President Joe Biden’s administration prioritizes environmental civil rights cases. The Justice Department joined EPA to make a difference in a long struggle to manage a growing array of complaints.
Current cases before the Environmental Protection Agency’s External Civil Rights Compliance Office include discrimination claims relating to the granting permit for hog farm in North Carolina, health effects of air pollution in Louisiana, and pollution problems within Michigan.
What you’ve seen is the administration taking a pause to review some decisions made by state regulatory agencies, stated Byron Brown, a former EPA assistant deputy general counsel and now senior counsel at Crowell & Moring LLP.
Individuals and organizations seeking to resolve discrimination cases can rely upon the EPA civil right office to file a bulk civil rights complaint, including disparate impacts claims that result from highways and other infrastructure projects. It is not always easy to bring these cases to federal court, as the Supreme Court precedent sets a high standard for intentional discrimination.
The EPA continues to wrestle with a BacklogClifford Villa, University of New Mexico law professor, said that there were approximately 2,000 cases in the office. He believes that things are improving.
Villa said that there has been a substantial increase of funding for environmental justice in EPA. They will hopefully be able channel some resources to this office.
The Justice Department is also participating in the effort. They recently launched a first of its kind investigation into local wastewater programs in marginalized communities in Alabama. The Environment and Natural Resources Division (DOJ) responsible for the investigation requested $1.4million in additional funding to create a 17-person office to handle civil rights cases.
On his first day in office, President Joe Biden issued an executive directive directing agencies to correct inequities in programs that are preventing equal opportunity. Title VI, which allows individuals to file discrimination complaints against federally funded programs, is not an enforcement tool. It only applies to federally funded programs and activities.
Biden has directed the EPA to shift from a reactive to an active position. This means that it will actively look for civil rights violations and not wait for complaints to come in. Both the EPA as well as DOJ included civil rights goals into their recent strategic plans.
Lillian Dorka, director at the EPAs external civil right compliance office, said that the agency wants to become a civil rights agency. She spoke out recently to Bloomberg Law.
Dorka stated that her office has received more complaints under the Biden administration than ever before, with more than 20 since fiscal year’s beginning. According to Chandra Taylor, senior attorney for the group, the office has already received two complaints this year from the Southern Environmental Law Center.
Here are some highlights from this years EPA and DOJ investigations.
North Carolina
The EPA We are in agreementIn January, to investigate alleged discrimination by North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality against Black or Latino communities.
The communities claim that four Smithfield-owned farm hog farms were granted permits by the agency to sell the byproducts of pig waste lagoons for renewable energy sources. Some of the extra refuse is sprayed onto nearby fields and infiltrating water supplies and homes in Duplin, Sampson and Sampson.
According to SELCs Taylor (whose organization is in charge of the complaint), the lagoons of trash that create this alternative energy source have negative environmental consequences for neighboring communities.
She stated that the biogas facility poses a significant problem in terms of adverse effects.
Louisiana
In April, the EPA opened three civil right investigations into two Louisiana state agencies. These investigations were in response to racial discrimination allegations.
Two investigations are into claims that the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality’s air pollution control program causes Black residents to be subject to discrimination, disproportionate health effects and other environmental impacts. Another investigation is related to allegations that the state Department of Health is engaging in a policy or practice of discrimination towards Black residents of St. John the Baptist Parish on the outskirts of New Orleans.
According to an agency statement, the EPA wants to know if the actions or inactions of the DEQs in response to the air emissions from Denka Performance Elastomer plants violate Title VI. The agency will also examine DEQ’s decision to issue 14 air permits to a Formosa facility located in St. James Parish.
Separate investigations will be conducted to determine if St. John the Baptist Parish’s Black residents and students at an elementary school were subjected racial disparagement by the health department. Among the allegations is that the agency failed to provide necessary information regarding health threats to residents.
Earthea Naance, the EPA regional administrator who oversees Louisiana, said that in the past there weren’t many Title VI cases. This is a useful tool in today’s policy environment.
Michigan
Michigan regulators continue to face civil rights complaints from advocates. This year, there were multiple complaints about emissions from Detroit and Flint asphalt plants.
Last month, the civil rights office announced that it would investigate whether permits were granted by the Michigan Department of Environment and Great Lakes and Energy to allow facilities to pollute already overburdened communities that are overwhelmingly Black.
The office concluded that the Flint water crisis was discriminatory during the Obama administration’s final days. This was the first and only formal finding by the office. Villa stated that there is a form of deep-rooted race discrimination in Michigan because of the way that regulators treat marginalized communities.
Colorado
The External Civil Rights Compliance Office TelledLast month, Colorado regulators announced that they will examine whether the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment is complying with civil rights laws when it administers its air pollution programs.
Whistleblowers of the states Air Pollution Control Division claim that their air modeling data was obstructed in order for them to quickly issue noxious gas permits. Denver has the worst air quality in the country, especially when it comes to ozone.
Alabama
In November 2021, the Justice Department opened an investigation into alleged discrimination in Alabama’s wastewater disposal and disease program. This investigation was the first Title VI Environmental Justice case to be investigated by the DOJ.
The Justice Departments Civil Rights Division is going to examine the Alabama Department of Public Health, and the Lowndes County Health Department in order to investigate claims that Lowndes County offices prevented Black residents from participating in programs to alleviate raw sewage problems.
Residents do not have access to either municipal sewage systems or costly private systems. As a result, sewage backs up into homes, and in wooded areas, causing diseases like hookworm and stomach flu.
Villa stated that there is still a glaring example if race discrimination that hasn’t been fixed.