Environmental Justice

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The latest news on EPA and Biden administration efforts to address the effects of environmental releases on poor and minority communities, including permit reviews, civil rights investigations, and funding priorities.

Critics Say DOJ Uses Vague Language To Confuse Courts In EJ Grant Cases

Trump administration critics say it is intentionally using vague language in executive orders and legal filings in order to confuse courts and stymie legal challenges to EPA and other agency efforts to freeze environmental justice (EJ) grants over the administration’s opposition to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts. The effort, so far, appears to be working, at least in getting courts to reject preliminary injunction (PI) requests that in many cases will then allow EPA to move obligated and awarded,...

NYU launches Environmental Justice Initiative

New York University’s (NYU) Law School has formally launched its Environmental Justice (EJ) Initiative, seeking to continue efforts to advance the issue as the Trump administration shutters Biden-era efforts at EPA and other agencies. The initiative was launched Oct 15, with an expert panel discussing the past, present and future of environmental and climate justice. Led by Marianne Engelman-Lado, who served as deputy general counsel in EPA’s Office of General Counsel as well as acting head of EPA’s Office of...

Environmentalists Detail Venue Claims In EPA EJ Grant Funding Appeal

Environmentalists are urging the D.C. Circuit to find that district courts, rather than claims court where remedies are limited, are the proper venue for their appeal of EPA’s decision to end nearly $3 billion in environmental justice (EJ) grants, arguing that the suit targets EPA’s unconstitutional decision to eliminate a program Congress mandated. Their Oct. 27 brief in Appalachian Voices, et al. v. EPA, et al. relies heavily on Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s “controlling opinion in the Supreme Court’s...

In Rare Win, High Court Allows EJ Advocates To Pursue Novel Rights Suit

The Supreme Court is declining to overturn an appellate decision allowing environmental justice (EJ) groups to proceed with their effort to block to new and expanded petrochemical plants in Louisiana’s “cancer alley,” handing the advocates a rare victory at a time when the Trump administration is aggressively moving to undo EJ policies. According to the high court’s Oct. 20 order list , the justices without comment denied St. James Parish’s certiorari petition in St. James Parish v. Inclusive Louisiana,...

NASEM Report Urges EPA To Finalize, Update Cumulative Impact Framework

A new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) is urging EPA to update and finalize a Biden-era interim framework on how to assess cumulative pollution and other impacts, though the agency says it has “paused” work on the issue. NASEM’s ad hoc committee on the issue released its Oct. 9 report titled “State of the Science and the Future of Cumulative Impact Assessment,” which provides recommendations on the state of the science surrounding cumulative impacts...

Louisiana Study Finds Higher Air Toxics Cancer Risks Than EPA Estimates

A new peer-reviewed study by researchers at Johns Hopkins University finds that levels of cancer-causing air pollution from petrochemical plants in Louisiana’s “Cancer Alley” are 11 times higher than prior EPA estimates, opening the door to new attacks on Trump administration efforts to waive or roll back current agency regulations. “These results confirm what communities in Louisiana are living every day. But state and federal political leaders are responding to this emergency with free passes for facilities to keep pumping...

Peer Reviewers Urge Major Changes To TSCA Phthalate Drafts Despite Deadlines

EPA science advisors in a newly released peer review report are recommending multiple significant changes to improve the suite of draft TSCA phthalate analyses, including a novel cumulative analysis, while acknowledging that “many” of the committee’s recommendations will not be addressed because of EPA’s strict court-ordered deadlines. The Science Advisory Committee on Chemicals’ (SACC) Oct. 6 report praises EPA’s effort to consider cumulative risk but also questions the agency’s ability to assess the individual chemicals, which are used to make...

NAS Poised To Issue Cumulative Impacts Report Amid Trump’s EJ Rejection

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) is poised to issue its EPA-sponsored evaluation of the future of cumulative impacts assessment, a key part of the Biden-era environmental justice (EJ) agenda, though the report faces an uncertain future due to the Trump administration’s rejection of such efforts. NASEM’s ad hoc committee on the issue is scheduled to issue its report titled “State-of-the-Science and the Future of Cumulative Impact Assessment” on Oct. 9, during a webinar announcing the report’s...

Judge allows EPA to de-obligate EJ, climate grant funds

A federal district judge is rejecting environmentalists’ request to prevent EPA from de-obligating $2.5 billion in environmental justice (EJ) and climate block grants while they appeal his dismissal of their lawsuit to a federal appeals court. The ruling hands the Trump administration another significant victory in its efforts to claw back EJ funds appropriated by Congress and obligated by EPA. In a Sept. 25 order in Appalachian Voices, et al. v. EPA , Judge Richard Leon of the U.S. District...

EJ groups appeal ruling allowing EPA to cancel grants

Environmental justice (EJ) groups are appealing a federal district court’s ruling allowing EPA to cancel $2.5 billion in grants and are asking the court to issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) requiring EPA to preserve the funding rather than return it to the Treasury. The Sept. 16 filing in Appalachian Voices, et al. v. EPA says plaintiffs will ask the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to reverse an Aug. 29 decision by the lower...

Court Allows EPA To Cancel $2.5 Billion In EJ Grants, Rejects Class Action

A federal district court is allowing EPA to cancel $2.5 billion in already obligated environmental justice (EJ) block grants, rejecting environmentalists’ efforts to bring a class-action suit against the agency and accepting EPA’s motion to dismiss the case after finding most of the claims belong in federal claims court. Judge Richard Leon of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia delivered EPA a sweeping victory in an Aug. 29 opinion in Appalachian Voices, et al. v. EPA ,...

DOJ Launches Diversity Investigation Into CalEPA, CARB Hiring Practices

The Department of Justice (DOJ) is launching an investigation into whether California environment agencies are using what it sees as discriminatory hiring practices because the agencies seek to “advance racial equity,” along with efforts to “advance race-based decision-making.” DOJ in an Aug. 27 announcement launched the probe, with its Civil Rights Division sending CalEPA Secretary Yana Garcia a letter the same day. “Race-based employment practices and policies in America’s local and state agencies violate equal treatment under the law,” said...

DOJ, EJ grant backers spar over scope of high court injunction ban

The Department of Justice (DOJ) and plaintiffs seeking to force EPA to release frozen environmental justice (EJ) grants are sparring over the scope of a recent Supreme Court ruling curtailing nationwide injunctions, with DOJ arguing that the holding bars plaintiffs’ request in this case to enjoin the freeze while plaintiffs’ attorneys arguing the opposite.The dueling positions on the impact of the high court’s June 27 holding in Trump v. CASA are laid out in new supplemental briefs in National...

Environmentalists Urge Court To Enjoin EJ Grant Freeze, Reject Dismissal

Environmentalists are hoping a federal district court will prevent EPA from continuing to enjoin $2.5 billion in already-obligated environmental justice grants and reject the Trump administration’s motion to dismiss the novel class-action case, following an Aug. 5 hearing. Judge Richard Leon of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia heard Aug. 5 arguments over the competing motions in Appalachian Voices, et al. v. EPA , the suit where environmentalists are seeking class-action status that could overcome procedural hurdles...

Court To Weigh First Class Action Injunction Request Over EPA Grant Freeze

A district court judge is slated to hear arguments next week in the first class-action suit seeking to force the Trump EPA to release previously obligated environmental justice (EJ) grants, even though the agency is arguing the case is moot because the grant funds were rescinded in Republicans’ recently enacted reconciliation law. However, environmentalists say the case is not moot because the vast majority of the $3 billion at issue was not rescinded in the law. Judge Richard Leon of...

Maryland governor signs EO to advance EJ policies

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) has issued an executive order (EO) seeking to further advance environmental justice (EJ) policies in the state, as the Trump administration is walking away from such efforts at the federal level and labeling them “illegal” diversity, equity & inclusion (DEI) programs. Moore’s July 18 order establishes an interagency environmental justice council that is charged with identifying and leveraging state and federal resources to implement outreach, adaptation and mitigation strategies to improve environmental health for overburdened...

Long-time EPA official defends environmental justice’s future

Charles Lee, a long-time EPA environmental justice (EJ) official and a pioneer in the movement, says EJ continues to have a future even if the Trump administration is abandoning such efforts and even after he left EPA after more than 25 years. Lee retired from EPA in March and late last month joined Howard University law school as a visiting professor. He offers a strong defense of EJ in a July 17 blog post for the Union of Concerned Scientists,...

DOE delays rule eliminating civil rights disparate impact standards

The Department of Energy (DOE) is delaying the effective date of what had been a direct final rule rescinding its disparate impact regulations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, stating that officials must first respond to “significant adverse comments.” DOE says in a July 14 Federal Register notice that it is delaying the effective date of the rule until Sept. 12, when it plans to “issue a new final rule which responds to the significant adverse comments.”...

Judge Rejects Environmentalists’ Bid To Restore EJ, Climate Data Tools

A federal judge is denying environmental groups’ request for a preliminary injunction against the Trump administration’s removal of environmental justice (EJ) and climate data tools, ruling that the groups waited too long to file suit and that they would not suffer irreparable harm from the tools’ removal. In a July 9 order and opinion , Judge Rudolph Contreras of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia allows EPA and other agencies to continue withholding the tools, though plaintiffs...

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