On June 23, 2021, a historic heat dome settled over the Pacific Northwest like a vengeful oven, sending temperatures skyrocketing from Juneau, Alaska to Eureka, California. In the diverse, working-class neighborhoods of South King County and Tacoma, Yakima and Spokane, temperatures reached as high as 110 degrees.
Over the next few weeks, more than 120 people died due to exposure to extreme heat, making it the deadliest natural disaster our state has witnessed in generations. Compounding that tragedy was another one: the undeniable fact that this tragedy exposed the depth of environmental injustice here in Washington State.
More than half of the people who died during the heat dome lived in poorer neighborhoods—in neighborhoods without air-conditioned community centers, without well-funded emergency services, without enough trees offering enough shade. At least 80 of the deaths occurred within the densely populated urban neighborhoods of King, Pierce, and Spokane counties.
Organizations like Comunidad see these impacts firsthand. Families share stories of working up to 16 hours a day outside in dangerous heat, living in housing without adequate cooling, or struggling to access resources during extreme weather events. For many communities, environmental injustice is not a distant policy debate—it is a daily reality affecting their health, safety, and livelihoods.
In May of 2021, the State Legislature passed the Healthy Environment for All (HEAL) Act—landmark legislation aimed at reducing environmental and health disparities in Washington. The HEAL Act required state agencies to develop and implement community engagement plans, conduct environmental justice assessments, and improve Tribal consultation frameworks.
Over the past four years, funding from the HEAL Act has aided in the development of environmental health disparities (EHD) maps—including heat risk assessments—and provided agencies with the resources to meaningfully include Tribes and frontline communities in decision-making during emergencies such as extreme heat, flooding, and landslides.
HEAL’s community capacity grants have enabled community-led education on issues like water contamination and pollution and provided funding to Tribes and community organizations to increase capacity for climate and environmental justice initiatives.
It has helped make the work of environmental justice central to the mission of this state.
But now, all of that is at risk of disappearing.
In February, state legislators unveiled a budget proposal which would gut environmental justice and HEAL Act funding across multiple agencies—including the departments of Agriculture, Natural Resources, Commerce, and Ecology. The cuts include a 42 percent reduction to the Environmental Justice Council and a half-million dollar reduction at the Department of Health— eliminating critical investments to the Environmental Health Disparities Map and grants to local organizations working to provide services and information to their communities.
These cuts would make it impossible for those of us dedicated to the cause of environmental justice to do our work, and lead to worse health outcomes and wider health disparities in communities already disproportionately impacted by flooding, extreme heat, wildfires, pollution, food deserts, and other health and environmental challenges.
We understand that our state is facing a complicated budget situation, and difficult choices must be made. But Washington should not balance its budget on the backs of our most vulnerable communities.
In 2021, 28 state senators and 56 state representatives voted for the HEAL Act. Just weeks ago, 15 of those same senators and 16 of those same representatives voted for a budget that all but eliminates it.
We cannot only care about the needs of impacted communities when it fits in the budget. We cannot send the message that aiding vulnerable people is a luxury we can’t always afford. And we cannot abandon the essential work of environmental justice when climate change is raising temperatures, drying our landscapes, and causing ever more natural disasters that always impact the already impacted, hurt the already hurting, and disadvantage the already disadvantaged.
The state that passed the Climate Commitment Act must also be a leader in advancing climate justice. The state that passed the HEAL Act should commit to funding it.
Five years ago, an unprecedented heat wave exposed the cracks in our system. We have an obligation to continue the urgent work to fix what’s broken and uplift the people most at risk of slipping through those cracks.
That’s why we will continue to press the urgency of this moment with state legislators. We will continue to engage with Tribes, local organizations, and impacted communities across the state. And we will continue to carry the cause of environmental justice forward—regardless of the politics or popularity, the bullies or the budget constraints.
Because this work—and our communities—are too important.
Dave Upthegrove is the Washington State Commissioner of Public Lands. Alejandra Tres is the co-founder and co-Executive Director of Comunidad.