Environmental injustice against low-income minority communities needs to stop, U.S. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) said yesterday.

Kerry, who is currently campaigning for the Democratic Presidential nomination in 2004, spoke at the Vine Street Community Center in Roxbury as part of the center’s Earth Day celebration.

“Low-income communities are usually burdened with a disproportionate amount of environmental risks compared to more affluent white communities, and it’s time we asked why,” he said. “These people are as much a part of this country as anyone else, and it’s not equality if they’re being subjected to unhealthy conditions that middle-class neighborhoods aren’t.”

Calling for vast environmental improvements for low-income neighborhoods, the senator said he hoped to see Democrats regain control of Congress and the White House in the 2004 election.

“Pollution that directly affects communities can be found virtually everywhere: from inner cities to urban settings, to outside traditional metropolitan centers,” he said. “This pollution is precipitated mostly by corporations surrounding these urban and suburban communities. The current administration refuses to penalize these companies, but it’s about time someone did.”

Kerry also said he hoped to crack down on companies in close proximity to residential areas by enforcing tighter emissions regulations. He said zoning laws should be stricter, to reduce the level of heavy industry allowed to operate within city limits.

“We shouldn’t make it impossible for industry and urban communities to co-exist, since industry provides these communities with jobs,” he said. “What we need to do is to make them remember the people who make those businesses work.”

Another problem is a general lack of recycling programs in low-income communities, according to Kerry. Though many communities have recycling centers, many do not have door-to-door pick-up, and most are not free.

“We need to expand our recycling facilities; make them cleaner, make them more comprehensive and make them free,” he said.

“Environmental Justice,” a term coined by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to address the disparity between low and high-income neighborhoods, is just one issue that the senator is using to construct a platform for his presidential campaign. He has taken an increasingly tough stance on discrimination in general, with environmental issues as an important sidebar.