Reverse Redlining

Project update

May 2024

After the completion of the Innovation Grant, community partner Front and Centered, drafted and introduced the Cumulative Risk Burden (CURB) Pollution Act(House Bill 2070 and Senate Bill 5990) to the Washington State Legislature based on the findings of the Innovation Grant research. Front and Centered separately found sponsors, negotiated language that made it into the bill, and the bill took its own form and new shape using non-UW resources. The bill will be reintroduced in the next legislative session.

Reverse Redlining

Awarded Project Overview

April 2022

About the Project:

Zip codes remain a remarkable predictor of life expectancy in the United States. The law has played an unflattering role in shaping that reality. In particular, legal frameworks – redlining, mortgage lending practices, environmental siting of industrial and waste facilities – have combined over time to create a disturbing pattern of health disparities across the United States.

Reverse Redlining will use the power of law to build public health resilience in communities that have historically faced the greatest environmental harm. These neighborhoods — often hotter, more polluted, and more vulnerable to extreme weather — deserve stronger protections than they currently receive. The goal is both practical and ethical: to counteract past harms and ensure that communities are no longer burdened by pollution and climate threats.

By bringing together public health experts, legal scholars, and frontline community leaders, the project will:

Create a legal framework that prevents further pollution in overburdened areas.
Center the health and well-being of communities in environmental decision-making.
Build resilience to climate change impacts through healthier environments.
Develop a replicable model for other regions facing similar challenges.

Approach

Reverse Redlining proposes a new “whole-community” regulatory approach. Instead of focusing solely on individual pollution sources, it considers the cumulative health impacts of multiple stressors. Through community-driven processes, the project will:

Assess Community Burdens: Examine how pollution, lack of green space, and climate vulnerabilities intersect to harm public health.
Design Legal Protections: Develop new regulations that limit further pollution in areas already facing significant environmental burdens.
Integrate Climate Resilience: Ensure policies support community adaptation to extreme heat, flooding, and other climate-related challenges.
Engage Community Voices: Collaborate closely with local leaders and organizations to shape effective, lasting solutions.

Research Focus

The project will conduct in-depth research on:

The cumulative health impacts of environmental pollution.
Gaps in existing laws that allow disproportionate pollution in vulnerable communities.
Best practices for legal frameworks that build community resilience.
The connections between environmental justice and climate adaptation.

This evidence will inform the development of a new legal model that directly addresses public health disparities.

Why It Matters

Communities that have endured decades of pollution face heightened risks from climate change. Without intervention, the cycle of harm will continue. This is a pattern in which communities of color and low-income communities bear the brunt of environmental pollution and the associated health consequences. Though some efforts have been made to address environmental justice issues in law, current laws often fail to protect these neighborhoods because they don’t account for the harmful health effects as being a symptom of larger health systems problems that have been built up over time.

Reverse Redlining offers a transformative solution — one that doesn’t just enforce existing regulations but fundamentally reshapes them to prioritize public health. By addressing both pollution and climate resilience, the project aims to create safer, healthier, and more equitable communities.

Activities

Key activities include:

Legal and Policy Analysis: Identifying gaps in environmental law and exploring opportunities to build stronger protections.
Community Workshops: Partnering with organizations like Front and Centered to ensure the voices of impacted communities shape the solutions.
Model Law Development: Drafting legal language that state and local governments can adopt to reduce pollution and enhance resilience.

Expected Outcomes

Creation of a replicable model law that limits new pollution in overburdened communities.
Stronger legal protections that prevent further harm in vulnerable areas.
Empowered communities with greater influence over environmental decision-making.

Dissemination of Findings

The project’s findings and resources will be shared through:

Community Presentations and Workshops: Facilitating conversations to ensure local understanding and engagement.
Policy Briefs and Reports: Providing accessible summaries of research findings and recommendations for policymakers.
Law Review Article: Publishing in legal journals to reach scholars and practitioners.
Communications Materials: A variety of products specifically designed for community organizations, leaders and policy makers related to the framework and model policy developed in this project.

Research Team

Principal Investigator: Sanne Knudsen, Stimson Bullitt Endowed Professor of Environmental Law, School of Law, University of Washington
Community Lead: Deric Gruen, Co-Executive Director, Programs and Policy, Front and Centered
Student: Nico Wedekind, Diehl Clinical Fellow in Environmental Law, School of Law

Partners:
Esther Min, Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, School of Public Health and Front and Centered
Todd Wildermuth, Associate Teaching Professor, School of Law and Policy Director, UW Regulatory Environmental Law & Policy Clinic