RICHMOND, Va. - House Democrats in Congress have released a new plan that says the United States should reach a goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 as a way to solve the climate crisis.

The report also demands that the nation make a stronger effort to reduce air pollution in low-income neighborhoods, which have been hit especially hard by the COVID-19 crisis and climate change. Virginia U.S. Rep. Donald McEachin, D-Richmond, says the plan could help ease environmental injustices that disproportionately affect people of color.

"What this report does is, among other things, it empowers environmental justice communities to have their own private causes of action," says McEachin. "It demands that the federal government have meaningful and productive consultation with E.J. communities before promulgating regulations that will affect them."

The far-reaching package also aims to meld climate solutions with job creation and economic growth. However, it's expected to face stiff opposition in the Republican-controlled Senate.

McEachin points out that this week, Gov. Ralph Northam signed Virginia's first wind turbine deal, another major step toward easing the impacts of climate change. He says the congressional plan will help the Commonwealth fight sea-level rise, add electric cars, and ease public-housing issues related to poor air quality.

"It's good for Virginia from a health perspective," says McEachin. "It's good for Virginia from a transportation perspective, because again, we're going to rebuild our transportation sector in a green fashion. It's good for Virginia in that we're encouraging new industries to come about, in both solar and wind."

Sixty-five percent of Americans say the federal government isn't doing enough to reduce the negative effects of climate change, according to a Pew Research Center poll released last week. A majority in the poll also believe climate change is affecting their communities.






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ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Freshwater mussels are key to keeping the Chesapeake Bay watershed clean, and with more than half of all species now facing extinction, a new report urged policymakers to target more efforts on restoring the important bivalves.

Joe Wood, Virginia senior scientist for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and the report's co-author, said one mussel can filter up to 15 gallons of water, and they are essential to the Bay ecosystem, like their oyster relatives.

Unlike oysters though, he pointed out, mussels haven't been given the same attention or funding for rehabilitation.

"We don't have targets for freshwater mussel restoration that are associated with the Bay cleanup effort," Wood remarked. "And it's not to say that some of the stuff we're doing is good for them, but they're not even a part of the conversation at this point, and they should be."

He explained mussels are sensitive and reproduce by latching onto traveling fish. Dams and other obstructions in rivers that keep fish from migrating are one reason mussel populations are declining.

Doug Myers, Maryland senior scientist for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, said there is hope for Maryland mussels, noting the Maryland Department of Natural Resources launched a mussel restoration project in the Patapsco River watershed, and it benefited from a dam removal.

He reported another project on the horizon will bring a freshwater mussel hatchery to the lower Susquehanna River to reintroduce some species.

"There are a few species of freshwater mussels left in the lower Susquehanna River, and there are four dams there," Myers emphasized. "So there's going to have to be not only the reintroduction, but probably some surveys to make sure that those host fish are there as well."

The report found mussel populations in the Chesapeake Bay watershed have fallen by an estimated 90% since colonists arrived in the 1600s from pollution, dams, climate change and disease. The decline has meant a serious loss of both mussel biodiversity and benefits in reducing pollution.

ARLINGTON, Texas - Three Texas cities are taking part in a challenge this year to create Sustainable Development Goals that help eliminate poverty, advance equity and safeguard natural resources.

Dallas, Denton and San Antonio are participating in the United Nations' 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, with a second year of the "SDGs Cities Challenge."

Meghna Tare, chief sustainability officer for the University of Texas at Arlington and founder of the Regional Center of Expertise for Education on Sustainable Development, said cities host 55% of the world's population - but too often, local efforts to implement sustainability goals are siloed.

"How do you address the challenges of the next 20 years, with the increase in population and the shortage of resources that you have? There has to be a bigger framework," she said.

Tare said the project aims to support 1,000 cities to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, which could affect the lives of more than 1 billion people from developing, low- and middle-income countries. Sustainability efforts can range from conserving water, managing renewable fuel sources and reducing carbon emissions to ending poverty and hunger, and improving education and health care.

Tare said air quality is a big challenge in Texas, especially in Dallas, and creating an equitable food system is another top priority. She noted that sustainability goals must be broadened beyond climate action or responsible consumption.

"I think we are all at the point where we have moved beyond just energy efficiency or rate reduction, or recycling and transportation," she said.

In addition to UT Arlington, the UN/Habitat sustainability partnership is led by Local Governments for Sustainability USA, the Connected Cities Lab, the Brookings Institution and other international business leaders.

ALBANY, N.Y. - A ballot measure could give New York residents the constitutional right to a healthy environment, and on Tuesday a group of state environmental advocates and lawmakers kicked off a campaign for its passage this November.

Some 80% of New Yorkers support adding the "green amendment" to the state Constitution, according to a Siena College poll.

Peter Iwanowicz, executive director of the group Environmental Advocates NY, said the measure would change Article 1 of the state Constitution by giving each resident the right to clean air and water.

"We will argue that decisions now will have to be screened, of whether it violates a constitutional right to clean air and clean water," he said, "and we think it's going to lead towards more thorough and better front-end decision making that will reject a lot of the proposals that are out there now."

He pointed to the proposed Danskammer fracked-gas power plant and the longtime water crisis in Hoosick Falls as environmental-justice issues for Hudson Valley communities that need further attention. If approved by voters, the change to the state's "bill of rights" would take effect in January.

Jennifer Wilson, deputy director of the League of Women Voters of New York State, said the move would ensure that environmental health is at the forefront in writing legislative policies and plans for economic development.

"New Yorkers who can't afford to move away from these areas, they're suffering," she said. "These residents are hurting right now, and that's only going to continue to grow if we do not guarantee businesses and elected officials have a mandate to protect the well-being of all New Yorkers."

The "green amendment" also would prevent people from creating loopholes in existing laws. Eddie Bautista, executive director of the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance, said he thinks it's time to make clean air and water a constitutional right.

"We should have a right to clean air and clean water - except we don't," he said. "Even when we are strategic, sophisticated and politically powerful enough to get laws passed, they're only as good as their enforcement or even the legislative body in question's commitment to it."

The initial effort for a "green" constitutional amendment in New York began in 2016.