On the eve of Earth Day, President Joe Biden announced the creation of an Office of Environmental Justice as he lays out a plan to make it “the mission of every single executive agency,” the White House said.
As part of an executive order, the new office will coordinate environmental justice efforts across the federal government. The order presses agencies to close gaps in data and use scientific research to understand and prevent the damage to people’s health brought by pollution.
The White House calls it “the most ambitious environmental justice agenda in our nation’s history.”
The action is the result of nearly two decades of organizing by the environmental justice movement, said the Climate Justice Alliance, a nonprofit representing 89 rural and urban community-based environmental justice organizations.
“This win belongs to our communities who have been on the front lines of the climate crisis, creating solutions, building local power and engaging lawmakers for decades,” said Ozawa Bineshi Albert, co-executive director of the alliance.
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Here’s what we know.
What is environmental justice?
Environmental justice is “the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations and policies,” according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The executive order seeks to “better protect overburdened communities from pollution and environmental harms,” recognizing that “racism is a fundamental driver of environmental injustice,” the White House said.
For years researchers have reported that communities where Black, Indigenous and other people of color live are disproportionately affected by exposures to toxic substances, extreme heat and flooding, and they receive less money to address such problems.
The Climate Justice Alliance “will continue to ensure that this step forward isn’t just performative,” Bineshi Albert said. “The new Office of Environmental Justice must ensure strong, consistent procedures are implemented across agencies moving forward.”
How is air pollution harmful?
Air pollution from fossil fuel burning has been found to harm every organ in the body. A study published this year found that particulate matter caused 32,000 deaths across the U.S. in 2020. Researchers found that Black, Asian, Latino and low-income communities disproportionately have higher levels of particulate matter than white and richer communities.
Poor air quality remains the largest environmental health risk in the United States, a 2019 study in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences warned. It concluded that air pollution in the U.S. is “disproportionately caused by whites, but disproportionately inhaled by Black and Hispanic minorities.”
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More action from the Biden administration on climate
According to a fact sheet from the White House, the Biden administration’s executive order and action says it will:
- Direct federal agencies to notify communities when toxic substances are released from a federal facility.
- Establish an environmental justice subcommittee on the National Science and Technology Council to create “a coordinated strategy for filling data and research gaps.”
- Publish a new environmental justice “scorecard” to track federal agency efforts
- Address plastic pollution with a new committee to coordinate federal efforts and strategy.
Previous White House actions
The administration pointed to two earlier actions that helped lead to Friday’s order.
- In 1994, President Bill Clinton signed an executive order that first recognized harmful pollution disproportionately affects low-income communities and communities of color.
- In 2021, Biden created and appointed a White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council.
Advisory council member Beverly Wright also participated in the Clinton effort.
Biden’s executive order strengthens Clinton’s order, but “much work must be done to achieve true environmental justice,” said Wright, executive director of the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice.
Helping coastal communities respond to climate change
As part of Friday’s announcements, Vice President Kamala Harris traveled to Miami to announce $562 million from the Department of Commerce and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for projects to help protect communities against the consequences of climate change. The awards are funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act.
The Nature Conservancy, which will be the recipient of some of the money NOAA plans to award, said the investments will restore wetlands, coral reefs and wildlife habitats, and improve community resilience.
“Our deteriorating infrastructure, the threats of climate change and biodiversity loss, and the need for economic growth require a holistic approach, and nature must be part of the response,” said Kameran Onley, the conservancy’s managing director of North American policy and government relations.
Dig Deeper
Contributing: Nada Hassanein, USA TODAY; The Associated Press
