MEDIA ADVISORY

Press Call and Report Release

Ahead Of Climate March, New Report Show Florida’s Most Vulnerable
Communities Bear Risks Of State’s Energy Infrastructure

In anticipation of the People’s Climate Marches this weekend, Organize Florida Education Fund and the Center for Popular Democracy will be releasing a new study this Wednesday showing how the most vulnerable communities in Florida bear the risks of new energy infrastructure in the state – including pipelines, refining sites, and extraction stations.
The report demonstrates that the risks of Florida’s energy infrastructure are not distributed evenly throughout the state. Rather, they overwhelmingly affect a handful of counties with significant populations of uninsured people of color, many of whom work in low-wage jobs. As a result, those with the most limited resources are exposed to the greatest risk of injury and illness.
The threat is especially acute for women in communities of color in the Central Florida metropolitan areas of Tampa and Orlando. Legislators and residents from these areas will be available to discuss the results of this report along with recommendations for addressing the convergence of factors that affect these communities.
WHAT: Press call – new report on disparate impacts of energy infrastructure in Florida
WHO: Elected Officials, Community Leaders and the study’s author
WHEN: 10am, Thursday, April 27
DIAL IN: 724-707-3168
CONTACT: Laura Dowler, 321-800-2095, [email protected]
BACKGROUND:
Organize Florida Education Fund joins with The Center for Popular Democracy to release a report on the intersection of energy infrastructure, climate change, access to health care and poverty, as well as its disproportionate impact on Florida’s low-wage women.