Successful implementation of the funding bills may hinge on Congress’ ability to put politics aside and hammer out legislation to streamline federal permitting.
historically, they always have been. joining me now is peggy shepard, co-chair of the white house environmental justice advisory council and executive director of we act for environmental justice. ms. shepard, first of all, thank you for joining us. i might say, despite you co-chairing the white house committee, i have known your work many a quarter of a century. a colleague used to make all of us watch who you were doing in the new york area and others. you are not new to this. you are true to this. tonight we have had climate actiists of color recently that have expressed their concern that the president curtailed the infrastructure plan and it doesn t do enough for
going to hear from senator cory booker, but we want to get more of your questions now for former congressman beto o rourke. so let s bring in now i want to bring in peggy shepherd, congressman. bring her into the conversation. she is a co-founder and executive director of we act for environmental justice, based in new york. right on. new york city. getting lots of applause. a group that fights for equal environmental protections for people of color and low-income residents. peggy, what s your question. yes, good evening. good evening. an important environmental justice concern is extreme heat, which kills more residents each year than storm surge. so what would you do to address this issue through building codes or policies that really begin to address the escalating energy costs and the lack of air conditioning, and the lack of the ability to pay for air conditions by vulnerable populations. over 31% over 31 million households in this country are energy insecure.