SBU Students Advocate For Environmental Justice On Capitol Hill

Two Stony Brook University students traveled to the nation's capital to meet with U.S. Senators and Representatives during the Rachel Carson Council's (RCC) second annual Advocacy Day.

The event, held on March 27, brought together 75 students from across the country to push for critical legislation addressing environmental justice, renewable energy policy and pesticide regulation.

"I never really thought that I would get a chance to just walk into those offices and talk to those people and meet a representative," said SBU's Josephine Wozniak-Veisseyre, a political science major from France. "That was pretty surreal."

The students appreciated the opportunity to meet Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Delaware), the nation's highest ranking transgender elected official, and "she actually took the time to talk to us, which was really nice," Wozniak-Veisseyre added.

During their meetings with elected officials, Wozniak-Veisseyre and Sabrina Cappella, an environmental studies major, advocated for the elimination of federal subsidies supporting the wood pellet biomass industry, which produces and uses wood pellets as a biofuel for heat and electricity generation.

While sometimes considered a sustainable source of energy, wood pellet burning plants are often located in Black, Latino and Indigenous neighborhoods, which are "overbearing people with exposure to air pollutants … compromising water quality, creating noise pollution and creating smells," Wozniak-Veisseyre said.

They also sought signatures on the RCC's "Dear Colleague" letter opposing legislative riders that promote the carbon neutrality of wood biomass.

In addition, the students voiced support for preserving the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022, which includes more than $100 billion in investments in clean energy, infrastructure improvements, and local climate resilience projects. With growing opposition in Congress, they urged lawmakers to resist efforts to repeal the IRA or claw back funds that have not yet been allocated. "We just wanted to bring that to the attention, saying that [the 2025 IRA] was basically trying to repeal the original Act, which was going to create more effort on clean energy, which is what we want," Wozniak-Veisseyre said.

Instead, they wanted lawmakers to commit to a whole-of-government approach to advancing environmental justice across federal agencies to protect vulnerable communities; and oppose measures that would allow for the expansion of pesticide use through proposed statewide caps on regulation.

RCC Advocacy Day is part of a broader movement to engage young leaders in national environmental policy. "I pinched myself the entire day just being like, "Wow, this is not my government, but I get to talk to those people about issues that matter to me, even if it's not my country," Wozniak-Veisseyre said about the experience.

- Antonio Mochmann