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.

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...

States, Environmentalists File New Suits To Block Trump Grant Freezes

Democratic states, environmentalists, municipalities and tribes have filed a pair of new suits seeking to block EPA and other agencies’ efforts to freeze billions of dollars in Biden-era environmental justice (EJ), climate and other grants, launching the suits as courts continue to grapple with an earlier round of cases that sought to block the freezes. A coalition of environmental, municipalities and tribal groups June 25 filed a class action suit against EPA over its withholding of $3 billion in environmental...

FY25 Marks Start Of Trump EPA Plan To Strip Climate, EJ From SRF Funds

EPA’s fiscal year 2025 allotment of state revolving loan funds (SRF) marks the start of Trump administration efforts to strip Biden-era climate and environmental justice (EJ) mandates from water infrastructure projects funded via the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), though officials say they plan to impose formal prohibitions on such funds in FY26. EPA last month issued final allotment tables for clean and drinking water SRF funding from the BIL general supplemental and emerging contaminants capitalization grants, as well as base...

Democratic AGs Defend EJ Actions’ Legality In Face Of Trump Rollbacks

New York is leading a coalition of 13 Democratic attorneys general (AGs) who are stressing the legality and importance of environmental justice (EJ) in the face of Trump administration rollbacks, in a bid to encourage public and private entities to continue to pursue such initiatives. The AGs lay out their position in a June 18 guidance that pushes back on recent executive orders (EOs) from President Donald Trump, memos from Attorney General Pam Bondi and “associated actions targeting environmental justice,”...

EPA Proposes To Give Texas CO2 Well Permit Authority, Speeding CCS Plans

EPA is proposing to grant Texas primary authority to permit carbon storage wells needed for carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects, a potential boon to the sector even as the Trump administration is also canceling federal funds intended to advance the burgeoning technology. Granting the Lone Star State permitting “primacy” could lead to quicker approvals of dozens of projects, given that a third of the 175 carbon storage permit requests currently under review at EPA are located in Texas. The...

CARB Launches Novel Mobile Air Monitoring Program In EJ Communities

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) is launching a novel Statewide Mobile Monitoring Initiative (SMMI), which officials are calling a first-of-its-kind pilot program to deliver “hyper-local air pollution data” in mostly disadvantaged communities to help guide air quality improvement efforts in the state. “While the federal government threatens to take us back to the days of smoggy skies and clogged lungs, California continues to lead the way,” Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said in a June 3 press release. “We’re deploying...

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