House, Senate Democrats to Protect Michiganders’ Right to Breathe Clean Air in Proposed Bills

Chang, McKinney speak in support of the Protecting Overburdened Communities Act

LANSING, Mich., July 31, 2025 — Community-based environmental groups joined state Sen. Stephanie Chang (D-Detroit) and state Rep. Donavan McKinney (D-Detroit) earlier this week for a press conference announcing two new bills that will protect Michiganders’ basic right to breathe clean air. The lawmakers announced the Protecting Overburdened Communities Act (POCA), SB 479 and HB 4742, which would give the Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) the guidance and tools to measure and regulate the combined health hazards of multiple pollution sources, rather than measuring and treating each source in isolation. 

“The Protecting Overburdened Communities Act marks a pivotal moment for environmental justice in Michigan,” said McKinney, primary sponsor of HB 4742. “For far too long, low-income residents and communities of color have borne an unfair burden of pollution, leading to chronic health disparities. This legislation is about ensuring that every Michigander, regardless of their zip code, has the fundamental right to breathe clean air and drink clean water. We are setting a new standard for environmental protection that prioritizes people over polluters. This important legislation will address historical injustices while building a healthier and more equitable Michigan. By mandating environmental justice impact assessments and the consideration of cumulative impacts to a community, we are finally giving EGLE the tools to truly protect our most vulnerable residents and hold polluters accountable.”

“Living with one source of pollution is bad, living with two or more can be dangerous because multiple chemicals and pollutants can be more hazardous when they combine in our bodies,” said Nancy Morales of the Urban Core Collective and Coalition for a Safe and Healthy Roosevelt Park Neighborhood in Grand Rapids. “The American Lung Association ranked Grand Rapids as one of the 25 worst cities for air pollution and one of worst for Ozone pollution. Our residents need EGLE to take that and other health impacts into account when other polluters want to set up shop in our community. The POCA bills are the protection all Michiganders need to claim our right to breathe clean air.” 

“These bills are long-needed policy solutions to protect people’s health, from Ironwood to Detroit, to prevent the furthering of health problems that come from the combination of multiple sources of pollution, multiple types of pollutants, and already existing health conditions,” said Chang, the bill’s senate sponsor. “For example, when a community already has health hazards from diesel truck emissions and industrial facilities, and a new polluting facility wants to enter that community, EGLE would have to take into account the health hazards the community is currently experiencing and how the new facility’s emissions would combine with existing pollution before granting a permit. This is common sense and the right thing to do for our overburdened communities.”

“When your doctor prescribes you medicine, she is careful to note if the new medicine will interact badly with medicine you’re already taking. The combination could be harmful. That is the approach the POCA bill takes with pollution and health hazards,” said Kathryn Savoie of Clear the Air. “When communities are already overburdened with pollution or have a significant pollution source in their community, EGLE would have to take the existing pollution and health risks into account. They couldn’t simply act as if there wasn’t pollution and bad health effects already there.”

“Those of us living in areas like Southwest Detroit and East Dearborn know all too well what happens when state regulators, people that are supposed to be watching out for you, allow multiple polluters into your community,” said Theresa Landrum of Original United Citizens of Southwest Detroit 48217. “Those of us surrounded by steel plants, oil refineries, slag industries and others have been seeking these protections for years. We know we have the right to breathe clean air and we want the whole state of Michigan to have that right as well. The Protecting Overburdened Communities Act will give us health protections that are long overdue.” 

Advocates have established a website that those who want to support the effort to clean Michigan’s air and protect resident’s health can visit for more information: ClearTheAirMi.org/POCA. 

The press conference can be viewed on Engage Michigan’s Facebook page.

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