Climate Wire | President Joe Biden will issue an executive order Friday afternoon to expand federal protections for communities historically disproportionately burdened by pollution.
The order has a cumulative effect on blacks, people of color and low-income residents due to pollution and past racist zoning laws that have concentrated people in areas with industrial facilities. I am aiming for that. Biden plans to announce the order in a speech at the Rose Garden on the eve of Earth Day, which will be lined with environmental justice luminaries and community leaders.
“Communities concerned with environmental justice have long experienced exclusion and other significant barriers to having a say in federal decision-making,” a White House fact sheet says of the order. “The executive order recognizes this reality and that racism is a fundamental driver of environmental injustice.”
The order directs agencies to expand “meaningful public participation and fair treatment” in federal decision-making and establishes a new Office of Environmental Justice within the White House to coordinate work across the federal government. To do. It directs agencies to fill gaps in environmental justice research and data, and to develop, implement and update environmental justice strategic plans for programs under its mandate.
The Biden administration will make environmental justice a priority by creating dedicated posts and offices in many agencies and by promising disadvantaged communities to get 40% of their spending on climate and infrastructure. I made a problem.
Biden is set to announce on Friday that three additional agencies — the Department of Commerce, the National Science Foundation and NASA — will be included in the Justice40 pledge.
Citing the efforts of California House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, the White House said Biden used his speech at the Rose Garden to declare that “Speaker McCarthy and his extreme caucuses will affect the planet, the economy and public health.” It’s a stark contrast to the dangerous vision we have of it.” Roll back part of the climate law known as the Inflation Reduction Act.
The White House also condemned the environmental and energy policies of “extremist MAGA Republicans,” whom it referred to five times in a statement announcing the executive order.
These comments came as Biden prepared to announce his bid for re-election.
The administration will also release the much-anticipated Environmental Justice Scorecard on Friday. This is a rating created in an early Biden executive order evaluating agency performance on issues of environmental justice.
The EPA also announced a strategy to address the various impacts of plastic pollution in communities, and federal agencies are mandated to notify nearby communities in the event of a toxic leak from a government facility. .
In honor of Earth Day, Vice President Kamala Harris will travel to Florida on Friday to make an announcement about improving coastal resilience in the face of climate change.
Reprinted from E&E News with permission of POLITICO, LLC. Copyright 2023. E&E News provides essential news for energy and environmental professionals.
