurts these communities most. When this administration 
announces that it will not enforce some environmental laws and 
regulations during the pandemic, that hurts these communities, 
too. And when President Trump issues an Executive order 
circumventing the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA, 
that completely cuts the voices of these communities out of the 
decision-making process.
    So this subcommittee continues to focus on fighting for 
environmental justice, and Representative Ruiz, who already 
spoke, led the efforts to increase environmental justice grants 
in response to COVID-19 as part of the HEROES Act, which passed 
the House last month. Representative McEachin, the coauthor of 
that bill, has also been a leader in developing other 
comprehensive legislation on environmental and climate justice.
    And I also wanted to thank Chairmen Tonko and Rush for 
working with me to include an environmental justice section in 
our CLEAN Future Act that we unveiled in January.
    So this hearing is happening at a truly crucial moment in 
our Nation's history. We are fighting a global pandemic, tens 
of millions of Americans have lost their jobs, and, of course, 
peaceful protestors are demanding racial justice following the 
murder of George Floyd. So, we have a lot of work to do.
    [The prepared statement of Mr. Pallone follows:]

             Prepared Statement of Hon. Frank Pallone, Jr.

    Today, we're continuing this committee's work to combat the 
COVID-19 pandemic by looking at its disproportionate impact on 
environmental justice communities. It's heartbreaking to think 
that more than 100,000 Americans have died from this horrible 
virus.
    It's also alarming to see the devastatingly high rates of 
infection and death for communities of color, low-income 
communities, Native American communities, and fence-line 
communities. For example, communities that are adjacent to 
chemical plants or superfund sites.
    We often refer to these communities as environmental 
justice communities, because they are the ones most in need of 
environmental justice. For too long, the people living in these 
communities have borne a disproportionate share of pollution 
and its health risks. It is these risks that are contributing 
to people of color dying from the coronavirus at significantly 
higher rates than others.
    We have long known that particulate matter and other forms 
of air pollution cause respiratory disease, including asthma. 
We have also known that low-income communities and communities 
of color are exposed to higher concentrations of air pollution 
because, for years, polluters have chosen to build their 
facilities in these communities. As a result, low-income 
Americans and people of color suffer greater incidence of 
respiratory disease and other adverse health effects. And now, 
we have scientific evidence showing a direct link between 
communities living with more air pollution and high rates of 
COVID-19 deaths.
    We simply cannot allow this to continue, and unfortunately, 
the Trump administration is only making this public health and 
environmental crisis worse. When the Trump administration rolls 
back protections under the Clean Air Act it hurts these 
communities most. When this administration announces that it 
will not enforce some environmental laws and regulations during 
the pandemic, that hurts these communities, too. And when 
President Trump issues an Executive order circumventing the 
National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA, that completely 
cuts the voices of these communities out of the decision-making 
process.
    This subcommittee continues to focus on fighting for 
environmental justice. Representative Ruiz led the effort to 
increase environmental justice grants in response to COVID-19 
as part of the HEROES Act, which passed the House last month. 
Representative McEachin, the coauthor of that bill, has also 
been a leader in developing other comprehensive legislation on 
environmental and climate justice.
    I also want to thank Chairmen Tonko and Rush for working 
with me to include an environmental justice section in our 
CLEAN Future Act that we unveiled in January.
    This hearing is happening at a truly crucial moment in our 
Nation's history. We're fighting a global pandemic, while tens 
of millions of Americans have lost their jobs and peaceful 
protestors are demanding racial justice following the murder of 
George Floyd. We have a lot of work to do.
    I want to thank the witnesses for joining us today. It is 
imperative that we listen to the needs of environmental justice 
communities as part of our ongoing response to the COVID-19 
pandemic. We should all be committed to pursuing environmental 
justice and ensuring a safe environment for all Americans.

    Mr. Pallone. I just want to thank the witnesses for joining 
us today, and I wanted to yield the 2 minutes I have left, Mr. 
Tonko. First, a minute to Mr. McEachin, and then 1 minute to 
Representative Rush. So I yield now to Representative McEachin 
first.
    Mr. McEachin. Thank you, Chairman Pallone, and thank you 
for yielding your time and lending us your leadership.
    As people across our country come together to pray for 
peace and demand action, I am proud to serve with you on a 
committee that recognizes its role and its responsibility to 
fight injustice. The pain and anger brought about by the deaths 
of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and too many 
other Black Americans has forced our Nation to have a real and 
urgent discussion about systematic racism and inequality.
    Like those before me, I know firsthand the dissonance of a 
lived experience that does reflect the inalienable rights of 
every American. Like those before me, I have hoped and prayed 
that swift action will finally be taken to protect Black lives 
from violence.
    In watching Americans of all races and backgrounds take to 
the streets, it has shown me that our Nation is at a critical 
point. We can, must, and we are, rising together to fight for 
justice in all its forms. For too long, Black and brown and 
underserved communities have suffered the devastating impacts 
of environmental justice living on the front lines of our 
climate crisis and fence lines of polluting industries, also 
without the necessary resources to respond to the impacts, nor 
the influence in the political process to promote equitable 
outcomes.
    The fact that Black Americans disproportionately die of 
COVID-19 exposes the deadly consequences of this truth. It is a 
truth that we cannot and will not accept.
    Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
    Mr. Pallone. If there is any time left, Mr. Chairman, I 
would like to give it to Mr. Rush.
    Mr. Tonko. We will yield a few--or half a minute to Mr. 
Rush, please.
    Mr. Rush. Mr. Chairman, can you hear me?
    Mr. Tonko. I can hear you.
    The chairman has yielded to you, Representative Rush.
    [No audio.]
    Mr. Rush. Can you hear me now?
    Mr. Tonko. We can hear you now. Sorry, Bobby.
    Mr. Rush. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I want to thank 
Chairman Pallone for yielding to me.
    The COVID-19 pandemic has brought our Nation to a 
screeching halt. Where we place our most vulnerable 
communities, especially the Black and brown communities, these 
wounds have not in fact diminished and they have not waned at 
all. These communities remain ever present in our healthcare 
system, our criminal justice system, and even in the air that 
we breathe and the water that we drink.
    While our Nation mourns the loss of George Floyd and other 
victims of systemic racism, we must not forget the myriad of 
other injustices that are facing our communities. We must use 
this increased focus as an opportunity to shine a bright light 
on important issues, such as environmental justice issues and 
issues of the environmental justice community.
    With that, I thank Chairman Pallone, and I thank you, Mr. 
Chairman, for your extraordinary leadership and for convening 
today's critical hearing.
    And I yield back.
    Mr. Tonko. Thank you. The gentleman yields back. The chair 
yields back.
    The Chair now recognizes Mr. Walden, ranking member of the 
full committee, for 5 minutes for your opening statement.
    Representative Walden.

  OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. GREG WALDEN, A REPRESENTATIVE IN 
               CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF OREGON

    Mr. Walden. Thank, Chairman Tonko. Thank you to Chairman 
Pallone as well.
    I know Mr. Flores was trying to get back into the system. 
He got knocked out, just for our technical folks.
    The last 3 months have exposed the deep challenges our 
country faces. The coronavirus pandemic swept across the globe. 
It left in its wake tremendous loss of life, including more 
than 110,000 of our citizens who lost their lives in the United 
States alone, massive economic upheaval with tens of millions 
of American workers losing their jobs, and drastic adjustments 
to each of our daily lives.
    And then recently, our Nation was rocked again by the 
senseless and unjust death of George Floyd. This incident 
highlighted the systemic challenges facing the Black community 
in America, and I join those who have raised their voices to 
protest the deadly brutality imposed on George Floyd and other 
instances of shocking, unacceptable violence against minority 
communities in the United States.
    I share everyone on this committee's call for real and 
sustained work to pursue reforms that will actually make a 
difference to successfully address these difficult and these 
complex issues. Listen, learn, act.
    As a country, we should be listening to others with 
different viewpoints and backgrounds, learning about their 
experiences and feelings, and taking action to form a more 
perfect union that ensures justice and equality are available 
to all Americans regardless of skin colors.
    In many ways, today's hearing seems to touch upon all of 
these different circumstances. There is bipartisan desire to 
explore how COVID-19 disproportionately impacted minority 
communities, whether it be socially, environmentally, or 
economically.
    Indeed, last month, Dr. Burgess, the Republican leader on 
the Health Subcommittee, sent a letter to the Democrat majority 
requesting a hearing on racial disparities related to COVID-19 
and how Congress can reduce these disparities. More examination 
is needed to understand those health outcomes and how to 
improve them, and I hope the majority will take Dr. Burgess up 
on his request.
    Whether it is healthcare or the environment, one of the 
most important keys to addressing the challenges of community 
of color, including COVID-19, is economic development. Economic 
prosperity can bring employment opportunities, better 
healthcare, improved education, a healthier environment, more 
efficient emergency services, stronger tax base, and new 
infrastructure. We have seen this work in our committee that is 
done to help spur economic development across American 
communities.
    For example, last Congress, we worked together to 
reauthorize and improve the EPA's Brownfields Program. Under 
this program, EPA awards grants to local communities to 
repurpose abandoned, closed, or underutilized sites into new 
infrastructure, such as parks and sports stadiums. It is 
estimated that $100,000 of Brownfields grant money on average 
be leveraged into 8\1/2\ jobs. Real dollars, real jobs, real 
change.
    There are also Opportunity Zones programs, which was a 
bipartisan effort enacted in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Job Act. 
Opportunity zones are economically distressed communities 
located in urban, rural, and Tribal areas, selected by 
Governors of each State and territory and the mayor of DC. The 
Opportunity Zones program aims to encourage economic 
development in these areas through tax incentives, and we have 
seen encouraging results from this initiative.
    So I look forward to hearing more about the program today, 
and how it can improve and enrich communities all across 
America.
    According to one of our witnesses, Mr. Hawkins, the head of 
the Opportunity Funds Association, nearly $10.8 billion has 
been secured by the Opportunity Funds prior to COVID-19. Again, 
real dollars, real change, and that will result in real jobs 
and real economic opportunities. Everyone sacrificed during 
this economic shutdown, but without question, hourly workers 
and distressed economic communities have suffered the most. 
Construction workers alone lost almost a million jobs just in 
April. Workers that can telecommute have been inconvenienced 
but have not felt the economic pain suffered by these other 
groups.
    That is why, if we care about these communities, we need to 
reopen the economy and do it safely.
    We also need to reject overly burdensome regulations that 
might sound good in a sound bite but do little to help the 
environment while keeping workers from finding good-paying 
jobs.
    Throughout my congressional career, I have focused on 
solutions, on identifying and understanding challenges and then 
working together to find bipartisan, effective solutions to 
those challenges. My Republican colleagues and I sincerely 
believe that economic development, as well as employment and 
educational opportunities, are key solutions to addressing many 
of the disparities for rural, minority, and economically 
distressed communities. Those are foundational tools for a 
prosperous society and a vital community. Translation: Real 
dollars, real jobs, real change.
    So I look forward to hearing from our witnesses today, and 
I thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding this hearing, and I 
yield back the balance of my time.
    [The prepared statement of Mr. Walden follows:]

                 Prepared Statement of Hon. Greg Walden

    The last three months have exposed the deep challenges our 
country faces. The coronavirus pandemic swept across the globe. 
It left in its wake a tremendous loss of life including more 
than 105,000 deaths in the United States alone, massive 
economic upheaval with more than 40 million Americans out of 
work, and drastic adjustments to each of our daily lives.
    Recently our Nation was rocked again by the senseless and 
unjust death of George Floyd. This incident highlighted the 
systematic challenges facing the Black community in America. I 
join those who have raised their voices to protest the deadly 
brutality imposed on George Floyd and other instances of 
shocking, unacceptable violence against minority communities in 
the U.S. I share everyone on this committee's call for real and 
sustained work to pursue reforms that will actually make a 
difference to successfully addressing these difficult and 
complex issues.
    Listen, learn, act. As a country, we should be listening to 
others with different viewpoints and backgrounds, learning 
about their experiences and feelings, and taking action to form 
a more perfect Union that ensures justice and equality are 
available to all Americans, regardless of skin color.
    In many ways, today's hearing seems to touch upon all these 
different circumstances. There is a bipartisan desire to 
explore how COVID-19 disproportionately impacted minority 
communities--whether it be socially, environmentally, or 
economically.
    Indeed, last month, Dr. Burgess, the Republican Leader on 
the Health Subcommittee, sent a letter to the Democrat majority 
requesting a hearing on racial disparities related to COVID-19, 
and how Congress can reduce those disparities. More examination 
is needed to understand those health outcomes and how to 
improve them, and I hope that the majority will take Dr. 
Burgess up on his request.
    Whether it is healthcare or the environment, one of the 
most important keys to addressing the challenges of communities 
of color, including COVID-19, is economic development. Economic 
prosperity can bring employment opportunities, better 
healthcare, improved education, a healthier environment, more 
efficient emergency services, a stronger tax base, and new 
infrastructure.
    We have seen this in the work our committee has done to 
help spur economic development across American communities. For 
example, last Congress we reauthorized and improved EPA's 
Brownfields Program. Under this program, EPA awards grants to 
local communities to repurpose abandoned, closed or 
underutilized sites into new infrastructure, such as parks and 
sports stadiums. It is estimated that $100,000 of Brownfields 
grant money, on average, can be leveraged into 8.5 jobs. Real 
dollars, real jobs, real change.
    There is also the Opportunity Zones program, which was a 
bipartisan effort enacted through the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs 
Act. Opportunity Zones are economically distressed communities, 
located in urban, rural and Tribal areas, selected by Governors 
of each State and territory and the mayor of DC. The 
Opportunity Zones program aims to encourage economic 
development in these areas through tax incentives, and we have 
seen encouraging results from this initiative.
    I look forward to hearing more about this important program 
today, and how it can improve and enrich communities across 
America. According to one of our witnesses--Mr. Hawkins, the 
head of the Opportunity Funds Association--nearly $10.8 billion 
dollars had been secured by Opportunity Funds prior to COVID-
19. Again, real dollars, real change that will result in real 
jobs and economic opportunity.
    Everyone has sacrificed during the economic shutdown, but 
without question hourly workers and distressed economic 
communities have suffered the most. Construction workers alone 
lost almost a million jobs in April. Workers that can 
telecommute have been inconvenienced but have not felt the 
economic pain suffered by these other groups. That is why if we 
care about these communities, we need to reopen the economy and 
we can do it safely. We also need to reject overly burdensome 
regulations that might sound good in a sound bite but do little 
to help the environment while keeping workers from finding good 
paying jobs.
    Throughout my congressional career, I have focused on 
solutions--identifying and understanding challenges and then 
finding bipartisan, effective solutions to those challenges. My 
Republican colleagues and I sincerely believe that economic 
development as well as employment and education opportunities 
are key solutions to addressing disparities for rural, minority 
and economically distressed communities. Those are foundational 
tools for a prosperous society and a vital community. 
Translation--real dollars, real jobs, real change.
    I look forward to hearing from our witnesses today on this 
important topic, and I thank the chairman for having this 
hearing. With that, I yield back.

    Mr. Tonko. You are most welcome. The gentleman yields back.
    The Chair would like to remind Members that, pursuant to 
committee rules, all Members' written and opening statements 
shall be made part of the record.
    We now move to our witnesses, and I will now introduce the 
witnesses for today's hearing.
    First we have Ms. Jacqueline Patterson, senior director of 
the Climate and Environmental Justice Program at the NAACP. 
Next, we have Mr. Mustafa Santiago Ali, vice president of 
Environmental Justice Climate and Community Revitalization of 
the National Wildlife Federation. And then, finally, we have 
Mr. Shay Hawkins, who serves as president of the Opportunity 
Funds Association.
    I now recognize Mr. Patterson--excuse me, Ms. Patterson--
for 5 minutes, to provide an opening statement.

     STATEMENTS OF JACQUELINE PATTERSON, SENIOR DIRECTOR, 
ENVIRONMENTAL AND CLIMATE JUSTICE PROGRAM, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION 
 FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED PEOPLE; MUSTAFA SANTIAGO ALI, 
VICE PRESIDENT, NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION; AND SHAY HAWKINS, 
            PRESIDENT, OPPORTUNITY FUNDS ASSOCIATION

               STATEMENT OF JACQUELINE PATTERSON

    Ms. Patterson. Thank you so much. I appreciate you. Thank 
you so much to the Committee on Energy Commerce and its 
Subcommittee on Environment and Climate Change. A special thank 
you to Anthony and Adam, who stuck with me in spite of my 
noncompliance with all logistical directions leading up to 
these remarks. Anyway, thank you all for your leadership and 
convening this critical conversation, particularly in these 
times when the chronic and systemic racial disparities are in 
the spotlight for our Nation.
    As we all know, the same systemic inequities that make 
certain populations differentially vulnerable to various 
impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic are the same systemic 
underpinnings that comprise the root causes driving 
environmental injustice, including climate change. Racism, 
xenophobia, sexism, combined with poverty, housing insecurity, 
racial profiling, differential access to healthcare, 
underresourced education, privatized criminal justice, and 
disproportionate exposure to pollution that attacks the lungs, 
rendering communities even more vulnerable to COVID-19 that 
also targets the lungs, these are all critical commonalities.
    One recent study found that even small increases in fine 
particulate matter, such as PM2.5, have an outsized 
effect on COVID-19 in the United States. An increase of just 1 
microgram per cubic meter corresponded to a 15 percent increase 
in COVID-19 deaths. Evidence shows that people who have been 
living in places that are more polluted over time, they are 
more likely to die from the coronavirus. In one study--in the 
same study, which looked at 3,080 counties in the United 
States, people who had lived in counties with long-term 
pollution exposure for 15 to 20 years had significantly higher 
mortality rates, likely due to the higher risk of existing 
respiratory and heart diseases in the areas of high pollution, 
and these are our communities.
    To add to the injustice, African-American and Latino-
American people are typically exposed to 56 and 63 percent more 
PM2.5 pollution than they produce through 
consumption and daily activities, yet another dimension to the 
injustice.
    Furthermore, the health effects associated with indoor air 
pollution include respiratory illnesses, heart disease, and 
cancer, each of which have been linked to increased 
vulnerability to mortality due to COVID-19. And, once again, 
African Americans are more likely to have respiratory 
conditions exacerbated by indoor air pollution.
    Once again, we have a response by the administration that 
prioritizes protecting the profits of big corporations while 
comparatively neglecting to advance action at the scale and 
depth that truly upholds the well-being of people.
    As we talked about in our NAACP Fossil Fueled Foolery 
report last year, the tie between corporate interests and some 
of our policymakers and our policies are far too enmeshed. And 
so, instead of strengthening regulations to reinforce 
protections for our communities that are made vulnerable by 
poor air quality, we have an administration that has rolled 
back over 100 regulations in the context of COVID-19, thereby 
paving the pathway to poisoning of our communities.
    All of this combines to ensure that black, indigenous, and 
other communities are facing the harshest fallout of direct 
impacts of COVID-19, just as we in the EJ community saw in 
Hurricane Katrina, the BP oil drilling disaster, and more, in 
each and every one of these disasters, including the COVID-19 
pandemic.
    With racism as a through-line that imperils us at every 
turn, not just in extreme circumstances such as disasters, but 
merely when we are walking in a park, making a purchase in a 
store, jogging down the streets, sleeping in a dorm hallway, 
sleeping in our own bedrooms, in our own homes, or merely just 
breathing air. These are simple actions that white American 
people take for granted that is not as risky to their very 
existence, but time and time again, we have seen how structural 
inequities lead to inequities in health, well-being, and our 
very existence on Earth.
    Modern-day redlining leads to underresourced infrastructure 
and lack of choices in our communities. We have 71 percent of 
African Americans living in counties in violation of Federal 
air pollution standards. We have the domination of policies by 
big agriculture, and domination of our markets with foods high 
in sodium, sugar, and preservatives. We are more likely to get 
a Cheeto or a Dorito than quinoa or kale.
    The lack of green space has made us less likely to 
exercise, and the combination of these factors leads to the 
very illnesses that have made us more vulnerable to COVID-19 at 
worst, and shortens our lifespan and quality of life even in 
the absence of this pandemic. At every turn, the deck is 
stacked against us, and the very people who pay the price 
include people like Louisiana matriarch Antoinette Franklin and 
her three sons, living in one of our Nation's most polluted 
petrochemical corridors. They all died within days of each 
other of COVID-19.
    To pivot to solutions, the good news is that our 
communities are organizing ourselves to build solutions to what 
is before us now with COVID-19, and including the challenge of 
climate change, given the common underpinnings and impacts.
    Frontline communities are rising up and putting together 
platforms of reforms at the Federal, State, and local levels. 
At the same time, we are implementing changes on the front 
lines, forging linkages, organization to government entity, 
nonprofit to nonprofit, and so forth.
    Communities are demanding reinstatement and strengthening 
of environmental regulations. We are demanding research and 
policy on racial impact analysis. We are doing our own testing 
and monitoring of air, water, and soil quality. We are calling 
for stronger regulations on household products and a more 
inclusive toxic-release inventory. Communities want policies 
that support localism and regenerative design, as well as clean 
energy and building and vehicle electrification.
    Communities are calling for the retirement of coal debt of 
rural electric co-ops that are struggling to survive and serve 
their members only, and we are rising up against systemic 
racism.
    Thank you so much. I will end by saying the people in power 
must get behind those on the front lines. Again, get behind the 
leadership of frontline communities to scale up, scale deep, 
and scale forward.
    Thank you so much.
    [The prepared statement of Ms. Patterson follows:]
    
    [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]    


    Mr. Tonko. Thank you for joining us, Ms. Patterson, and for 
your statement.
    Next, we will recognize Mr. Ali. You are recognized for 5 
minutes, sir.
    Mr. Ali, you might have to unmute.
    Mr. Ali. How's that? Can you hear me now?
    Mr. Tonko. We can hear you now. Thank you.
    You have 5 minutes, please.

               STATEMENT OF MUSTAFA SANTIAGO ALI

    Mr. Ali. All right. Well, you missed the best parts in that 
first 3 seconds.
    Chairman Tonko, Ranking Member Shimkus, and members of the 
committee, on behalf of the National Wildlife Federation, our 
52 State and territorial affiliates and more than 6 million 
members, and environmental justice communities across the 
country, thank you for the honor of testifying before you 
today.
    I was thinking about this testimony, and I was raised in a 
family of Baptist and Pentecostal ministers, deacons, and 
deaconesses, so my grandmother came to my mind, and she used to 
have a favorite verse, and it is Amos 5:24: ``Do you know what 
I want? I want justice, oceans of it. I want fairness, rivers 
of it. That is what I want. That is all I want.'' My 
grandmother used to say, ``When you know better, do better.''
    Today's hearing comes at a critical moment in the history 
of our country. Frontline communities are under attack for 
multiple emergencies happening at the same time. Black 
communities are dealing with the systemic racism that has 
infected the policing in our communities that is literally 
choking us to death.
    The rolling back of environmental rules and regulations has 
us gasping for air, due to the cumulative public health impacts 
of the burning of fossil fuels in our communities. COVID-19 
continues to devastate Black and brown and indigenous 
communities, both in infections and deaths. So when we say, ``I 
can't breathe,'' we literally can't breathe.
    Over 2 million Americans have been infected with the 
coronavirus and over 113,000 have died. Communities of color 
across our Nation's health and wealth are being impacted by the 
burning of fossil fuels that is a significant driver in the 
climate crisis, and the impacts from the coronavirus that we 
find ourselves dealing with.
    We have over 500,000 homeless citizens in our country, and 
many of them are at risk, both from air pollution and the lack 
of clean, accessible water, which is critical to both personal 
hygiene and the ability to protect oneself from COVID-19 
infections.
    The last time I joined you, I shared that 
disproportionately the majority of fossil fuel facilities are 
located in communities of color, lower-wealth communities, and 
on indigenous lands. Two-point-four million miles of pipeline 
is crisscrossing our country, traveling to indigenous land 
through farm country, and ends up on the Gulf Coast in 
vulnerable communities who often have to bear the burdens of 
the toxic exposures.
    As has been mentioned earlier, in our country we have over 
100,000 people who are losing their lives each year prematurely 
to air pollution. That is more folks that are dying from toxic 
air than are dying from gun violence. We have 25 million with 
asthma and 7 million kids, and many of our communities of color 
and lower-income and lower-wealth communities are literally 
dying for a breath of fresh air.
    We know that many of our communities are closely located to 
toxic facilities, and they are suffering from chronic medical 
conditions, heart disease, liver disease, kidney disease, and 
lung diseases, as well as the cancer clusters that we find 
across our country. We also know that these chronic medical 
conditions make people more susceptible to the coronavirus.
    Unfortunately, we have communities who are also in 
medically underserved areas, which compounds the impacts by 
making it difficult to access proper medical advice and 
treatment.
    To add additional insult to injury, the Trump 
administration decided to stop enforcing environmental laws, 
due to the pandemic. The current administration has also 
diligently been weak in U.S. environmental protections, even 
amid the coronavirus crisis, by rolling back the Clean Car Rule 
and instituting the Executive order rollback that we saw as 
weakening the National Environmental Policy Act, known as NEPA. 
Each of these current actions and a list of previous actions 
makes overburdened communities more vulnerable today and in the 
future.
    I just want to hit a couple of quick facts that I want to 
make sure folks are aware of as I close out. In 2018, EPA's own 
National Center for Environmental Assessment shared a study 
focusing on particulate matter in our country that highlighted 
the fact that people of color are much more likely to live near 
pollution and breathe polluted air. The study went on to share 
that people in poverty are exposed to more fine particulate 
matter than people above poverty. And the International Agency 
for Research on Cancer named particulate matter as a known 
definite carcinogen, and has been named by the EPA as a 
contributor to a number of significant health conditions, along 
with heart disease, lung conditions, high blood pressure, low 
birth weight for babies, and asthma.
    So I know I am about to run out of time, but I just want to 
mention a couple of quick things that we have to pay attention 
to. We have got 80 million people in our country who are 
uninsured and underinsured, which is creating an additional set 
of challenges. We talked about the medically underserved areas 
which are often also located in what we call frontline 
communities, or our most vulnerable communities. And we also 
know we have a wealth gap that exists inside of our country.
    So I am thankful to this committee that you are thinking 
critically, one, about addressing the environmental and public 
health impacts that continue to happen, and how we also make 
sure that we are merging economic opportunities, and I am one 
who believes that we have an incredible amount in the clean 
energy space.
    So I am looking forward to our conversation today and 
unpacking many of these challenges that still exist in a 
pathway forward.
    [The prepared statement of Mr. Ali follows:]
    
    [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
    
    
    Mr. Tonko. Thank you, Mr. Ali, and thank you for your 
presentation. We look forward to the conversation.
    And now, Mr. Hawkins, welcome again. Thank you for joining 
us. You are now recognized for 5 minutes, and please unmute if 
you haven't.

                   STATEMENT OF SHAY HAWKINS

    Mr. Hawkins. All right. Well, Chairman Tonko, Ranking 
Member Shimkus, and the members of the committee, it is a 
pleasure to be with you today. I am the president of the 
Opportunity Funds Association, a trade association whose 
members are entrepreneurs, investors, developers, and fund 
managers operating in Opportunity Zones.
    The Opportunity Funds Association is an advocacy, 
education, and communications organization established to 
enable our members to participate in public policy, share best 
practices, and communicate the industry's contributions to 
distressed rural and urban communities across the country.
    So, through our members, we connect capital to overlooked 
areas, improving lives, creating opportunities, and ensuring 
the long-term economic growth in America's most vulnerable 
communities.
    So, prior to co-founding the Opportunity Funds Association, 
I was tax counsel for Senator Tim Scott, representing South 
Carolina, and while working for Senator Scott I was helping him 
to champion the Investing and Opportunity Act. The Investing 
and Opportunity Act was a bipartisan piece of legislation that 
was authored on the Senate side by Senator Cory Booker and 
Senator Tim Scott, and the House-side version was authored by 
Representative Ron Kind and Representative Pat Tiberi.
    This legislation allows individuals or corporations with a 
capital gain to defer payment of taxes on that capital gain 
provided that they reinvest that capital gain in one of 8,700 
distressed communities across the 50 States, five territories, 
and the District of Columbia. The areas that are eligible for 
this benefit were selected by Governors. Every Governor was 
able to designate 25 percent of the economically distressed 
census tracts in their State or territory as Opportunity Zones. 
And so, that selection process happened shortly after the 
Opportunity Zone provision, which was based on the Investing 
and Opportunity Act, was passed and the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
    And so, when we are looking at the residents of these 
designated Opportunity Zones, we are looking at areas that have 
a higher than normal population of African Americans, a higher 
than average population of nonwhites overall. We are looking at 
areas with a higher poverty rate, obviously. We are looking at 
areas that also have lower median incomes and higher rates of 
brownfields.
    So, of the Opportunity Zones that were selected, about 10 
percent of those--you know, those represented by 10 percent of 
U.S. census tracts overall, but they represent over 30 percent 
of America's brownfields are found in these areas and in these 
census tracts. And so, you know, the Opportunity Zone provision 
provides a special chance that we have to help create jobs in 
areas for folks who are disproportionately affected by COVID-
19.
    So as of April 30, 2020, $10 billion have been attracted 
into opportunity funds, which are the vehicles that invest in 
Opportunity Zones, and Secretary Mnuchin estimates that over 
$100 billion will come into Opportunity Zones over the next 
decade. So it is a great tool.
    Of the $65 million that have gone into brownfields 
remediation programs and those grants, of the 150 designated 
areas and designated grant projects, 118 of those are in areas 
that overlap with Opportunity Zones, so that the folks who are 
dealing with those remediation dollars will be able to also 
take advantage of the Opportunity Zone provision as well.
    So, again, great potential here to help alleviate the 
conditions for folks who are living in Opportunity Zones that 
directly overlap with economic justice communities, and I look 
forward to talking to the committee about it.
    [The statement of Mr. Hawkins follows:]
    
    [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
    
    Mr. Tonko. Thank you very much, Mr. Hawkins. Thank you for 
joining us and thank you for your inputs.
    That concludes our witnesses' statements. We will now move 
to Member questions. I will now begin by recognizing myself for 
5 minutes.
    Again, let me thank our witnesses for their testimony. I 
believe it is critically important that we measure our response 
to the COVID pandemic by how we respond to the needs of our 
most vulnerable and most impacted citizens.
    So, Ms. Patterson, from your perspective, why should 
environmental justice be an important component of addressing 
COVID-19?
    Ms. Patterson. Thank you so much.
    Yes, both from the direct connections that we see in terms 
of the places with high levels of pollution being the places 
where we see more of COVID-19 impacts, that is a direct 
correlation that calls on us to address air quality as a way of 
mitigating the impact of COVID-19. And then also, as I was 
saying before, the systemic underpinnings that make communities 
much more vulnerable to COVID-19 and to environmental 
injustices are something that we have to very explicitly 
address, or we are going to see ourselves in the same position 
time and time again going forward.
    Thank you.
    Mr. Tonko. Thank you so much.
    And, Mr. Ali, why do you think it is necessary that our 
COVID response and recovery efforts be centered around righting 
what have been historic injustices?
    Mr. Ali. Well, you know, there are a number of reasons why 
we have to do that. One, these injustices cost our country a 
huge amount of money in relationship to the healthcare impacts 
that are going on. It also affects a number of other things 
that go on in people's lives in the communities that have been 
disinvested in everything from education, to housing, to a 
number of the other components that stop communities from being 
able to move from surviving to thriving, if you will.
    So we have a huge amount of opportunity right now to 
redirect and reinvest in these communities, because the reality 
of this situation is that this is not the only pandemic that we 
are going to face, and if we are not willing to help these 
communities to become resilient and to build the foundation 
that are going to be necessary to deal with future pandemics, 
to deal with, you know, what we are going to have happening 
today and tomorrow in relationship to the climate emergency, 
then it is going to end up costing us much more. So it just 
makes sense to invest today and not wait until tomorrow.
    Mr. Tonko. And many Members and stakeholders, including 
businesses, are talking about building back better. So, Mr. Ali 
and Ms. Patterson, do you think we can truly claim to be 
building back better if we don't address historic and 
disproportionate pollution burdens?
    Ms. Patterson. Hi. Thank you.
    Very good question. Yes, I think it is impossible. We have 
to address the pollution burdens or we won't be able to aid the 
people who should be leading in the building will have such a 
compromised existence in health that we won't be able to build, 
and better is not possible when you have a whole swath of 
society that is suffering under the myriad impacts of 
pollution. And the very fact that, without addressing 
pollution, then the whole planet suffers, so how is it possible 
to build back better?
    Thank you.
    Mr. Tonko. You are welcome. Thank you.
    And, Mr. Ali?
    Mr. Ali. Yes. You know, my father was an engineer and a 
builder and, you know, he used to often talk about foundations, 
and if you leave a foundation that is not properly built and 
that is not dealing with all of the aspects of the weight that 
it has to hold, then it will crumble.
    So we have an opportunity to actually build strong 
foundations inside of our country. We have the resources. We 
have the ingenuity. We have the information that is necessary. 
What we need to have is the will to prioritize, you know, 
addressing our past mistakes. You know, sometimes we get 
anchored to the past and, you know, the egregious things that 
have happened. Well, yes, we should understand our history, but 
we should also be focused on the moment now and in the future 
that we can actually make real change happen.
    Mr. Tonko. Well, I am certain that we will hear many good, 
specific solutions this afternoon on how to instill 
environmental justice in COVID response and economic recovery 
packages. So can you provide some perspectives on how we should 
think about environmental justice more broadly? How is it 
connected to racial justice and economic justice?
    Mr. Ali?
    Mr. Ali. Oh, I am sorry. I thought that that was for Ms. 
Patterson.
    Mr. Tonko. No, no. That is for you.
    Mr. Ali. Well, no. So first, let's make sure we are setting 
the table correctly. Environmental justice is an environmental 
issue, but it is also a transportation issue, it is a housing 
justice issue, it is a public health issue, and it is an 
economic justice issue and a few other elements.
    So, when we understand that and we take a holistic approach 
to making positive change happen, then we find the intersection 
points for numbers of different people who have expertise and 
resources coming from different directions.
    So that is where, I think, we should be starting. Lots of 
times we will silo these issues. And, of course, committees 
have responsibility for certain items, but I will raise up the 
fact that at the Environmental Protection Agency, when I was 
there, I ran the interagency working group that had 17 Federal 
agencies and a couple of White House offices that we could be 
utilizing at this time to actually make sure that, one, we are 
better understanding the impacts that are happening from COVID-
19 on our most vulnerable communities, but also how do we begin 
to marshal both all the actions that you all have been moving 
forward on, and the additional things that frontline 
communities and others have been asking for to actually 
holistically make our communities stronger and more resilient.
    Mr. Tonko. Thank you so much.
    The Chair now recognizes Mr. Shimkus, our subcommittee 
ranking member, for 5 minutes, please, you may ask questions.
    Mr. Shimkus.
    Mr. Shimkus. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And it is again great 
to be with all my colleagues and friends again.
    You know, it is important to talk about our past mistakes, 
but I also think it is important to talk about past successes, 
and that is why I am glad that Mr. Hawkins is joining us today. 
Mr. Hawkins, you were a Senate tax and trade counsel for 
Senator Scott and helped him draft the Opportunity Zone 
provisions in the 2017 tax cut law. My understanding is that 
these provisions had wide bipartisan support. Can you talk 
about that bipartisanship briefly?
    Mr. Hawkins. Sure, sure, absolutely. So the original 
Investing and Opportunity Act, which the Opportunity Zones 
provision and tax reform was based off of, that Act had 44 
House Democrats, 44 House Republicans, you know, by design. You 
know, folks were brought on to the bill two by two. And it also 
had 16 Senators: eight Republicans, eight Democrats. And, 
again, it was led on the Senate side by Senators Booker and 
Scott, and on the House side by Representatives Tiberi and 
Kind, and so we saw that bipartisanship there.
    Mr. Shimkus. What was the reaction of local communities and 
governments to these provisions of the law?
    Mr. Hawkins. We saw a great reaction. One huge difference 
between this policy and, you know, pretty much every other 
community development program that is developed to this point 
is that we put so much in the hands of local Governors to 
select the zones, to select the areas that would benefit from 
this policy. And so, you know, the Governors, you know, across 
the country, you know, rose to the challenge, and they chose 
zones, you know, based on nonbinding criteria. We asked them to 
look for areas that had a great need, areas where there was 
great opportunity, and areas where there were mutually 
reinforcing Federal, State, and local policy.
    So, to a large extent, on the local level you see local 
municipalities and State governments stepping up to introduce 
complementary legislation to support the Opportunity Zones 
policy and really sort of put it on steroids, as it were. And 
so there has been great excitement on the State and local 
level.
    Mr. Shimkus. And this included minority communities, Tribal 
communities, and economically distressed communities, didn't 
it?
    Mr. Hawkins. Yes, absolutely. So the Opportunity Zones that 
were chosen, you know, the basic criteria, you know, you had to 
have a poverty rate above 20 percent and, you know, an average 
income, average median family income that is less than 80 
percent of the State average, or, if you are near a large city, 
then 80 percent of the metro average.
    So just in the basic criteria of what can be selected, you 
know, you are looking at distressed areas, but in what was 
ultimately selected, you know, you are looking at areas that 
are more heavily minority than normal. You are looking at areas 
that are lower median income than normal, and you are looking 
at areas that, you know, from an environmental standpoint, you 
know, encapsulate 30 percent of the Nation's brownfields.
    Mr. Shimkus. Right. And that is the convergence of what 
this committee of jurisdiction has done, too, is that 
brownfield reauthorization.
    Mr. Hawkins. Yes.
    Mr. Shimkus. So, when you marry the two. In my opening 
statement, I did mention the Opportunity Zones in the State of 
Illinois--and we have 326 of them, some of them in my 
congressional district--they are rural poor. But again, out of 
that 326, 180 are found in Cook County. Obviously, Illinois is 
a big State where we have Cook County and everything north of 
I-80 and all the rest of us, so we look forward to that and 
trying to address the debate about how you rise people up, the 
best way to do that is jobs and empowering them. Then they can 
pay taxes to local community and economic development, and that 
has been our approach. So, as much as we want to take time 
about our failures in the past, I do think we need to take a 
timeout and say the Opportunity Zones legislation in H.R. 1, 
married with brownfield redevelopment, is doing a lot to help 
these communities. Wouldn't you agree?
    Mr. Hawkins. Absolutely. There are a lot of problems that 
could be solved with a good job, problems that affect all of 
us. And so, the goal of the policy is that everyone who has the 
ability to work had the opportunity to work.
    Mr. Shimkus. Thank you very much.
    Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back.
    Mr. Tonko. The gentleman yields back.
    The Chair now recognizes Chairman Pallone of the Energy and 
Commerce Committee for 5 minutes, please.
    Mr. Pallone. Thank you, Chairman Tonko.
    And I am so excited with the incredible optimism coming 
from these witnesses. I can't ask Mr. Hawkins a question 
because I have so many questions to ask of my other two 
witnesses, but I do want to say, Mr. Hawkins, first of all, I 
like the fact that you seem to have a picture of Teddy 
Roosevelt on the wall there, who's one of my favorite 
Republicans.
    Mr. Hawkins. Yes, yes.
    Mr. Pallone. You also mentioned my favorite presidential 
candidate in Senator Cory Booker, and, finally, you mentioned 
the Brownfields Program, which truly is, as Mr. Shimkus knows, 
bipartisan, and I was very fortunate to start the program with 
a bill when Christie Whitman, who was the Republican Governor 
of New Jersey, was the EPA Administrator. I worked on it with 
Paul Gillmor, and then we reauthorized it with John Shimkus.
    So thank you for all of that, but I am moving on to my 
other two witnesses with my questions.
    But I wanted to say, Mr. Ali, when you talked about--you 
did that biblical reference to the oceans and rivers associated 
with justice and fairness, that was so wonderful, from Amos, I 
think. You know, I live at the Jersey Shore, and I go down to 
the ocean sometimes at the end of the day, and I think of the 
ocean as a great equalizer, I really do. But at the same time, 
I know there is a lot of people, particularly minorities, that 
live near toxic waste sites, you know, don't have the 
opportunity maybe to look at the ocean and enjoy it the way 
that I do.
    And I also wanted to say to Jacqueline Patterson, thank you 
so much for stressing the need for legislation in the advent of 
what we face today, that we have to concentrate on what we can 
do legislatively because we are legislators.
    So my questions are about legislation and also input from 
the community. As I think you know--and I will ask both Mr. Ali 
and Ms. Patterson--we introduced in the HEROES Act, we had 
provisions to ensure access to affordable drinking water and to 
fund environmental justice grants. We also have been responding 
to environmental justice by putting these grants, which I 
mentioned before, in the HEROES Act for environmental justice 
communities.
    So I wanted to ask you: Is this a good idea, what we have 
done? Are there other legislative initiatives that we should 
try to initiate? And then, secondly, impact from the 
communities, I am critical of President Trump because he has 
done all of these things to circumvent NEPA and cut funding for 
impacted communities and not enforce environmental regulations, 
and some of that is going to make it more difficult for those 
communities to have input into decision making. You know, we 
have the right to know. Senator Lautenberg always talked about 
the right to know. We have tag grants.
    So my question is, legislation, what should we be doing and 
to have more input in the community and how, you know, some of 
these Trump actions are circumventing NEPA and making it more 
difficult for the communities to be heard, if you will. I know 
I took up a lot of time, but if you could just answer those two 
questions about legislation and getting input from the 
communities that might be limited now with Trump's actions.
    I will start with Ms. Patterson.
    Ms. Patterson. Thank you so much. I appreciate that.
    Yes, certainly, there are a number of actions legislatively 
that we are putting forward. I think the ones that you 
mentioned were definitely good in terms of provisions in the 
HEROES Act, and I specifically mentioned them. I actually don't 
know whether this would be legislative or administrative, but I 
talked about the retirement of the coal debt that is being held 
by the rural electric co-ops who are really suffering during 
these times, for sure, as the member owners have compromised 
livelihoods.
    Also, not only in terms of not restoring the regulations 
back, but also strengthening those regulations because they are 
always compromised by struggles to really have them be as 
strong as they should be. We also need to be making sure that 
we have--I know that in the HEROES Act, I believe there is a 
provision in terms of a moratorium on utility shutoffs.
    We also need to be thinking about how do we make sure that 
we are ensuring reducing energy burden and ensuring 
affordability of energy across the board and what does that 
look like, and also making sure we are moving away from 
subsidizing fossil fuel energy that is causing so much of the 
pollution that is harming the health and well-being of 
frontline communities as well as the planet, which also causes 
harm as well.
    And then I would just say, because I want to yield space 
for other folks, is that we need to be focusing now, you know, 
hurricane season started last Monday. We need to be focusing on 
predisaster mitigation because, as this combines with the 
disaster that we are dealing with now with COVID-19, we need to 
be making sure that we have civil and human rights at the 
center of emergency management. We've seen past failures in 
that, and we've seen that come a long way, and we need to go 
further in terms of making sure that we have a standard, a new 
standard, that goes beyond returning homes to predisaster 
states that are so challenging, whether it is from indoor air 
quality, and otherwise, that we actually build back better, as 
we said earlier.
    So those are just a few examples. I will yield the floor 
back. Thank you.
    Mr. Ali. I would share that one of the other things that we 
need to also continue to expand upon is natural infrastructure. 
There are literally millions of jobs from a CCC type of 
paradigm that we could institute to actually help our country 
get back to work. So that is one of the areas.
    The other one is around food deserts and food insecurity 
that we find in many of our communities of color and lower-
wealth White communities. So we need to also be focused there 
because we have to have a healthy population.
    You know, we talk a lot about jobs. When somebody is not 
healthy, they are not going to be able to work efficiently and 
effectively. So we have got to do that.
    And then there is one that sometimes probably makes people 
a little nervous, but I have to share it anyway. We need to 
have stronger enforcement where needed.
    And here is the interesting dynamic that we find.
    Mr. Tonko. I think we are done with the 5 minutes there. I 
am sorry to cut you off. Maybe we can catch you in the next 
round of questioning.
    Next, we recognize Mr. Walden, ranking member of the full 
Committee on Energy and Commerce, for 5 minutes of questioning, 
sir.
    Mr. Walden. Well, thank you very much, Chairman Tonko.
    And thanks again to all of our witnesses for your 
presentations, your answers to questions. Really helpful, 
especially for those of us out here in the West--where, by the 
way, it is pouring rain today. And so, anyway, we are glad you 
are here.
    I want to say a couple of things before we get into the 
questions on the NEPA reform. As somebody that represents a 
district where over 55 percent of the landmass is controlled by 
the Federal Government, I have got a tiny, little, rural, 
impoverished community literally with probably two dozen people 
in it that took more than 3 years to go through the NEPA 
process to plant four power poles so they could finally get 
three-phase power into this low-income, rural part of my 
district. They had to put those power poles on BLM land, and it 
took them 3 years to go through a process. NEPA was never 
intended to cause that kind of delay. And so I am glad they are 
making some reforms in NEPA.
    And I also want to say the Trump administration, frankly, 
in the economic policies that they have put in place, have 
given us, prior to COVID, the strongest economy and the lowest 
unemployment for every sector of America's economy we have 
seen. And so I think good-paying jobs, low-cost energy put 
America back on its feet. And, unfortunately, we had to shut 
everything down with COVID, as did everybody across the globe.
    I want to ask Mr. Hawkins about the Opportunity Zones 
program. You have done a lot of work in this space. I think it 
has done a lot of good. There has been some criticism in the 
press, however, that the program just benefits wealthy real 
estate investors and doesn't really help those in need. And I 
would love to get your take on that.
    Mr. Hawkins. Sure. The policy primarily supports two 
different types of projects. You have real estate projects, and 
then you have operating businesses.
    And so what we found is, once we passed the Opportunity 
Zones provision, from an implementation standpoint the rules 
that govern real estate were produced much, much more quickly 
than the rules that govern operating businesses. And that is 
because it is a little bit simpler, right? Real estate is all 
located within the census tract. All of the income comes from 
within the census tract, et cetera.
    And so, because those regulations were out first, the real 
estate projects were the first to take off. They are kind of, 
again, that low-hanging fruit. And, again, all of these are 
beneficial.
    The real sort of meat of the program, where the real long-
term job creation comes, is with those operating businesses 
developing down the line. And so we don't have a transparency 
and reporting bill that gives us a very clear look into the 
types of businesses that are created and the direct job 
creation within the zones. And so that kind of hinders us.
    So you have a lot of folks in the media who are kind of 
speculating. They know that you can use the policy to turn a 
dollar into 10 dollars, and they know rich people have capital 
gains, so they just sort of speculate that it has only 
benefited rich people, but that is not the case.
    Mr. Walden. All right. So tell me what you are seeing 
actually happen on the ground then in these real estate 
Opportunity Zone agreements. Give us an example or two.
    Mr. Hawkins. Yes. Absolutely. So we have members that 
specialize in things like luxury hotels. But they had a heart 
for impact even before Opportunity Zones were passed into law.
    One of our--our charter member, in fact, has a policy where 
they do one luxury hotel, one affordable housing facility, one 
luxury hotel, one affordable housing facility. So they have 
that balanced portfolio in order to get the best out of the 
policy while at the same time doing good.
    And that same charter member has actually been partnering 
with organizations like Chicanos Por La Causa and the Urban 
League and others to sort of reproduce this model across the 
country in areas that have less sort of on-the-ground knowledge 
of the community.
    So that makes sure that the development that occurs is 
developing in line and in a way that is going to have a 
positive impact on that local community.
    Mr. Walden. All right. I see my time has expired. I want to 
thank again all of our witnesses for your energy, your 
presentations today.
    And, Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
    Mr. Tonko. The gentleman yields back.
    The Chair now recognizes Representative Peters for 5 
minutes, please.
    Will you unmute, please?
    Mr. Peters. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    And thank you to the witnesses for coming out today and 
joining us.
    I want to thank Mr. Ali for coming back. Last time we met 
was before this committee. We were discussing challenges facing 
communities on the front line of climate change, and we talked 
about environmental and health risks that disproportionately 
harm communities of color and low-income communities. We talked 
about coastal floods forcing planned relocations in Louisiana 
and Alaska and about exposure to air pollution increasing the 
risk of asthma attacks in communities of color. And today, of 
course, we are talking about the same disparities following the 
same frontline communities and this time in the context of an 
infectious disease pandemic.
    Growing data show the extent to which COVID-19 is 
disproportionately affecting poor and minority communities. 
Poor air quality in these communities is strongly associated 
with a higher risk of death from COVID-19, and a recent Harvard 
study shows that the long-term exposure to air pollution, such 
as particulate matter and ozone and other hazardous air 
pollutants, leads to a large increase in COVID-19 cases and 
related deaths. So weakening clean air protections and rolling 
back regulatory protections, again, threatens to cost more 
lives.
    The most vulnerable Americans are the hardest hit by 
climate change. To right these environmental injustices, we 
have to prepare our State, Tribal, local, and territorial 
public agencies to adapt to an already changed climate. And we 
also talk often about what will we spend on adapting to climate 
change that we know is going to happen.
    But I think we also have need to recognize that anything we 
do to mitigate climate change--because climate change has the 
biggest negative effect on these disadvantaged communities--
anything we do to mitigate climate change will have the 
greatest effect and the most benefit to those same communities.
    I wanted to ask a couple of questions to Mr. Hawkins about 
some of the job losses, and particularly in the context of 
clean energy. According to the latest analysis of clean energy 
job losses, we lost almost 600,000 clean energy jobs in April, 
and in your testimony you describe the important role that 
clean energy plays in Opportunity Zones. What role do you see 
for clean energy investments in the economic recovery?
    Mr. Hawkins. Yes. Well, I definitely appreciate that.
    So, while the designated Opportunity Zones have 
disproportionately high numbers of poverty and things along 
those lines, they have actually seen some real leadership on 
the clean energy side of things. So when we look at 
particularly solar, the Opportunity Zones have 475, I believe--
I was just double-checking my testimony--but I believe 475, and 
I can----
    Mr. Peters. Yes, 475 solar installations producing more 
than 1 megawatt of activity, and 127 wind farms, and 15 battery 
plants.
    Mr. Hawkins. Yes, absolutely.
    And so we have seen that because the entire policy draws in 
innovation. And so we have seen a lot around clean energy. We 
have seen a lot around solar. We haven't seen as much on the 
wind side. But, again, we are looking at $100 billion that are 
coming to these communities over the next 10 years.
    And what is important is that every business doesn't have 
to be necessarily organic to an Opportunity Zone. It can be a 
business that was placed anywhere, and they can build a 
subsidiary in an Opportunity Zone. So what it does is it lowers 
the cost of capital for those clean energy projects, and when 
you put that and overlay that with some of the other works that 
you guys did, have done around clean energy and around the 
various clean energy tax credits, those are mutually 
reinforcing to what you see in Opportunity Zones.
    Mr. Peters. I am going run out of time. But I just want to 
say, I hope that our committee thinks about, as we recover from 
the pandemic, investing in things that both create jobs and 
reduce carbon emissions. And I think that there are 
opportunities around that too.
    And finally I just want to say to Mr. Walden, who told you 
that it was raining in the West, at least in areas in San Diego 
represented by Democrats, it is a sunny day here.
    I yield back.
    Mr. Tonko. OK. We are getting the updated weather reports 
from the West Coast. The gentleman yields back.
    The Chair now recognizes Representative Rodgers, please, 
for 5 minutes.
    And I will remind our Representative to unmute. And 5 
minutes is yours.
    Mrs.  Rodgers. Hi. Good morning, everyone. Continuing from 
the West Coast. It is partly cloudy, partly sunny here.
    Anyway, it is good to be with all of you. I want to thank 
our panelists for your presentations and appreciate the focus 
on this important topic today.
    Certainly our vulnerable communities have borne an 
unproportionate share of the current health and economic 
crisis, and I am glad that we have an opportunity to discuss 
some specific steps as to what we can do to improve people's 
lives and to continue our pursuit for a more perfect Union.
    I appreciated what Congressman Shimkus, the ranking member, 
had to say about reflecting on past mistakes but also past 
successes as we seek to live up to our American ideals. And 
economic revitalization programs can have a significant impact 
on areas of the country that are experiencing economic 
stagnation, and especially in these former industrial areas. I 
have seen it in eastern Washington. I have seen it in Spokane. 
And these areas can have a particular negative impact on both a 
community's health and economic potential.
    So cleaning up these areas has the positive impact of 
improving the environmental health of a community, along with 
the amazing potential of creating more jobs. And as others have 
mentioned, a job is so foundational to both addressing 
environmental issues in this case, but also improving people's 
health, providing housing, and creating that foundation for a 
better life.
    In Spokane, we have had an incredible amount of success and 
economic growth in the last decade, and part of it is due to 
some former industrial sites that have had tremendous economic 
development. EPA's Brownfields Program has been an essential 
tool that Spokane has used to realize the economic benefits of 
these former industrial zones.
    So the last Congress this committee reauthorized the 
Brownfields Program. It was led by Mr. McKinley. And I am proud 
of the bipartisan support of this important program. The 
Opportunity Zones that have been discussed this morning, 
including the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act--another tool that is being 
used to encourage these distressed communities and encourage 
the investment that we need so that we can transform these 
areas into more prosperous and more healthy areas.
    So, Mr. Hawkins, first I want to thank you for your work 
developing the Opportunity Zones program during your time with 
Senator Scott. As you know, the Members on this panel are proud 
of what EPA's Brownfields Program and related technical 
assistance can do to prepare communities for economic 
development.
    I just wanted you to describe again how many of the 
Opportunity Zones also overlap with brownfields sites and just 
talk to the significance of this overlap.
    Mr. Hawkins. Sure. Sure.
    So, of the 151 communities that that have been designated 
for those remediation funds, for that $65 million-plus, 118 of 
those are also overlapping Opportunity Zones. And so folks will 
be able to leverage both.
    And we look at that focus, that is actually part of an 
initiative. The White House Opportunity Revitalization Council 
was structured to bend every resource of the Federal Government 
from a community development perspective to, sort of, you can 
look at it as favor Opportunity Zones. So when you are looking 
at permitting, when you are looking at anything, you go to the 
top of the stack if you are in an Opportunity Zone.
    And the point is to leverage the policy as much as 
possible. And we see it with brownfield remediation, we see it 
with other areas, the FCC and rural broadband. And it is just 
very exciting.
    Mrs. Rodgers. How does that track with what your initial 
prediction was?
    Mr. Hawkins. Well, again, we are on track to get the funds 
in. The real focus for you all on Capitol Hill and the focus 
for State and local governments is not so much making sure the 
capital goes in. The leverage of the policy guarantees that. We 
just have to make sure that the capital benefits the existing 
resident of distressed communities, and so far it seems to be.
    Mr. Tonko. The gentlelady yields back, I believe.
    And the Chair now recognizes Representative Barragan for 5 
minutes, please.
    Please unmute.
    Ms. Barragan. Thank you, Chair Tonko.
    This is a very timely hearing, given the protests calling 
attention to the systematic racism in our country. Systematic 
racism is widespread and includes housing and environmental 
policies that have disproportionately impacted our Black and 
brown communities. An important part of achieving racial 
justice is addressing environmental justice.
    Black and brown communities in my district have suffered 
greatly from the current pandemic. Our air pollution levels are 
among the worst in the country, which has caused high rates of 
asthma and respiratory diseases.
    Those ailments have been shown to make COVID-19 deadlier to 
those who have them because of how the infection attacks the 
lungs and the respiratory system. This makes communities in my 
district more vulnerable to the coronavirus. It is a 
preexisting health and environmental crisis made worse by the 
coronavirus. So we need action.
    There has been a lot of talk about Opportunity Zones. I 
supported Opportunity Zones to help create jobs. But that is 
not going to help our Black and brown communities that have to 
live in these communities right next to air pollution.
    So, Mr. Ali, one of the legacies of redlining, the 
government-sanctioned denial of home loans and insurance to 
communities of color, is that our housing is disproportionately 
located near polluting industries; for example, oil refineries 
in my district.
    Can you talk about how the systematic racism from our 
housing policy is part of the reason our communities are 
disproportionately exposed to air pollution and solutions we 
can implement to overcome this?
    Mr. Ali. Most definitely.
    You know, historically we have with our housing stock moved 
people into certain locations, into Sacrifice Zones. And then 
many of the negative things that were brought in were attracted 
to these places because of the disinvestments that were 
actually going on in those spaces.
    So, as you said, we can travel across the country and you 
can find where certain actions in relationship to bad housing 
practices have put people's lives in danger, whether we are 
talking about, as Ms. Patterson raised earlier, Cancer Alley 
there in Louisiana running between New Orleans and Baton Rouge.
    If you look at folks in North Carolina, in Princeville, 
founded by freed slaves and moved into certain areas, and then 
the disinvestment. So there you have folks who have been hit by 
major hurricanes back to back and can't rebuild.
    If you go down to South Carolina, to near the Little Pee 
Dee River that is there, you actually have seniors, seniors of 
color, and lower-wealth White communities also, who, because of 
the housing stock that they have been in and placed in, they 
are in greater danger.
    Unfortunately, also now we have these processes in place 
where they can't even rebuild their homes. They have to lift 
them up a certain distance to meet code, but there are no 
resources to help these seniors to actually be able to do that.
    We can literally travel around the country and see how 
redlining, restrictive covenants, and a number of things have 
actually pushed people of color--and sometimes lower-wealth 
communities, but primarily folks of color--into these areas and 
then all of the negatives that come with that.
    Ms. Barragan. Well, thank you.
    Ms. Patterson, thank you for all your work with the NAACP 
combating environmental racism in our country. Many years ago, 
as a college student, I was an intern at the Washington Bureau 
with Hilary Shelton fighting racial health disparities. So I 
appreciate all the work that your organization does on that 
issue, on civil rights issues across the country.
    We have seen newly published studies linking exposure to 
particulate matter pollution to an increase in deaths from 
coronavirus. Ms. Patterson, what investments can we be making 
in our Black and brown communities to reduce these pollutants, 
and do you believe that includes addressing the pollution that 
comes from vehicles?
    Ms. Patterson. Thank you so much. Absolutely. And I 
appreciate your service with the Washington Bureau.
    So, yes, absolutely in terms of reducing pollution from 
vehicles, including one of the projects we are working on is 
our transit equity, clean air, helping communities initiative 
which really looks to do just that by working on passing 
ordinances to transition bus and truck fleets to 
electrification to remove that hazard from communities.
    We also need much stronger, again, air pollution standards 
from the Clean Air Act and its rulemaking, and also we are 
working on advances clean air ordinances at the local level so 
that, whether it is refineries or coal-fired power plants or 
other types of production plants, are not there causing--you 
know, emitting those pollutants.
    We also need to really be thinking not just about what we 
are stopping but what we are advancing. So, in addition to 
advancing bus and truck electrification, we need to be thinking 
about building electrification, greater energy efficiency and 
clean energy, and how do we invest in that transition as an 
alternative to the harmful ways that we are generating energy 
now, as well as shifting to zero waste, because we know the 
incinerators are also burning waste and putting 
PM2.5 and other pollutants into the air.
    So thank you. Those are the types of investments I would 
recommend.
    Ms. Barragan. Well, thank you for your response.
    With respect to the investments in transportation, I just 
want to quickly mention I have introduced the Climate Smart 
Ports Act to invest billions of dollars into reducing emissions 
in and around ports, where we see a lot of communities of color 
live and suffer from air pollution.
    With that, Mr. Chairman, thank you. And I yield back.
    Mr. Tonko. The gentlewoman yields back.
    And we now recognize Representative McKinley for 5 minutes.
    Representative McKinley, just unmute, and you have your 5 
minutes.
    Mr. McKinley. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Look, last November this subcommittee held a similar 
hearing on challenges facing frontline communities as they 
transition away from fossil fuels. We highlighted towns like 
Welch, West Virginia; Gillette, Wyoming; Harlan, Kentucky; and 
Petersburg, Indiana, all of which depend on fossil fuels for 
their livelihood and existence.
    Now, 8 months later, let's revisit Welch in McDowell 
County. Welch is unique. It has a minority population, the 
largest in West Virginia, at 35 percent minority. It is now 
experiencing a poverty rate of 27 percent. Unemployment had 
grown to 15 percent. And this lack of jobs has led McDowell 
County to having the highest drug overdose rate among all the 
counties in America.
    In a conversation with the mayor of Welch last week, he 
implied that the repercussions of COVID create short-term 
problems, but the anti-fossil-fuel agenda from the left is a 
long-term threat for communities like Welch and would 
completely destroy the economy of the city of Welch and the 
entire region.
    So, Mr. Chairman, tying air pollution to COVID-19? Really? 
Seriously? It is a simplistic answer to a complicated question. 
Once again, you are taking advantage of a public health crisis 
to justify your party's agenda against fossil fuels.
    We shouldn't jump to conclusions. Some have advocated that 
preexisting conditions such as hypertension and diabetes are 
linked to COVID-19, but a recent study from Oxford University 
has concluded otherwise.
    We have already been studying this issue for 5 months. I 
agree that this is a complicated situation, but we need more 
data. For example, Welch, in McDowell County, with all its 
problems, has only experienced six cases of COVID and no--
zero--no deaths.
    In the meantime, in the middle of villainizing fossil 
fuels, why aren't we researching and developing technologies to 
capture carbon emissions and provide a lifeline to distressed 
communities like Welch, Gillette, Harlan, and Petersburg?
    Now, those communities are all hearing the same stories 
that you and I are hearing, that Biden has already said fossil 
fuels will have no part in his administration. Therefore, are 
frontline communities like Welch expendable? Are the people of 
Welch among the 10 to 15 percent of Americans that Biden thinks 
are not very good people? Are they the deplorables?
    Our frontline communities like Welch with a heavy minority 
population should not be collateral damage to your war on 
fossil fuels. We have a moral obligation to not write them off, 
but to help them.
    Mr. Hawkins, if I could to you, a question. Some will call 
fossil fuels pollution, but in West Virginia we call them jobs. 
You helped author the legislation for Opportunity Zones to 
benefit frontline communities like Welch, but for whatever 
reason it is not included in an Opportunity Zone in West 
Virginia.
    So my question to you is, primarily, how can we modify the 
Opportunity Zones--they are locked in for 10 years--how can we 
modify those Opportunity Zones so that towns like Welch can 
benefit and prosper and diversify their economy?
    Mr. Hawkins. What we would love is for Congress to first 
pass a transparency and reporting bill, because the initial 
legislation had provisions that would allow us to record the 
types of businesses, the amount of jobs created, and the 
locations of those jobs. That reporting will give us the data 
that we need to say, ``Look, Opportunity Zones are working, 
there are certain people we want to serve, and now it is time 
to expand them.''
    Because we would love to give the Governor of West Virginia 
the ability to designate an additional 10 percent of zones, 
let's say, so going from 25 percent designations to 35 percent. 
You know, in my State of Ohio, that would be an additional 120 
zones that could be designated.
    And so if we can allow--if we can get the data once, first 
of all, to see if the policy is working and then use that to 
enable legislation to expand the policy and allow additional 
zones to be designated, then we can pull those areas of West 
Virginia in that could benefit from the policy and that could 
benefit from the jobs that will be created.
    Mr. McKinley. Thank you.
    And, Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
    Mr. Tonko. The gentleman yields back.
    The Chair now recognizes Representative McEachin for 5 
minutes, please.
    And unmute, please.
    Mr. McEachin. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    As our Nation continues to navigate the crisis caused by, 
in some cases exacerbated by, COVID-19, I cannot think of a 
more important time to be working together to ensure that 
environmental justice communities are centered in our work.
    I want to thank our witnesses for their time and their 
expertise. I have had occasion to work with both of them over 
the past few years, and I am deeply gratified by their 
leadership and their commitment to equity and justice.
    The COVID-19 pandemic is harming communities of color 
disproportionately. The burden of pollution in these 
communities is a big part of the reason. The pandemic is 
another burden accumulating on top of pollution in our air, 
lead in our water, and carcinogens in our soil. Many of our 
environmental laws call for the protection of vulnerable or 
high-risk populations, but no one can look at the 
disproportionate burden of disease in our country, including 
COVID-19, and say that we are protecting those communities.
    Now, this is a little bit off of what I intend to ask in 
the first instance, but given the previous member's remarks, 
Ms. Patterson, do you care to comment on the assertions made by 
Mr. McKinley about Welch and their view of the leftist war on 
fossil fuels?
    Ms. Patterson. Thank you. I appreciate that.
    I would more frame that as the frontline communities' quest 
for health and survival. And we have seen just how--we put out 
a report called ``Fumes Across the Fence-Line'' that talked 
about the extreme negative impacts of the oil and gas industry 
and refineries on our communities. We put out our ``Coal 
Blooded'' report where we talked about how the Department of 
Labor's own statistics, talks about the 76,000 coal miners who 
have died of black lung disease since 1968 as they toil to 
create energy for our Nation.
    So for us, we don't frame it as anything but we are looking 
out for the health and well-being of our communities and our 
planet. And for us, we put together this group called the Black 
Labor Initiative on Just Transition, which includes groups like 
the United Mine Workers of America, the U.S. Steel Workers, and 
so forth, so that we could all come together and say, given the 
necessity of this transition away from fossil fuels that are 
harming communities and the planet, how can we do this in a way 
where your livelihoods are maintained and where you are not in 
the fossil fuel industry but in an industry that really 
maintains your pensions, your healthcare, and the income that 
you need to move forward.
    So that is the kind of conversation that we would like to 
be having so that we can--so we have all. We have energy. We 
have the income and livelihoods people need. And we have health 
and well-being for communities. And we have the survival of the 
planet.
    Thank you.
    Mr. McEachin. Thank you, Ms. Patterson.
    Let me just follow up again with one more question. Are you 
essentially saying that clean air and clean water and a 
greening of our economy actually equals good-paying jobs?
    Ms. Patterson. That is exactly what I am saying. We know 
from past statistics that the solar industry is in the top 10 
growing industries in our country. Wind turbine technicians are 
the number one fastest-growing profession in our country.
    And we also know we have seen where economic well-being can 
flourish in the new energy economy and we can actually have a 
concentration of wealth building and ownership at the community 
level so that all can thrive, as opposed to a wealthy few.
    Mr. McEachin. Thank you.
    Mr. Ali, I just have a minute left, and I apologize to you 
for that. But can you help us understand how we can assure that 
communities of color are actually at the table when we are 
dealing with standards being set and permits being issued?
    Mr. Ali. Yes. I mean, there are a number of opportunities, 
whether it is in our public comment periods and making sure 
those are open and transparent and that they are handled in a 
way that is actually inviting of people's participation and the 
knowledge that they bring.
    We can also make sure that both on the Federal level and on 
the State level that we are really, truly engaging in an 
authentic and transparent way with folks as we are framing out 
really what will either be a positive or negative in their 
lives. We have a number of opportunities to really engage with 
frontline communities to make real change happen.
    Mr. McEachin. Thank you. I appreciate it, my friend.
    Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
    Mr. Tonko. Thank you.
    The gentleman yields back.
    The Chair now recognizes Representative Johnson for 5 
minutes of questioning.
    Please unmute.
    Mr. Johnson. Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    And before I get into my questions, let me give another 
warm welcome to my fellow Buckeye, Shay Hawkins from Cleveland.
    Shay, we appreciate you being here today and offering your 
very important perspective on these issues.
    Mr. Hawkins. Thank you.
    Mr. Johnson. You are most welcome.
    You know, bringing new investment to economically 
distressed communities is key to improving the quality of life 
for local residents and weathering disruptions like we have 
seen with the shuttering of much of our economy as a result of 
the COVID-19 pandemic.
    In my district in eastern and southeastern Ohio, we have 
been blessed with an oil and gas boom which has provided a 
variety of good-paying jobs for thousands of blue-collar 
workers. The American energy renaissance has benefited millions 
of families across the country and across all socioeconomic 
levels. In fact, according to the American Petroleum Institute, 
by the year 2030, over 32 percent of the oil and gas workforce 
across the country, over 400,000 workers, will be from members 
of minority communities.
    But today I want to focus on another promising development, 
helping underserved communities, and Mr. Hawkins is an expert 
on this. You have already heard him speak on it a little bit. 
And I am talking about returning to Opportunity Zones, which I 
was pleased to support as part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
    While utilizing Opportunity Zones can be an effective way 
to address financial and social challenges in urban areas like 
Cleveland, they can also improve economic conditions in 
historically distressed rural areas, like Appalachia, where I 
live.
    Mr. Hawkins, I understand there was over $10 billion raised 
into Opportunity funds as of March 2020. What role do you see 
Opportunity Zones playing in the economic recovery from the 
COVID-19 lockdown?
    Mr. Hawkins. I think they are going to play a critical 
role, an absolutely critical role. And the reason is because 
these communities, whether they be urban Opportunity Zones or 
whether they be rural Opportunity Zones, these areas are always 
the first to get hit when we go into a recession, and they are 
hit the hardest, and they are always the last to recover.
    And so the difference between past recessions and the 
economic disruption that we are seeing from COVID-19 is that, 
in previous recessions, we did not have Opportunity Zones. 
Opportunity zones aren't a panacea, but they are a very sharp 
tool in the community development toolbox.
    Mr. Johnson. Well, I am glad you said that. Let me change 
the direction for just a second, because we have got 18 
Opportunity Zones in my district alone in Ohio. So how large do 
you expect the investment potential to be in these Opportunity 
Zones? Because we need them where I live.
    Mr. Hawkins. Yes, absolutely. Like I said, we have got 
$10.8 billion, I believe, raised as of April 30, and Secretary 
Mnuchin estimates that $100 billion will come into these zones 
over the next 10 years.
    And so we are excited. The rural zones provide great 
opportunities for things like rural broadband, things like 
clean technology, and that is what we have been seeing. And we 
have been seeing it in areas that are as rural as northern 
Alaska. So we are very excited to see what develops.
    Mr. Johnson. OK. As we have seen the implementation of the 
Opportunity Zones, are there any outstanding regulations that 
are needed in connection with Opportunity Zones to make them 
work more effectively?
    Mr. Hawkins. Yes. Absolutely. The initial Investing in 
Opportunity Act included reporting and transparency provisions. 
So, because of parliamentary reasons, we had to strip those 
out. We passed it in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
    But there is a bill right now on the Senate side that 
Senator Scott and Senator Sinema, along with Chairman Grassley, 
introduced to add those reporting and transparency requirements 
back. And so we would love to introduce a version of that on 
the House side and to have you guys get it passed.
    Mr. Johnson. All right. Well, thank you.
    I had some other questions, but I will submit those for the 
record.
    Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
    Thanks, Mr. Hawkins.
    Mr. Tonko. The gentleman yields back.
    The Chair now recognizes Representative Blunt Rochester for 
5 minutes for questions.
    And, Representative, unmute, please.
    Ms. Blunt Rochester. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    And to our witnesses, thank you so much for your time.
    As we are having this hearing, George Floyd is being laid 
to rest in his final ceremony. And I think it is only fitting 
that, as we talk about COVID-19, a disease that is a 
respiratory one, and to link it to all of the different issues 
that we have talked about here, just even the ability to be 
able to breathe is something that is heavy on my heart.
    And I have prepared remarks. I am a little bit off script 
here as well because I am the kind of person, as many of you 
know, I like to celebrate our successes. But I feel that, at 
this moment, part of what each of us individually and 
collectively have to do is hold up a mirror to ourselves and 
say, ``What can we do differently?''
    And I appreciate this hearing because I think it is shining 
a light, just like COVID-19 has magnified the inequities that 
we already knew existed in our society.
    And so, as we move forward--I appreciated Mr. Walden's 
comments as well--I hope that we will hold up an individual 
mirror, as well as a collective mirror, and maybe put aside 
some of even the phrases and terms that we use to politicize 
things, because what we are experiencing right now is something 
different.
    And like I said, I had remarks here that really just talk 
about the fact that racism and injustice are built into the 
foundation, as Mr. Ali said. And it is not just about the 
foundation crumbling and the house being destroyed. It is about 
the fact that sometimes you can have a shaky foundation and the 
house stays the same, but you continue to do repairs and upkeep 
and it becomes a money pit.
    And, until we start dealing with root issues, until we 
start really having courageous conversations with each other, 
we will continue to have a money pit where we are just dumping 
money into programs. It is not that these individual programs 
aren't great, but it has to be systemic, and we have to see 
outcomes. We have to see real outcomes.
    So those communities that we call vulnerable, those 
communities that we call distressed, I call them superhuman 
that people are even still existing when they are placed next 
to toxic sites and when they don't have food and healthcare and 
transportation.
    And so I am proud to be a member of this committee because 
we have the ability to do incredible things, and I am looking 
forward to that.
    I have got questions here, and I am going to try to go very 
quickly, but I want to hold a mirror to myself and all of us to 
commit, separate and apart from these hearings, that we are 
going to work together to change outcomes that we are seeing.
    To George Floyd and his family, my prayers.
    Studies show that there is a disproportionate and 
cumulative impact that pollution has had on communities of 
color and, as Mr. Ali calls, low-wealth and rural communities 
as well, and we have seen the staggering mortality rates from 
COVID-19 on those communities.
    And in the 1 minute I have left, Mr. Ali, if you could talk 
a little bit about how more data and better data would be 
helpful. We know that there are monitoring systems that have 
either not been updated or are not working. We have written to 
Administrator Wheeler, and I thank those who signed on to that 
letter. But, if you could talk a little bit about the use of 
data that would help fence-line communities particularly.
    Mr. Ali. Yes. Thank you, Representative.
    I mean, that is one of the critical elements that we need. 
When I first started working on these issues, I remember 
walking down the hallways of the EPA, and there were two folks 
who were in front of me, and they said, ``I don't know why we 
are going to this meeting on environmental equities, because 
what these people are sharing can't possibly be true.''
    So, if you are just dealing with the narratives, the 
stories that are incredibly important from frontline 
communities, without being able to lock that down with the 
data, then people can make those types of statements. That was 
over 25 years ago.
    Today we have to make sure that the monitors are in the 
right locations, that the information that is coming out of 
that is accessible both to regulators, to policymakers, but 
also to frontline communities.
    We also have to--as we shared earlier--we need to make sure 
that we are also getting the data that needs to exist in 
relationship to COVID-19, that is closely aligned with these 
hot spots that we find across the country.
    When we don't do that, then it is easy for folks to say, 
``Well, that sounds like a story that you are telling,'' 
instead of something that is rooted in facts. As the Agency has 
kind of moved away from capturing the relevant data, we have to 
move back in that direction so that we can anchor everything in 
facts.
    Ms. Blunt Rochester. Thank you.
    And, Ms. Patterson, I have a question for you that we will 
ask afterwards.
    And we would like to submit that letter to Administrator 
Wheeler for the record.
    And, again, to my colleagues: Together, let's do this 
together.
    I yield back.
    Mr. Tonko. Good message, Congresswoman.
    And the gentlelady yields back.
    The Chair now recognizes Representative Flores for 5 
minutes for questions, please.
    And please unmute.
    Mr. Flores. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    And I appreciate the witnesses for joining us today.
    I would encourage us to reassess having these online 
hearings. I think that Congress is an essential service and 
that the American people would be better served by us doing 
this in person.
    Mr. Hawkins, I have a couple of questions for you. I would 
like to expand the Opportunity Zone discussion and talk a 
little bit about rural communities. We have all heard today 
that stronger economic employment opportunities can lead to 
numerous other benefits, such as environmental protections, 
healthcare, education, emergency services, greater tax base, 
and on and on.
    Opportunity Zones were created by the 2017 Tax Cuts and 
Jobs Act, and the predecessor of that was the work that you and 
Senator Scott had done. They were done to stimulate economic 
development and job creation by incentivizing long-term 
investments in low-income, often overlooked neighborhoods and 
communities.
    These zones also overlap often with what we call--with what 
some call environmental justice communities. Today there are 
more than 8,760 of these designated Qualified Opportunity Zones 
that are located in the 50 States, the District of Columbia, 
and the five United States territories.
    So question one is this: Can you tell me roughly how many 
or what percentage of these Opportunity Zones are in rural 
areas? And can you also provide a few examples of successful 
active projects that are underway today?
    Mr. Hawkins. Sure. So about 23 percent of the zones that 
were designated would fall into the category of rural areas. 
And then the remainder are in urban areas or what we call 
suburban areas, suburban areas being about 10 percent and then 
the remainder being in urban areas. And so there is a 
significant potential impact there.
    When we look at concrete examples of some of the things 
that we have seen in urban areas--I mean, in rural areas--we 
can look to rural broadband. And I can look to one of my 
members who has been operating to expand rural broadband in 
rural Alaska.
    And so, as you can imagine, because of the terrain in 
Alaska, it is very difficult to get fiber penetrated into the 
interior of the State. But Opportunity Zones have lowered the 
cost of capital to the point where it has made it feasible.
    So one of our members, along with their existing investors, 
along with an Opportunity Fund that focuses on broadband, and 
along with additional support from one of the Tribal 
corporations, has been expanding rural broadband in Alaska and 
laying that fiber. And so, if you can lay the fiber up there 
and expand rural broadband in Alaska, then you can expand it 
anywhere.
    Mr. Flores. OK. Well, thank you.
    I am glad you brought up rural broadband. Are there any 
other specific obstacles to broadband internet access that 
aren't being addressed today by statute or by the Opportunity 
Zone legislation that we passed earlier?
    Mr. Hawkins. Well, one of the things we have seen, again 
with that White House Revitalization and Opportunity Council, 
some of those resources that have been bent to favor 
Opportunity Zones have included a $26 billion fund to support 
rural broadband at the FCC. And so we have seen that.
    And then we have also seen some sort of interesting 
legislation out there to possibly create a gigabit Opportunity 
Zone that is focused on building out rural broadband 
infrastructure along the same concept of traditional 
Opportunity Zones.
    Mr. Flores. OK. And then, lastly, back to rural Opportunity 
Zones writ large, are there any other particular obstacles to 
robust investment in those rural zones? And, if so, what are 
they?
    Mr. Hawkins. So we haven't identified any particular 
obstacles. One thing from a regulatory standpoint, the 
regulations from Treasury that would govern operating 
businesses took longer to come out than those that would cover 
real estate. So operating businesses are what you are going to 
see developing in the rural areas. So we had those final 
regulations completed as of December 2019.
    Mr. Flores. OK.
    Mr. Hawkins. Now that those regulations are out, that was 
the primary obstacle that we saw to operating business 
development in rural areas. So we are just looking forward to 
seeing the money flow.
    Mr. Flores. OK. Thank you, Mr. Hawkins.
    I yield back.
    Mr. Tonko. The gentleman yields back.
    The Chair now recognizes Representative Soto for 5 minutes 
of questioning.
    And, Representative Soto, please unmute.
    Mr. Soto. I thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Climate change, polluted air and water, social injustice, 
and COVID-19, they are all interrelated.
    As COVID-19 swept across our Nation, President Trump hid 
the truth from the American people. He politicized the issue, 
and, worst of all, he did nothing for weeks, from January 
through February and early March, as the coronavirus swept 
across our Nation.
    President Trump's failed COVID-19 response has greatly 
contributed to the death of over 113,000 Americans, over 2 
million Americans contracting the virus as well. President 
Trump's failed COVID-19 response also left 40 million Americans 
seeking unemployment and the worst economic recession since the 
Great Depression.
    Now add his dismal failure to protect clean air and water, 
and he has created the perfect disaster for the American 
people. This especially affects frontline communities of color 
and low-income communities.
    And, as my home State of Florida faces another dangerous 
hurricane season, rising seas, even a Miami seawall of 13 feet 
high, we know that we have to do something.
    In central Florida, in my home area of Florida's Ninth 
Congressional District, we see in the Hispanic community, in 
our community, higher cases because we have many essential 
workers in Osceola County, which is why we need to pass the 
HEROES Act to help provide hazard pay for these essential 
workers.
    The African-American communities in Polk County in our 
district, we saw higher levels of deaths in addition to a 
higher level of cases among Hispanics. And also we saw similar 
trends in poor rural Anglo communities in the district.
    My question to Ms. Patterson and Mr. Ali, some folks want 
us to study more, to delay more before enacting environmental 
justice reforms. Do we have enough data on the effect of air 
pollution on COVID-19 to move forward with certain 
environmental justice reforms already? If so, what would they 
be? To both Mr. Ali and Ms. Patterson.
    Ms. Patterson. I will let Mr. Ali go first. Thank you.
    Mr. Ali. We have more than enough data. So let me give just 
a quick historical point for folks who may not know.
    In 1992, John Lewis, an esteemed Member with your family 
there, actually introduced the first piece of environmental 
justice legislation, reintroduced it in 1993, and I believe 
tried also in 1994. And at that time he was trying to put a 
spotlight on the hot spots that exist around the country so 
that we could then make the investments that were necessary and 
also make sure that not only the investments, that we also had 
the legislation that would help to make sure that that didn't 
happen in the future.
    So now we are 28 years later and during that time there 
have been a number of institutions that have done all kinds of 
critical research, both public health organizations, 
environmental organizations, and a number of others, that have 
pinpointed the fact of the impacts that are happening from this 
pollution and the disproportionate impact on communities of 
color, lower-wealth communities, and on indigenous lands.
    So it is not a matter of being able to have to prove any of 
this anymore. The question is, Are we willing to prioritize 
these communities to address both the past impacts and also, as 
many of you have been sharing, think critically about how do we 
help these communities also be able to rebuild?
    I appreciate the conversation that is going on about the 
Opportunity Zones. I have my own set of questions that I am 
always curious about, about are they uplifting people, are they 
causing gentrification, a number of other things. And if those 
can be answered, then that is fantastic. But we should also be 
focused on the fact that frontline communities have been doing 
their own revitalizing of vulnerable communities.
    I hope this committee, when the time is right, that we 
actually go out and visit firsthand these communities to see 
how they have actually been able to transform their communities 
to be able to create jobs, to be able to create healthy 
housing, to be able to create new transportation.
    Mr. Soto. Mr. Ali, my time is limited. So I want to turn to 
Ms. Patterson.
    Do you believe boosting fossil fuel production in 
communities of color and low-income communities is in the long-
term best interest of those communities?
    Ms. Patterson. Did you say boosting?
    Mr. Soto. Boosting fossil fuel and chemical production, is 
that in the best interest of low-income communities and 
communities of color communities?
    Ms. Patterson. Yes. Thank you. Sorry. Just didn't catch 
that one word.
    No, I do not. Studies, experiences have all shown how, in 
communities that are exposed to fossil fuel, pollution from 
coal to oil and gas and so forth, have shown the myriad public 
health challenges that those communities face. So it definitely 
isn't in their long-term interest.
    As well as when we turn on the other side and see the 
connection between fossil fuel emissions and climate change, 
that we know that the climate change disproportionately impacts 
those communities, from the sea level rise you talked about and 
the displacement that they face to the disaster impacts that we 
saw in Hurricane Katrina and beyond, to the shifts in 
agricultural yields when these communities are already food 
insecure and suffer the many health challenges as a result.
    So in every way the--and not to mention the actual harms to 
the workers in those industries with 76,000 coal miners and 
counting dying of black lung disease since 1968. And we know 
the many accidents and fatalities that have happened that are 
tied to the fossil fuel industry.
    So, no, in no way is it in the best interest of communities 
of color and frontline community. Thank you for asking.
    Mr. Soto. Thank you.
    I yield back.
    Mr. Tonko. The gentleman yields back.
    The Chair now recognizes Representative Mullin for 5 
minutes for questions.
    And, Representative, unmute, please.
    Mr. Mullin. Thank you, Chairman. Thank you for this 
opportunity.
    You know, I have got to address something real quick. And I 
want to talk to Mr. Hawkins about Opportunity Zones.
    But the idea of these meetings is to make sure we try to 
leave politics out of it as much as possible. I mean, if we are 
really going to have a hearing that is going to be able to move 
the ball forward and try to advance opportunities for all of 
our constituents, then we drag in politics like our colleague 
from Florida just did, it is absolutely absurd. For blaming the 
President for everything?
    If I am not mistaken, it was not too long ago that I 
believe our colleague from Florida was trying to limit 
innovation in pharmaceuticals. That was before COVID, 
obviously. And now we are going to walk down this path, and you 
are going to blame him for everything?
    Guys, as a committee we are better than this. Our committee 
has had a long history of trying to do bipartisanship, and 
there is no way we can have bipartisanship if we continue to 
blame everybody for it.
    It doesn't make any difference. We are in a pandemic. Let's 
figure out a way to move the ball forward. I don't think any of 
us are intentionally trying to hurt anybody. But we all have 
unique challenges in our district, and my district is no 
different.
    I mean, one thing that has been exposed in my district is 
broadband. I have a very rural district. In fact, just recently 
the only reason why I am able to even be on this hearing is 
because I got internet at my house. Until just recently, that 
didn't exist. When I say I live in the middle of nowhere, I 
truly do. And when we start talking about Opportunity Zones, we 
need to pay attention to that.
    Mr. Hawkins, that is what I was wanting to talk to you 
about a little bit. I know you have had experience working 
inside Indian Country, to some degree, but all my district is 
Indian Country. I am in Oklahoma.
    Mr. Hawkins. Yes.
    Mr. Mullin. So, when we start looking at Opportunity Zones 
in particular, how can broadband be part of that conversation?
    Mr. Hawkins. Yes, absolutely. And this goes to the 
flexibility that is built into the policy itself.
    So the way the policy works is, every dollar doesn't 
necessarily have to be derived from within the Opportunity Zone 
in order for the company in the Opportunity Zone to derive the 
tax benefit.
    So this is just to say that, as long as the nucleus of the 
operation--you know, the employees, the leaders of the company, 
the management team, et cetera--as long as they are located in 
the zone and the jobs are created in the zone, the actual 
infrastructure can spread out outside the zone, because it is 
natural--it is expected that the revenues are going to come 
from outside of the distressed area.
    Mr. Mullin. And Opportunity----
    Mr. Hawkins. And it is particularly set up to lay fiber 
over a broad geography and still be able to benefit from that 
lower cost of capital.
    Mr. Mullin. And Opportunity Zones, we talked about jobs 
too, because with technology also comes job opportunities.
    Mr. Hawkins. Yes.
    Mr. Mullin. In rural parts of the areas, which is why 
Opportunity Zones existed, it was helped to spur along those 
jobs. Being in rural America, you know, for a lot of young 
people, the only opportunity for them to have a really good-
paying job is to move, and we don't want that to happen.
    Mr. Hawkins. Right.
    Mr. Mullin. I want my kids to live out on the ranch. I want 
my kids to live around us. I have got six of them, so one of 
these days, I am going to have a handful of grandkids, too.
    Mr. Hawkins. It is. We all want that.
    Mr. Mullin. Yes, absolutely. And we want to keep that 
family unit close, but Opportunity Zones can--and I am 
assuming, in your opinion--can help create those jobs that are 
good, sustainable, long-paying jobs, right?
    Mr. Hawkins. Absolutely. They not only create jobs for the 
companies that come, but, again, as you look at things like 
rural broadband being built out, that provides the 
technological connection with the rest of the world that allow 
people to remain to stay put and still do what they need to do. 
It also helps in terms of things like telehealth, so telehealth 
is something that is compromised if you don't have a robust 
broadband infrastructure, and Opportunity Zones can be a key 
part of building that infrastructure out.
    Mr. Mullin. Thank you.
    And with that, I will yield back.
    Mr. Tonko. The gentleman yields back.
    The Chair now recognizes Representative DeGette for 5 
minutes, and----
    Ms. DeGette. Thank you.
    Mr. Tonko. And you did unmute. OK, great.
    Ms. DeGette. Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman.
    Some of you on this subcommittee have heard me talk about 
the Suncor Refinery, which is adjacent to the Denver 
communities of Globeville and Elyria-Swansea, which have a 
longstanding pattern of air quality violations, and, frankly, 
putting the surrounding community at health risk. And just for 
an example: In a 6-month period last year, the company violated 
key emission limits nearly 3,000 times, sometimes for more than 
a week in a row. Now, significantly, Swansea-Elyria and 
Globeville have a predominantly Latino population, where even 
before the COVID crisis, some of my colleagues, Representative 
Barragan, were talking about issues like this. A third of the 
residents lived below poverty level, and they also have food 
insecurity.
    So I don't think anybody will be surprised, given the 
testimony we heard today, that these communities have also been 
one of the areas hardest hit by the coronavirus.
    Ms. Patterson, I want to ask you: Could you elaborate about 
how social and environmental injustices are compounded by 
COVID-19 in environmental justice communities like Swansea-
Elyria?
    Ms. Patterson. Certainly. Thank you so much for the 
question.
    Yes, so, unfortunately, when we have a situation where 
communities are already facing food insecurity, and, 
therefore--that contributes to these poor health conditions 
that they are already facing, the level of function that we 
talked about that leads to poor health conditions, as well as 
ties to other challenges around, whether it is being out of 
school, long poor air quality days, or kids being in school and 
having a hard time paying attention because of the pollutants 
that they are exposed to, and then you add a pandemic on top of 
it all.
    So it is just the cumulative and compounded social, 
educational, and health factors, not to mention even the 
economic--certainly we see how the COVID-19 has affected the 
economy in general, but even before that, when people were--
when kids are out of school and people have to stay home with 
their kids, then their financial well-being suffers, and then--
--
    Ms. DeGette. That is fine. I hate to stop you, but I have a 
couple more questions, and it does, it just compounds it, which 
is why we see the infection rates and the death rates higher in 
communities of color and in at-risk communities. And also, Ms. 
Blunt Rochester talked about the air quality monitoring 
stations being down, and in some places the Trump 
administration is not even enforcing the laws. So, many of us 
have been trying to raise maximum fines for air quality 
violations, like with Suncor, and we have also been trying to 
require robust community-level air toxins.
    Now, Mr. Ali, something that I think you could tell us 
about is how important enforcement of these environmental laws 
would be towards protecting health in these communities.
    Mr. Ali. Yes. You know, enforcement is really interesting, 
you know, especially the time we are in. You know, we pump huge 
amounts of money into enforcement and policing of Black and 
brown communities, but when it comes to enforcing those same 
industries that are there, for some reason, we want to push 
back against that, and I have never been real clear why we do 
that, but--well, I do have some ideas.
    Ms. DeGette. Yes.
    Mr. Ali. So----
    Ms. DeGette. Oh, go ahead.
    Mr. Ali. No, I was going to say, we know there has been 
less enforcement actions happening over the last few years. We 
also know there are less inspectors going out, and that creates 
a very dangerous scenario, especially for our most vulnerable 
communities.
    So I believe in human nature and the goodness that exists 
there, and I hope that most businesses and industries will do 
the right thing. But we know through history that there have 
been some who have not, who have been significant noncompliers, 
and we have to make sure that there is a cop on the job, if you 
want to label it that way, to make sure people are doing the 
right thing.
    Ms. DeGette. Thank you.
    And you know, Mr. Hawkins, I want to say to you, I really 
appreciate your work over many years on issues like 
opportunities under brownfield. Way back in the mist of times, 
I actually worked on a brownfields spill in Colorado, which led 
to thousands of sites being cleaned up. But here is the thing--
and I think you will agree with this--without robust 
enforcement of the environmental laws, you are not going to 
clean up the air in these communities just with Opportunity 
Zones and brownfields. It can help, but you have to have 
enforcement of the laws. Wouldn't you agree with that?
    Mr. Hawkins. That sounds reasonable.
    Ms. DeGette. OK. Thank you.
    Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman. Great hearing.
    And I yield back.
    Mr. Tonko. OK. The gentlelady yields back. You are most 
welcome.
    We now recognize Representative Carter for 5 minutes for 
questioning, and please unmute, Representative.
    Mr. Carter. OK. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I thank all of 
our speakers for being here. We appreciate your participation.
    I want to start off by saying something about the EPA, 
because I think it has been somewhat misrepresented about their 
actions during the COVID-19 pandemic. The EPA has continued to 
enforce our Nation's environmental laws and work with the 
Federal, State, and the Tribal communities. So, you know, their 
temporary policy has responded to inquiries from the States, 
and many of them with stay-at-home orders trying to regulate 
the community in those States, trying to protect its employees 
from the viruses. The policy lets the agency prioritize its 
resources to respond to acute risk and immense threats.
    So, again, under the temporary policy, no one is excused 
from exceeding pollution limitations, and the only major change 
is that the EPA is not seeking penalties for noncompliance 
related to routine monitoring and reporting requirements. You 
know, over 40 States have adopted COVID-19-related enforcement 
discretion, including agencies in New York and New Jersey. That 
is all--I say all of that to say that the EPA and the 
environmental regulations continue to be enforced, and the 
EPA's work continues. So I just want to set the record straight 
on that before we go any further.
    Mr. Hawkins, I really do appreciate you being here, and I 
appreciate the work that you have done, particularly on these 
Opportunity Zones. You know, one of the things we have 
discovered during this pandemic is that we are too dependent on 
foreign countries, particularly China, for some of our 
pharmaceutical needs, our pharmaceutical manufacturing. And 
this is similar to what we experienced back in the late 1970s, 
when we realized that we were too dependent on the Middle East 
for our energy needs and we realized we needed to have energy 
independence, and we achieved that. We realize now that we need 
to have pharmaceutical independence. Too much of the active 
pharmaceutical ingredients are coming from other countries, 
particularly China.
    One of the bills that I have introduced is legislation that 
will incentivize these companies to come back to America, and I 
am actually working with Senator Scott in utilizing these 
Opportunity Zones as a tax incentive for these companies to 
come back and invest in our communities like this.
    Is this what you were--is this what the intent of the 
Opportunity Zones were, to create jobs like this?
    Mr. Hawkins. Yes, absolutely. And there is so much that is 
being done abroad that can be done, you know, in these 
distressed communities. Just a couple quick examples. One, 
Puerto Rico is obviously--you know, we had bipartisan 
legislation just after the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in the first 
spending bill after--in February, bipartisan legislation that 
allowed Puerto Rico to designate 100 percent of their 
distressed census tracts as Opportunity Zones.
    As you know, Puerto Rico is a major hub for pharmaceutical 
development, and so, we have one of our members there that is 
specifically starting us a pharmaceutical subsidiary in order 
to bring back drug manufacturing that is currently done in 
China to Puerto Rico. So that is one area.
    We have another area--another member, I am sorry--in South 
Carolina that is actually bringing machines from Taiwan to 
America that can build face masks. You know, you literally put 
an input in the front of the machine, it spits out on the other 
end a packaged face mask that can wholesale for $2, retail for 
$5, and that is something that can be utilized because, right 
now, 85 percent of our face masks are made outside the country.
    And, finally, we have got a member who creates small 
buildings out of shipping containers. They are in Opportunity 
Zones, and they build these buildings. They design them. They 
can do seven-story buildings or individual buildings. Right now 
they are building small scale aligned with--small scale 
buildings where folks can do testing, and they are importing 
testing kits from South Korea. They are making them for $14 a 
kit, where normally it is $40 a kit, and the kits are much more 
accurate than what we use right now. So this policy can bring a 
lot more manufacturing, distribution, and jobs back to the U.S.
    Mr. Carter. Well, and thank you for that, Mr. Hawkins. And, 
you know, the economic impact is obvious and very important, 
but it also has an environmental impact as well, and you 
touched on that a number of times during this meeting, and I 
appreciate that.
    I am sorry I have run out of time, but I want to point out 
that not only does it have an economic impact, it can have an 
environmental impact as well.
    Mr. Hawkins. Absolutely, absolutely.
    Mr. Carter. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I yield back.
    Mr. Tonko. You are most welcome. The gentleman yields back.
    The Chair now recognizes the representative from 
California, Representative Matsui, for 5 minutes.
    And, Representative, unmute, please.
    Ms. Matsui. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and a huge 
thank you for all of the witnesses that are with us today, 
taking the time to share with us some of the stories that are 
happening on the ground in communities that are often 
overlooked, despite the disproportionate burden they have to 
share.
    The pain experienced by Black and brown low-income 
communities has come to the forefront of the national attention 
in the recent weeks. We know these communities have faced 
injustices for years with little cohesive action taken to right 
these wrongs. The hearing represents an important step in 
hearing stories, looking at the facts, and assessing what the 
most effective Federal solutions will be in ensuring a more 
just society for all.
    So let's, first of all, get some facts straight. About a 
month ago, the Harvard School of Public Health released a study 
highlighting how frontline communities and those living in the 
areas of the country where the worst air pollution are facing 
disproportionate risk of health complications and death from 
COVID-19.
    Mr. Ali, is it true that, if you are non-White, you are 
more likely to live in an area with higher air pollution?
    Mr. Ali. Yes.
    Ms. Matsui. OK. Is it true that some studies have 
demonstrated that there is a link between living in areas with 
higher air pollution specifically, and fine particulate matter 
and a mortality rate of COVID-19?
    Mr. Ali. Yes.
    Ms. Matsui. Now, is it also true that a recent study 
determined that air pollution particles had active vectors for 
the coronavirus in the air?
    Mr. Ali. Yes.
    Ms. Matsui. OK. Now, in spite of the significant findings 
of many of these studies, EPA is charging forward with a number 
of harmful deregulatory actions, including the Clean Air, Clean 
Cars rollback, and Administrator Wheeler's refusal to update 
the standard for regulating particulate matter pollution.
    Mr. Ali, how many lives are lost each year as a result of 
air pollution?
    Mr. Ali. A minimum of 100,000.
    Ms. Matsui. Do you know what percentage of these deaths 
occur in communities of color or low-income communities?
    Mr. Ali. I know they are disproportionately impacting. We 
need additional resources to know the exact number.
    Ms. Matsui. Do you think the standards ought to be set 
higher?
    Mr. Ali. Most definitely, and communities have asked us to 
do that.
    Ms. Matsui. OK. Can you speak to the number of lives saved 
if we were to strengthen rather than maintain particulate 
matter standards?
    Mr. Ali. Tens of thousands of lives would be saved.
    Ms. Matsui. OK. Mr. Ali, you worked at the Environmental 
Protection Agency for 24 years, specifically focusing on 
environmental justice. How can we strengthen EPA's Office of 
Environmental Justice to have the tools, authority, and funding 
it needs to better accomplish its mission?
    Mr. Ali. We can elevate it to a national program office, 
just as we have the Office of Air and the Office of Water. Many 
of you talked about brownfields and Superfunds. We can make 
sure that office is at that level. We can make sure that it has 
the staffing and expertise that is necessary. We can also make 
sure that we are honoring the interagency working group that 
runs through that office so that we can leverage the resources 
and expertise that exists in all of the other Federal agencies 
also, so that we can achieve the goals that many folks on the 
call today have said that they would like to see.
    Ms. Matsui. OK. Thank you.
    Ms. Patterson, you wrote in your article ``Climate Change 
and Civil Rights Issues'' that the Black community tends to 
have a greater dependence on public transportation, that Black 
individuals are more likely to live in inner cities, and are 
disproportionately affected in rises in home energy costs.
    I would imagine all of these factors play a role in how 
COVID-19 is impacting the Black community. Is that true? And if 
yes, how so?
    Ms. Patterson. Yes, that is absolutely true. Just in the 
early days of COVID-19, as they were restricting bus routes, I 
was driving on an essential trip to the grocery store and 
noticed a bus going by that was chock-full of people in 
Washington, DC, all African-American, none with masks on. And I 
wondered, you know, about these essential workers, whose work 
was being deemed essential that put them on that bus, but whose 
lives weren't deemed essential in terms of actually putting in 
the precautions that would protect them from the transmission 
of COVID-19 in that context, absolutely.
    Ms. Matsui. I am hearing more and more stories about 
polluting facilities moving into or near communities of color 
or low-income neighborhoods with little fear of opposition or 
retaliation for the negative impact they have on the people who 
live there. What would you say are some of the top factors 
preventing communities from being able to stop polluting 
facilities from moving into the neighborhoods?
    Ms. Patterson. Thank you.
    Definitely the inequities, in terms of access democracy, in 
terms that we see a lot of in the way of decisions being swayed 
by the financial ways that folks are contributing, either to 
campaigns or otherwise. And so we see what decision making 
happens in ways that are unfortunate. We also see where there 
aren't enough public engagement processes where people are 
actually part of decision making. So things happen to our 
communities disproportionately versus us actually having 
control.
    One example--I saw it on the BP oil drilling disaster--was 
when the waste from the--the toxic waste that included 
chemicals that were banned in 90 countries, Corexit, the one 
community that would be able to fight back from having that 
toxic waste come to their community was the one community that 
was predominantly a White American community, and all of the 
other communities that were hosts to that toxic waste were ones 
that were--had a higher than the population of communities of 
color.
    Ms. Matsui. Thank you very much for your testimony.
    I yield back.
    Ms. Patterson. Thank you.
    Mr. Tonko. The gentlelady yields back.
    The Chair now recognizes Representative Duncan for 5 
minutes for questions. And unmute, please.
    Mr. Duncan. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    As I think about the last thing that we had on the 
frontline communities and the one that we are having today, I 
believe we need to be focused on creating the type of 
atmosphere that welcomes more income opportunities and brings 
investment into the communities that need it the most.
    When President Trump took office, the national unemployment 
rate at the time was 4.7 percent. That employment rate among 
African Americans was 8.1 percent, and it was 5.8 percent among 
Hispanic Americans. In February of this year, prior to the 
COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns, the national unemployment was 3.5 
percent. African-American unemployment had dropped to 5.8 
percent. Hispanic American unemployment was down to 4.4 
percent.
    We got there by opening opportunities to all Americans, 
focusing on innovation and maximizing synergies in both 
Federal, State, and local governments, as well as the private 
sector, in order to make progress in areas that previously had 
not been the focus of prosperity.
    Unfortunately, today the national unemployment rate is 13.3 
percent. African-American and Hispanic unemployment has 
ballooned to 16.8 and 17.7 percent, respectively. We need to be 
focused on solutions and return to previously growing 
employment opportunity to people.
    History shows that rising incomes increase standards of 
living, offer communities choices and possibilities, and 
attract new opportunities. Part of this administration's policy 
that I agree with has been to modernize and clarify regulations 
and facilitate a more efficient, effective, and timely review 
process. This includes revising Federal regulations to reflect 
current technologies and agency practices, eliminate obsolete 
provisions, and improve the format and clarity of regulations.
    Many of the environmental permitting laws have strayed from 
their intended objective and instead appear to have been 
weaponized for political motives. Unending litigation now 
defines and delays the permitting process for many 
infrastructure and energy projects. The pandemics [inaudible] 
the necessity of a reliable grid, and the ability to timely 
permit infrastructure is critical to maintaining that. The 
inability to move projects forward imposes national security 
risks on the U.S. Our country has become entirely dependent on 
other countries for supplies of rare minerals, which is central 
to the clean energy development.
    So I want to address my comments to Shay Hawkins. Shay, my 
staff and I enjoyed working with you when you were at Senator 
Scott's office. I appreciate what you are doing with the 
Opportunity Zones, and my question is this: Low-income 
communities will be the last to recover from this economic 
instability. As the U.S. begins to reopen this year, we need to 
capitalize on Opportunity Zones as a tool to help the most 
economically distressed communities. In order to bring benefits 
to disadvantaged communities, how important is modernization of 
and certainty in Federal permitting requirements?
    Mr. Hawkins. It is absolutely critical. You know, when you 
look at the issue with permitting, both at the Federal level 
but then also in the State and local level, you know, the key 
is not necessarily a matter of moving so quickly that somehow, 
something from a safety standpoint is put aside. Sometimes it 
is just a matter of having a quick yes or no, so that the 
decision makers can make adjustments to get, you know, the 
project done, to get the business built back out, you know, 
accordingly. So permitting and streamlining that process to a 
quick ``yes,'' ``no,'' or ``this is what is needed to move 
forward'' is critical.
    Mr. Duncan. I mean, the folks that are doing infrastructure 
and economic development projects, they need timely decisions 
in order to create jobs. And the bureaucratic delays that we 
have seen--and everyone on this committee, regardless of what 
side of the aisle you are on, understands there are 
bureaucratic delays that have affected projects in your 
district. Whether that is economic development projects or 
whether that is water, rural infrastructure projects, it 
doesn't matter. Bureaucratic delays are hampering the process.
    So a yes or no answer in a timely manner is so important. 
And, Shay, I appreciate you bringing that point.
    Let me just go back to what Markwayne Mullin was saying 
about broadband. I think it is important that this committee 
and Congress address rural broadband. In my district during the 
pandemic, schoolchildren didn't have access to the internet, so 
our school districts were bringing WiFi buses into the 
communities to provide the WiFi. Parents could bring their kids 
to where the bus was parked, access WiFi in order for them to 
finish their studies for the school year. It is important for 
telemedicine, that we have seen the importance of telemedicine 
in the pandemic.
    These are issues that this committee ought to focus on and 
ought to address. I want to thank the panelists for being here 
today, and I appreciate the hearing.
    And with that, Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
    Mr. Tonko. The gentleman yields back.
    The Chair now recognizes Representative McNerney for 5 
minutes of questions.
    And, Representative, unmute, please.
    Mr. McNerney. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I thank the 
ranking member and the panelists, good discussion so far this 
morning.
    The city of Stockton, California, which is the biggest city 
in my district, has one of the largest environmental justice 
communities in the State of California. Our community has 
historically borne disproportionate pollution burden as a 
result of redlining and other discriminatory policies, such as 
illegal dumping and air pollution near schools. We know all too 
well the connection between environmental injustice and public 
health, and South Stockton has one of the highest rates of 
asthma in the United States as a result of breathing polluted 
air.
    Ms. Patterson, throughout the global coronavirus pandemic, 
the EPA has continued to aggressively move forward with a 
number of rulemaking procedures, including ones that would 
jeopardize the public health and environmental health. That is 
why this past April I cowrote a letter that was signed by 77 of 
my colleagues urging the EPA to extend their public comment 
periods by at least 45 days after the end of the declared 
emergency. Doing so would ensure that all Americans have an 
opportunity to participate in the rulemaking process. That is 
the expectation of the law.
    Do you see any way for the EPA to change course and engage 
our frontline communities on a fair and meaningful basis during 
the pandemic and beyond?
    Ms. Patterson.
    Ms. Patterson. I am so sorry, I forgot to unmute here.
    Yes, I mean, certainly the EPA has--historically, we have 
engaged extensively with them on their rulemaking hearings and 
comments, opportunities, and so forth, to ensure that there is 
access. And we have had success with making sure that they 
are--that they happen in different places, and so that there is 
greater access. And I think that, given the COVID-19 reality, 
one key step that the EPA will have to take is to engage with 
local--with organizations that represent frontline communities 
to ensure that, if there are Zoom calls or if there are other 
ways to give input, that those conversations continue to really 
maximize input. And in some ways, the in-person meetings can 
actually be--will be supplemented by the virtual meetings where 
people who aren't able to be mobile or people who can't afford 
to go to these places can actually have other means for 
participation.
    Mr. McNerney. Thank you. These are positive 
recommendations. I appreciate it.
    Also, as summer approaches, I am concerned about what will 
be the impacts of extreme heat, which disproportionately 
impacts environmental justice communities, along with the 
COVID-19 and the social distancing that it requires. Would you 
discuss the issues, as well as the need for expansive long-term 
solutions to addressing the impact of extreme heat on the 
vulnerable population?
    Ms. Patterson. Yes, certainly. So, coming from Chicago, 
where we all know, unfortunately, of the deadly heat wave that 
took place in 1995, I am all too well aware. And in doing the 
work now with organizations like the Union of Concerned 
Scientists and many frontline communities around the urban heat 
island effect, we are making sure that community-led solutions 
around the urban heat island are being advanced, both in terms 
of research, policymaking, and implementation at the local 
level.
    So, again, it really goes back to making sure that those 
doors are open in terms of dialogue, so that we have aggressive 
policymaking and aggressive funding and implementation of the 
measures to protect communities, everything from building 
retrofits that will provide better opportunities for--or better 
infrastructure for families, to having cooling centers and 
making sure that, again, in this COVID reality, that we 
structure cooling centers in a way that allows for social 
distancing and more.
    Thank you.
    Mr. McNerney. Thank you.
    When environmental justice communities traditionally exist 
in food deserts as well, which create food insecurity and can 
have damaging impacts on the human body and its ability to 
fight disease, can you speak to how these two issues, food 
insecurity and lack of access to medical care, are impacting 
environmental justice communities?
    Ms. Patterson. Absolutely, yes. Unfortunately, we have seen 
even with COVID-19 how the tie between both food insecurity, in 
terms of the differential vulnerability, because food 
insecurity definitely exacerbates conditions like diabetes, 
high blood pressure, heart conditions, and so forth, that, 
again, makes folks more vulnerable to COVID-19. And then also, 
on the other side, with COVID-19 affecting our economy, that 
people who were already food insecure aren't able to access 
food in the way that they should.
    So for us, we actually launched an initiative called Seeds 
of Resistance and Resilience to actually provide seeds to 
communities as well as supplies for raised-bed gardens, and 
then also providing demos for recipes for folks so that we can 
really bridge that gap in both kind of food sovereignties so 
people aren't reliant on a grocery store that isn't actually 
there, so they can actually start to grow their own food and 
have a reliable, affordable source of consistent nutrition.
    So, yes, thank you.
    Mr. McNerney. All right. Thank you. My time is expired.
    And I yield back.
    Mr. Tonko. The gentleman yields back.
    The Chair now recognizes Representatives Ruiz for questions 
for 5 minutes.
    And, Representative, please unmute.
    Mr. Ruiz. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you to all of 
the witnesses for testifying.
    I am looking forward to eventually also discussing my 
Environmental Justice Act, which addresses many of the issues 
brought up today. It would account for the cumulative impact of 
pollution, provide capacity support for low-income communities, 
and alleviate systemic barriers.
    Today, we are discussing how environmental justice 
communities, their exposure to pollution increases underlying 
pulmonary illnesses and therefore increases their risk of dying 
from COVID-19. Consider the fact that COVID-19 is primarily a 
respiratory illness that severely impacts lung function. My 
constituents in EJ communities already face some of the highest 
rates of asthma, which is linked to the poor air quality from 
the chemical-laden dust blowing from the receding shores of the 
salt and sea, dust from underdeveloped neighborhoods from years 
of neglecting infrastructure development investments in these 
underserved communities, and toxic airborne hazards from 
companies, even without proper permits to function.
    Consider that hand washing is key for prevention, yet some 
privately owned, independent water systems contain toxic levels 
of arsenic in their water. COVID-19 is intensifying the threat 
of environmental injustices to public health.
    A study from Harvard published in April of 2020 found that 
long-term exposure to air pollution is associated with higher 
COVID-19 mortality rates. And what did the EPA do? It announced 
a nonenforcement policy under all environmental laws during the 
COVID-19 pandemic for monitoring and recordkeeping 
requirements.
    Mr. Ali, after working with the EPA for 24 years, you are 
keenly familiar with the risks environmental justice 
communities face. What do you think will be the impact of EPA's 
decision on environmental justice communities during the 
pandemic?
    Mr. Ali. I think more people are going to get sick and more 
people are going to lose their lives.
    Mr. Ruiz. OK. And I agree with your assessment, which is 
why I worked with Representative McEachin to introduce H.R. 
6692, the Environmental Justice COVID-19 Act, which was 
included in the HEROES Act and passed the House last month. 
This bill would provide $50 million for EPA environmental 
justice programs to monitor pollution, investigate the impact 
of COVID-19 on environmental justice communities.
    The EPA's Environmental Justice Small Grant Program is a 
grant that local groups can apply for to mitigate instances of 
environmental injustices, and the EPA's CARE Grant Programs 
provide support to help communities form collaborative 
partnerships, many like the ones that were formed here in my 
district, develop comprehensive understandings of risks from 
toxic and environmental pollutants, set priorities, identify 
and carry out projects to reduce risks through collaborative 
action at the local level. And then, finally, the EJ 
Collaborative Problem-Solving Cooperative Agreement Program 
helps community-based organizations partner with the experts 
and local stakeholders to develop and implement solutions and 
address environmental and public health issues for underserved 
communities.
    Mr. Ali, in your experience working with the EPA, have any 
of these EJ grant programs helped equip EJ communities to 
better advocate for themselves? And how important would these 
grants be for them in the context of COVID-19?
    Mr. Ali. These grants are extremely important in 
relationship to COVID-19. We created a similar program during 
the BP oil spill, to specifically make sure that folks had the 
resources and information so that they could make the best 
decisions for themselves, and to also be fully a part of the 
work that was going on at that time.
    We need to continue to fund these programs in this COVID-19 
moment and beyond, so that communities can build 
infrastructure, so that they can build stronger foundations 
underneath of themselves.
    And if I could, I would just also like to highlight, the 
programs that you mentioned have also been extremely important 
in actually transforming communities. So we have heard a lot 
about the Opportunity Zones that are doing some positive work. 
The collaborative problem-solving model in the environmental 
justice small grants program was a part of the ReGenesis 
Project, which took a $20,000 grant and has now leveraged into 
$300 million in changes. So we often talk about investments. If 
we can invest $20,000 in a community and get a return of $300 
million in changes, that seems like something we should be 
continuing to expand.
    Mr. Ruiz. You know, many people try to define, what do you 
mean by systemic racial injustice. Can you talk about how the 
EJ community experience, especially with COVID-19, is a racial 
injustice, systemic injustice?
    Mr. Ali. Well, without a doubt. It runs throughout almost 
all of the components.
    On the medical side, we know that there are biases in the 
medical system where many times, if you are a person of color 
and you go to the doctor, you get, you know, some type of a 
lesser diagnosis, which then can have all sorts of problems 
that follow afterwards.
    We also know, of course, on the environmental side, there 
is a racial component. We can't get away from that, but we can 
change it in the decision making that has happened in the past, 
and where we have located our most toxic facilities. That is 
just the reality of the situation, but we can fix that problem.
    And then we run down through many of the other items that 
we have talked about today that are directly tied to a history 
of systemic racism. If we look at our housing, housing has 
often been placed in the most dangerous locations, the lower 
locations in floodplains, so forth and so on. So we have seen 
this play out.
    The message today is that we can change that, that each of 
the Members who are here and who are in the esteemed bodies on 
Capitol Hill, we can decide that we want----
    Mr. Ruiz. If we change it, we must change it so that no 
matter the ZIP Code, race or age, everyone has access to clean 
water and clean air.
    Yield back my time.
    Mr. Tonko. The gentleman yields back.
    The Chair now recognizes Representative Dingell for 5 
minutes for questions. And, Representative, unmute, please.
    Mrs. Dingell. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding this 
important hearing today, and to all of the witnesses for being 
here on this critical subject on disproportional impacts on 
frontline communities of color and low-income families.
    In Michigan, we have been particularly hit hard. We are 
fourth in the number of deaths in the country. We have nearly 2 
million unemployed, and lives have been forever changed. And 
what is most troubling is that African Americans make up 40 
percent of the COVID deaths in Michigan, and they are only 14 
percent of the population.
    For too long, these communities have had to bear the brunt 
of the burden during the worst of times, and as people are 
bravely marching peacefully against injustice across this 
country, we have to renew our fight for greater environmental 
justice. Every bill that Congress considers now must take these 
issues into account.
    But today, I want to focus my questions on access to clean 
drinking water. I thank Chairman Tonko for recognizing the 
issue at the very beginning of this, its affordability and why 
it is so important for environmental justice communities during 
a pandemic. But I worry about it when we are done too, because 
I believe that water is a basic human right. Because COVID 
didn't create a water crisis, it exacerbated the existing one.
    Mr. Hawkins, I love you even though you are from Ohio 
State, or from Ohio, but, hey, I am going to--hey, we have got 
to keep a little sports humor in all of this or we are done. I 
miss sports. But I want to address my questions to Mr. Ali and 
Ms. Patterson.
    According to the CDC, one of the most effective ways to 
prevent the spread of COVID is just wash your hands for 20 
seconds regularly with soap and water. Well, you can't do that 
if you don't have any running water. Access to clean water is a 
basic human right, and it is critical for hygiene and safety.
    I would like to first start with you, Mr. Ali--I am going 
to ask you to be short--and then Ms. Patterson. Could both of 
you give this community an overview of how COVID-19 has 
impacted the access to clean water in environmental justice 
communities, and would you tell us or highlight what we can do 
as a Federal Government as far as things stand today for water 
shutoffs nationally, and what do we need to do to make sure it 
continues to flow?
    Mr. Ali. Well, the first thing we need to do is to make 
sure that we are strengthening our infrastructure and making 
sure that, in the strengthening of the infrastructure, that we 
are also making sure that our most vulnerable communities as in 
relationship to the pricing of water, we need to make sure that 
there is actually equity that is a part of that process. We 
also have to make sure that with the--extend the moratorium on 
water shutoffs.
    Now, there are, in Detroit and across the country, folks 
like Ms. Monica Patrick with We the People of Detroit and 
others have been working diligently to make sure that that is 
brought to the attention of folks both in the State House and 
the Federal House, so we have to do that.
    We also have got to make sure we are making investments in 
our natural infrastructure, which helps to clean water and 
helps to take the burden off of many of the water filtration 
systems that are out there.
    So those are just a couple of things, and I will turn it 
over to Ms. Patterson.
    Mrs. Dingell. Ms. Patterson.
    Ms. Patterson. Thank you so much.
    Yes, so definitely echoing what Mr. Ali said and just to 
add that we also need to make sure that we are pushing back 
against water privatization, and so that we don't have water 
systems that are run for profit, that we make sure that we have 
water systems that are meant to serve people and uphold human 
rights.
    We definitely have to increase our investments, as Mr. Ali 
said, in water infrastructure so that we don't--because even 
now, one of the things that was exacerbated by COVID-19 is to 
the extent that there are some folks who don't trust their 
water, and they have to access through water bottles and so 
forth. So having to do that when you don't even have a grocery 
store nearby and given the weight of water, and so people are 
in harm's way just trying to get the water that they can drink 
because the water coming out of their pipes isn't safe.
    So we need to make sure that we don't have--especially as 
we know that, by all accounts, the COVID-19 is going to 
resurge. It is still going on now, and we are going to have a 
resurgence of it. So we need to have permanent solutions and 
not just temporary moratoriums on water shutoffs, but no one 
should be deprived of the essential resource of water.
    And so, definitely following in the footsteps, as Mr. Ali 
said, that the folks of We the People of Detroit to have a 
community government structure around water systems is 
something that we should definitely institute.
    Thank you.
    Mrs. Dingell. Sure. So I am out of time, but I would like 
to thank the committee leadership, because water is a basic 
human right, which is the bill that I introduced with my 
colleague, was included in the most recent bill passed by the 
House, the HEROES bill. And there are 15 million people in the 
United States that don't have running water or have had a water 
shutoff. We all need to really think about that, One in 20 
households in this country.
    Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Mr. Tonko. You are most welcome, and the gentlelady yields 
back.
    I believe we next have Representative Burgess available for 
5 minutes for questions.
    Representative, unmute, please.
    Mr. Burgess. Yes, sure. Thanks. Thanks for letting me waive 
on to the subcommittee. It has been a fascinating discussion 
during the day.
    Mr. Hawkins, if I could ask you, in regards to Opportunity 
Zones, I was intrigued, I actually pulled the Opportunity Zone 
for the congressional district that I represent.
    Mr. Hawkins. Yes.
    Mr. Burgess. In my former life as a physician and my 
medical practice was actually located smack dab in the middle 
of an Opportunity Zone, and had I only known, perhaps I could 
have accessed some significant help. But that--so what is the--
in your experience, with healthcare facilities in Opportunity 
Zones, what are some of the possibilities, what are some of the 
opportunities there?
    Mr. Hawkins. Sure. And, so, just as a quick note, had you 
had your practice in an Opportunity Zone, you wouldn't have 
been able to draw the benefit just from existing there. You 
actually had to make a substantial improvement on your 
practice, which is to say you would have had to invest the full 
cost basis of your business in improving that business in order 
to access the benefits.
    So, you know, let's say that you have a business that is 
worth a half million dollars. In order to benefit from the 
policy, you have to invest an additional half a million dollars 
on new employees, a better facility, or other significant 
improvements in order to draw on the policy. So that is one of 
the things.
    So you can look at every existing healthcare business in an 
Opportunity Zone as benefiting. You can also look at building 
out rural broadband, building out urban broadband, so that 
telehealth is a broader option.
    We can look at, again--you know, when we are looking at one 
of our members, they are going to be distributing test kits but 
then also building modular testing facilities so that folks can 
do the tests separate and apart from the broader hospital 
facility, but still within an accessible distance.
    And so, all of those are things that we have seen built 
out, because in the healthcare space----
    Mr. Burgess. OK.
    Mr. Hawkins [continuing]. The communities that are 
designated as Opportunity Zones do suffer from worse health 
outcomes, but also worse health conditions than the population 
at large, obviously.
    Mr. Burgess. Just as a point, a data point, my medical 
practice in the late 1980s, when the savings and loans imploded 
across the country--you are probably too young to remember 
that--the Resolution Trust Corporation came to town. I 
attempted to get an SBA loan back then and was unsuccessful, 
but that is a different story for a different time.
    Can you speak to the same issues in the energy sector? Are 
there places where the Opportunity Zones intersect with 
businesses that provide and distribute energy?
    Mr. Hawkins. Sure. Well, as I note in my testimony, there 
is already sort of a jump that the designated Opportunity Zones 
has on clean energy with, you know, 475 solar facilities being 
built out, you know, so far. So anything that involves 
significant innovation, any energy space you are going to see, 
but beyond that, there are two elements for more traditional 
energy where we have seen a lot of growth.
    One is folks who are providing services to existing energy 
companies. So, you know, again, we have members up in Alaska, 
and there are folks who provide, you know, for BP and others 
operating in the north of the country, there are folks that 
provide services for them, everything from uniforms to lunches 
and food for the workers, and things along those lines. But 
then, for the larger energy companies, they can benefit from 
the policy and benefit by building out a subsidiary within an 
Opportunity Zone.
    Mr. Burgess. OK.
    Mr. Hawkins. The idea is, if you are going to be hiring 
folks, if you are going to be bringing new workers in, and if 
you are going to be bringing more resources to these areas, 
then we don't mind if you are an existing company, you just 
drop a subsidiary down in a zone and you are good to go.
    Mr. Burgess. All right. Thank you.
    Mr. Ali, I apologize. I wanted to get to you and give you 
an opportunity to address the issue about enforcement that you 
started to earlier, and I don't guess we have the chance, but I 
would like to hear your thoughts on that before this concludes 
today.
    I yield back.
    Mr. Tonko. The gentleman yields back.
    And we now recognize Representative Clarke for 5 minutes of 
questioning. And unmute, please, Representative.
    Ms. Clarke. Thank you so much, Chairman Tonko and Ranking 
Member Shimkus, for holding this hearing today on environmental 
justice, and thank you to all three of our witnesses for 
joining and offering your testimony.
    Let me just begin by saying that I think this is both an 
extremely important and extremely relevant hearing for us to be 
having in this particular moment in our Nation's history, as we 
grapple with the long legacy of systemic racism and injustice 
that continues to permeate the many echelons of our society and 
its institutions.
    The protests and public outcry during this past couple of 
weeks over the killing and abuse of black women and men at the 
hands of those sworn to protect and serve them, add to this the 
disparities that have been laid bare in recent months regarding 
the impacts of the coronavirus, COVID-19 pandemic are, in my 
eyes, highly related events. They have served to bring those 
deep and pervasive injustices to the foreground of the national 
conversation. This intersectionality is undeniable.
    I also believe that the COVID-19 pandemic, in particular, 
has shown us perhaps more clearly than ever that issues of 
environmental justice do not simply exist alone amongst 
themselves in a vacuum. To the contrary, environmental 
injustices have wide-ranging impacts that manifest themselves 
in all manner of social, economic, and health-related ways, and 
the times of great crisis tend to both amplify and be amplified 
by environmental injustices within most vulnerable communities.
    My first question shows to begin my line of questioning, I 
would like to first focus on the issue of air pollution that 
continues to be a major source of environmental justice in my 
Brooklyn community. In fact, Brownsville, Brooklyn, one of the 
neighborhoods within my congressional district, actually has 
the highest rates of adult asthma out of any neighborhood in 
New York City.
    We know from years upon years of research that reveals that 
Black, Latinx, and Native American communities in this country 
suffer disproportionately from respiratory and cardiovascular 
conditions, including asthma, as a direct result of 
environmental factors, such as high levels of local air 
pollution.
    We also know that COVID-19, which is predominantly a 
respiratory virus, adds impact to the Black, Latinx, and Native 
American communities at rates that far exceed their share of 
the population.
    So my first question is to Dr. Ali. Can you first please 
share with us your thoughts on the connection between air 
pollution and the disparities that we have seen with COVID-19? 
And can you also tell us, from an environmental justice 
perspective, where you think our focus should be when it comes 
to addressing this major issue of air pollution in communities 
like Brooklyn?
    Mr. Ali. Definitely. Thank you, Congresswoman.
    You know, we all know now that the data is out there that 
there is a direct connection between the air pollution, 
PM2.5, PM10, and also ultrafine 
particulates in relationship to communities of color and lower 
wealth communities and on indigenous land. And we also know 
that there are chronic medical conditions that come from the 
exposure to this air pollution. We also know that as the 
temperature rises that air pollution also becomes more deadly.
    So, knowing that we have these factors coming together 
along with those chronic medical conditions that make us more 
susceptible to the coronavirus, would lead one to believe that 
we should be doing everything that we can to lessen the 
emissions that are happening inside of these communities of 
color, and that can be done by making sure that we are not only 
honoring the Clean Air Act and all of the respective parts that 
are there, but also that enforcement is actually happening 
inside of these communities to make sure that folks are living 
up to the letter of the law.
    Ms. Clarke. Thank you so much for that.
    I want to just turn quickly to the issue of housing. Here 
in Brooklyn, New York, we have had a lead paint scandal, with 
thousands of adults and children living in public housing 
exposed to toxic levels of lead paint. After Superstorm Sandy, 
right here in New York, we saw that the worst impact took place 
among our low-income communities and communities of color, who 
did not have the resources to receive the assistance quickly to 
rebuild or relocate their homes. Now, again, with the 
coronavirus pandemic, we see how important it is to have a home 
environment that is both safe and affordable.
    Ms. Patterson, do you believe that having access to safe 
and affordable housing goes hand in hand with achieving 
environmental justice? And what do you think can be done on the 
Federal level to achieve greater environmental justice when it 
comes to housing in our Nation?
    Ms. Patterson. Thank you for the question. Yes, absolutely. 
Housing justice is integral to environmental justice and the 
safety and well-being of our families, communities, 
individuals. And so, yes, we absolutely need the--we need 
better subsidies for housing retrofits and improvements, not 
just in terms of energy efficiency, but also in terms of lead 
remediation and because we are seeing disproportionately, 
whether it is lead, asbestos, radon, all of these indoor air 
pollutants that are compounding the other toxins that are 
affecting homes.
    We also need to be thinking about not just improving core 
housing, but we need to be thinking about land security and 
housing security as a whole, and thinking about how do we put 
more folks on the pathway towards home ownership. We know that 
Black land loss is something that is historic and present day, 
and we also know that land ownership and housing ownership is 
key to climate resilience and economic security in general.
    So we need to have much more in the way of programs that 
lead to a pathway of home ownership and housing security.
    Thank you.
    Ms. Clarke. I thank you all, and I yield back, Mr. 
Chairman.
    Mr. Tonko. The gentlelady yields back.
    And the Chair now recognizes Representative Schakowsky for 
5 minutes of questioning.
    And, Representative, unmute, please.
    Ms. Schakowsky. I think I am unmuted. Can you hear me?
    Mr. Tonko. We can hear you, so you are doing fine.
    Ms. Schakowsky. OK. Very good. Thank you.
    This has been an amazing, amazing hearing, I really 
appreciate it.
    The City of Chicago has been deeply affected by 
environmental injustice, and we know that, in Chicago, African 
Americans account for 60 percent of the city's COVID-19-related 
deaths, despite the fact that they represent about 30 percent 
of the population of the City of Chicago.
    And I think that this has really made clearly the point 
that EJ communities have been double deeply affected by the 
virus and all of the existing problems that have come before 
it, and that it is a public health as well as an environmental 
health issue.
    This administration has rolled back or plans to reverse 
over 100 environmental rules. It must be particularly painful 
to you, Mr. Ali, to see that happening. And, in fact, just this 
week, we have seen the President sign an Executive order to 
accelerate permitting of major infrastructure programs and 
projects waiving environmental review for pipeline and highways 
and other projects.
    Experts warn that this action will have a 
disproportionately negative impact on the communities that we 
have been talking about.
    So, Mr. Ali, what I want to ask you, you know, the 
President had talked about warm weather is going to get rid of 
this virus, but I just heard you say that you thought that the 
summer temperatures, the higher temperatures, are actually 
going to exacerbate the problems. Is that true?
    Mr. Ali. Well, warmer weather exacerbates air pollution.
    Ms. Schakowsky. Yes.
    Mr. Ali. The finding of smog and many of the other things 
that you see, that also impacts ozone. So all of that coming 
together just causes additional burdens in these communities.
    Ms. Schakowsky. Thank you for that.
    You know, I wanted to read something from--the United 
States Environmental Protection Agency defines environmental 
justice as, quote, ``the fair treatment and meaningful 
involvement of all people, regardless of race, color, national 
origin, or income.'' And I am just wondering, Mr. Ali--and I 
would also like to ask Ms. Patterson about that--if you really 
see that happening, particularly the issue of meaningful 
involvement of those communities.
    Mr. Ali. Well, I will start very quickly. With both of 
those aspects, because I was around when we created that 
definition: fair treatment, most definitely not. If there was 
fair treatment, there would be honest analysis about these 
additional impacts that are going on in our most vulnerable 
communities, in communities of color, lower-wealth communities, 
and on indigenous land. Meaningful involvement. If there was 
true, meaningful involvement, then we would be engaging with 
the individuals, before these decisions are being made, to be 
able to mitigate the impacts that are happening. And, you know, 
the interesting thing is that the Environmental Protection 
Agency has even said with some of the actions that they have 
done, some of the rolling back, if you will, that there are 
going to be less lives that are protected.
    So I am not sure how you can make a statement that says 
``Less people are going to be protected, but I am OK with 
that.'' These are our tax dollars that are literally being 
utilized to impact these communities, and that is unacceptable.
    Ms. Schakowsky. Do I have any moments left for Ms. 
Patterson to speak to that?
    Ms. Patterson. OK. So, yes, I will just reiterate what Mr. 
Ali said in terms of certainly fair treatment wouldn't mean 
that we have kids who are two to three times more times likely 
to die of an asthma attack and three or more times likely to 
enter in the hospital from an asthma attack. Their treatment 
wouldn't mean that we would have adults who are more likely to 
die of lung cancer but less likely to smoke. Their treatment 
would mean that we are disproportionately located in cancer 
clusters throughout the Nation. And if we had equal engagement, 
then these things wouldn't be happening in the first place, 
because we--our communities know the solutions that are going 
to protect our health and wellbeing.
    So we--so, in answer to your question, definitely not fair 
treatment, and definitely not meaningful engagement, or the 
world would look a lot different.
    Thank you.
    Ms. Schakowsky. Thank you. Thank you so much. Am I out of 
time? I can't----
    Mr. Tonko. You are out of time.
    Ms. Schakowsky. Oh, OK. Thank you. I appreciate it.
    Mr. Tonko. OK. The gentlelady yields back.
    Now I believe we go to Representative Castor for--oh, I am 
sorry. We go to Representative Kennedy for 5 minutes of 
questions.
    And, Representative Kennedy, ready to go.
    Mr. Kennedy. Mr. Tonko, thank you.
    And thank you to our witnesses for being here today and for 
an extremely important conversation.
    The disparate impacts of COVID-19 are obvious and 
nationwide. In Massachusetts, they are also undeniable. All of 
the communities with the highest rates of COVID-19 in 
Massachusetts are also environmental justice communities.
    Last month, I sent a letter to President Trump calling for 
the appointment of an environmental justice expert to the 
Coronavirus Task Force and calling for all future actions to 
prioritize communities that are most at risk.
    But it is clear that we need to do much more than that. We 
need to confront the causes of air pollution that increase 
rates of asthma and other comorbidities that leave our 
communities uniquely vulnerable not just to pandemics, but to 
countless health challenges every single day.
    So, Ms. Patterson, I want to start with you. I know you 
touched on this a bit. But how do we right this ship, and how 
do we give communities of color and people of color more voice 
in the Government's response to COVID-19?
    Ms. Patterson. Yes. Thank you so much for the question.
    So certainly we have to have more of a--more--I am sorry, I 
am trying to think how to articulate this--more forums for 
community engagement and community decision making. I know it 
has been a tough pivot because some of our traditional ways of 
having community engagement haven't been available to us in 
terms of hearings and so forth. But we have to make that pivot 
because, as I said before, communities do know the solutions 
that will work for them.
    And so we need to engage with the frontline base-building 
groups that know how to connect with communities and figure out 
how we are going to pave those pathways for dialogue, for 
input, and for shared decision making around solutions that 
work.
    That is my first short answer. I know you have limited 
time.
    Mr. Kennedy. Thank you.
    And, Mr. Ali, what are your thoughts?
    Mr. Ali. Well, there are some things that I shared with the 
administration when they first came in. One of them is that at 
the Environmental Protection Agency they should have a senior 
adviser for environmental justice. I don't know how you can 
adequately address these issues if you don't have someone who 
shared with the Administrator, OK, if you go this way, this is 
going to happen; if you go that way, that is going to happen.
    In relationship to the White House, they should also have 
someone who has expertise in these areas to also help them. So, 
if you are working on Opportunity Zones, you should also have 
someone who understands environmental justice to help to make 
sure that process, it is fully engaging and protecting all the 
folks.
    And if you really want to get good with it, then you make 
sure the 17 Federal agencies that have a responsibility for 
environmental justice out of Executive Order 12898 also have 
senior leadership who is talking to Ben Carson at HUD and 
saying, ``Hey, you know, here is what some of the impacts are, 
how can we think critically about our resources to make real 
change happen?'' Or at the Department of Energy, how do we make 
sure that we are leveraging our resources and expertise to 
actually uplift these communities?
    So we have been having a conversation about economics and 
jobs along with the impacts that are happening from COVID-19. 
So let's also make sure that the Department of Labor and the 
Department of Commerce and the Small Business Administration 
also have someone who is having these conversations with them 
and they are also opening up the doors to make sure that 
frontline communities are helping to lead many of those 
conversations since the impacts, whether negative or positive, 
are going to come back to their communities.
    And that is what representative government should be 
looking like, and that is how we actually give real people 
something to frame out policy and actions that benefit 
everyone.
    Mr. Kennedy. So building off of that, Congress and 
particularly the Senate, still has serious work to do to 
respond to the pandemic and help our country recover. The last 
thing we should include in our recovery efforts is a bailout 
for big fossil fuel companies.
    So, Mr. Ali, how would bailing out oil and gas while 
failing to invest in environmental protection or environmental 
justice communities hurt Black and Latinx individuals?
    Mr. Ali. I mean, in so many ways. You know, it is funny, 
the oil companies--so let me say it this way. You know, going 
back to my early statement, when my grandmother, when she said, 
``When you know better, do better.'' You know, if this was 100 
years ago, 75 years ago, of course, fossil fuels played a huge 
role and were necessary in helping to build the infrastructure 
of our country. We now know that there are other opportunities.
    So when we move resources to those entities that are 
playing a role in impacting our communities, there is something 
wrong with that formula when we are not also equally moving 
opportunities to cleaner forms of energy and also rebuilding 
these communities that have been impacted by the actions that 
we are supporting now with our dollars and that we did in the 
past.
    Mr. Kennedy. I will have to leave it with that. Thank you 
both.
    I yield back. Thank you.
    Mr. Tonko. The gentleman yields back.
    I believe that concludes all of our colleagues that wish to 
ask questions of our witnesses?
    If so, then I would like to thank our witnesses for joining 
us for today's hearing. The input has been very valuable.
    I remind Members that, pursuant to committee rules, they 
have 10 business days by which to submit additional questions 
for the record to be answered by our witnesses. And I ask that 
our witnesses to please respond promptly to any such questions 
that they may receive.
    I now request unanimous consent to enter a number of 
documents into the record.
    Mr. Shimkus. I am trying. I can't get on.
    Oh, Mr. Chairman?
    Mr. Tonko. Yes, sir. I have some documents I was going to 
announce. Do you have additional ones there?
    Mr. Shimkus. I don't know if they are additional. I will 
just go through them real quick. I know they have been vetted. 
Can I just name them real quick?
    Mr. Tonko. Sure.
    Mr. Shimkus. The June 8, 2020, letter from EPA 
Administrator Wheeler to committee outlining concerns with the 
lack of peer review of the Harvard study; May 13, 2020, letter 
from EPA to New York Attorney General's Office outlining EPA's 
COVID-19 temporary enforcement policy and that the EPA is 
continuing to enforce the laws; June 2020 letter from EPA to 
Congress with EPA's 2019 Air Trends report showing reductions 
in emissions; August 2018 letter from the Conference of Mayors 
to the IRS in support of Opportunity Zones; and the last one 
being this 2020 Association of Air Pollution Control Agencies 
Trends and Success Report showing improvements across the 
country.
    Those are the five that we had.
    Mr. Tonko. OK. I also did have a letter from WE ACT for 
Environmental Justice, a letter from the West End 
Revitalization Association, and I believe a report by EPA 
entitled ``Our Nation's Air 2020.''
    Does that conclude all?
    Mr. Shimkus. I think that does.
    Mr. Tonko. And a bicameral letter to the EPA.
    Mr. Shimkus. OK. I think that is--we have all agreed upon 
those.
    Mr. Tonko. OK. So with all of those--there is a request for 
unanimous consent to enter the documents into the record. Any--
--
    Mr. Shimkus. Without objection.
    Mr. Tonko. No objection. Without objection, so ordered.
    [The information appears at the conclusion of the 
hearing.1A\1\]
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    \1\ The Association of Air Pollution Control Angencies and EPA 
reports have been retained in committee files and also are available at 
https://docs.house.gov/Committee/Calendar/ByEvent.aspx?EventID=110773.
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    Mr. Tonko. So at this time the subcommittee is adjourned.
    Mr. Shimkus. Great job, Chairman.
    Mr. Tonko. Thank you very much, everybody.
    [Whereupon, at 3:11 p.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.]
    [Material submitted for inclusion in the record follows:]
    
    
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