Biden Admin. Environmental Justice Initiative Updates

President Biden stated that environmental justice reforms were a priority of his Administration during his campaign and several Executive Orders were issued during his first week in office. What’s the status of his Presidency one year later? This post gives a quick update on federal initiatives, programs, and policies that are aimed at environmental justice. They have been announced or implemented during the past 12 months by the Biden Administration.

On January 20, 2021, President Biden’s first day in office, he signed several Executive Orders. These included specific initiatives that focused on environmental justice.Executive Order 13985: Federal Government Orders Executive Departments and Agencies to Work to Redress Inequities in Their Policies and Programs that Block Equal Opportunity Executive Order 13990: Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoration Science To Tackle the Climate Crisis. His Administration announced that he must advance environmental justice and theMemorandum Modernizing Regulation ReviewWe asked for recommendations to ensure that regulatory actions are appropriate and don’t inadvertently burden marginalized, vulnerable, or disadvantaged communities.

The most comprehensive environmental justice reforms, however, were included inExecutive Order 14008Published January 27, 2021 as Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad E.O. 14008 is the most well-known order that emphasizes how the Biden administration will integrate environmental justice into all of government. It does that. [t]The United States must ensure that economic justice and environment are key considerations when governing in order to secure an equitable future economic system.. . .Agencies must make environmental justice a priority by developing programs, policies and activities to address the adverse human, environmental, climate-related, and other cumulative effects on disadvantaged communities.. E.O. 14008 created the Justice40 initiative, which is a cross-agency effort to ensure that at minimum 40% of the overall benefits of federal investments in climate and clean energies flow to disadvantaged areas. It also directed the White House Council on Environmental Quality chair to create a Climate and Economic Justice Screening tool within six months.i.e.By July 2021, it will highlight the most disadvantaged communities. E.O. 14008 also established two White House-level Environmental Justice Councils to coordinate environmental policies and strategies: The White House Environmental Justice Interagency Council, and the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council.

One year later, Climate and Economic Justice Screening tool (per E.O. 14008 is expected to be released by July 2021. According to the White House Fact Sheet: A Year Advancing Environmental JusticePublic review and comment will begin in the new year with a beta version, which was published January 26, 2022. Two White House-level EJ Councils were established, met and issued recommendations. The final recommendations of the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council were issued on May 13, 2021. They are aimed at implementing Justice40 Initiative, including the development and use of the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool and other policies and programs. The White House announced that hundreds if not all federal programs representing billions of dollars annually in investment, including programs created or funded by Presidents, were being implemented under the Justice40 Initiative.Bipartisan Infrastructure LawThrough the Justice40 Initiative, these programs are being reimagined and reshaped to maximize the benefits for disadvantaged communities. The following programs are new to agencies:Communities LEAPPilot (Local Energy Action Program),Inclusive Energy Innovation Prize, and theEnergy Storage for Social Equity InitiativeThe White House intends to publish an annual environmental justice scorecard by 2022. It will include information on progress made by agencies in implementing Justice40 Initiative and other important environmental justice priorities.

On April 30, 2021, the US EPAs Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assistance issued a memorandum titled In communities with environmental justice concerns, strengthening enforcementCalling for increased inspections and enforcement. A few months later, OECA issued a second memorandum titled Enhance Environmental Justice through Criminal EnforcementWe will be focusing on the development of tools to detect environmental crimes in overburdened areas, improving outreach to victims of such crimes, as well as ensuring that our investigations provide maximum assistance for the Department of Justice (DOJ), in its exercise of prosecutorial discretion, and pursuit of remedies that will ensure adequate protection for these communities.

The US EPA published its 2021 Annual Report on October 1, 2021.FY 2022-2026 Draft Strategic Plan. The Plan also included several environmental justice initiatives that the US EPA would implement, including increased enforcement and inspections. The US EPA 2022-2026 Draft Strategic Plan outlined that the agency plans to implement several environmental justice actions by September 2026. This includes: (1) conducting 55% of annual inspections at facilities that may affect communities with EJ concerns; (2) including commitments regarding disproportionate impacts in EJ community in all written agreements US EPA and states and tribals implementing delegated authority; (3) all state recipients US EPA financial assistance will have foundational civil-rights programs and US EPA 100 audits annually of such recipients; (4) a minimum 10 commitments for EJ concern

In its December 28, 2021 document titled EPA wraps up a year of significant accomplishmentsThe US EPA highlighted the following environmental justice accomplishments in 2021: (1) directing all US EPA office to clearly incorporate environmental justice considerations in their plans and actions; (2) announcing $100M in American Rescue Plan funding to support environmental justice initiatives and air monitoring within overburdened areas; (3) embarking upon a Journey to Justice tour that will travel the Southeast to highlight longstanding environmental justice issues in historically marginalized communities and hear from residents who are dealing with the effects of pollution; (4) leveraging enforcement authority to protect pollution-prone communities

The US EPA published a draft on January 5, 2022. EJ Action Plan – Building up Environmental Justice in EPAs Land Protection and Cleanup ProgramsThis section highlights projects, tools, and practices that can be applied to the US EPA’s Office of Land and Emergency Management programs. These programs include Superfund and Brownfields as well as Emergency Response and Solid Waste Management and Corrective Action. The EJ Action Plan is focused on four main goals: (1) strengthening compliance, (2) incorporating environmental justice considers; (3) improving community involvement; and (4) implementing Justice40 Initiative.

On January 26, 2022Michael Regan, Administrator of the US EPA, announcedThis is the first in a series demonstrating the US EPA’s commitment towards environmental justice. These actions include (1) committing the US EPA to aggressively utilize its authority to conduct unannounced inspections at suspected non-compliant facilities to protect public safety; (2) deploying a program to increase air monitoring capacity using assets such as the ASPECT plane, GMAP mobile aircraft monitoring vehicle, and additional air pollution inspectors to improve enforcement; (3) pressing the state and local elected officials for urgent action to better protect vulnerable communities; (4) holding companies more responsible for their actions in overburdened areas with increased monitoring and oversight; and (6) applying the best science to agency policymaking to protect public safety and to ensure that is

Two senior officials in the implementation of the Biden Administration’s environmental justice Reforms announced their resignations a few weeks ago. Cecilia Martinez was the senior director of environmental justice at Council on Environmental Quality. She resigned on January 7, 2022. David Kieve, the public engagement director at the Council on Environmental Quality, resigned a few days later, on January 10, 2022. These positions have not been filled.

What are the next steps for environmental justice initiatives under Biden’s Administration in 2022? Based on the US EPA’s recent announcements of priorities and draft actions plan, it is likely we will see the following EJ initiatives this year: (1) release the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool;(2) increased enforcement by the US EPA of violations that have a disproportionate effect on underserved community; (3) US EPA and other agency scrutiny of permit applications to evaluate EJ considerations within disadvantaged communities; (4) increased participation of the public at sites with EJ concerns and more data-driven information from EJ screening instruments; (6) more civil and third party lawsuits that are aimed at (7) EJ programs, regulations, and at the state and at the local level. We will continue to monitor developments in environmental justice throughout 2022 and will provide further updates in future posts.