Business Better Podcast Episode: An Update on Environmental Justice Under the Biden Administration
On-Demand Webinar | Planning and Funding Climate Resilient California Coastal Infrastructure
Natural Resource Damages & Environmental Justice
Drinking Water on Tap: Money, Morality, and More with Tracy Mehan from the American Water Works Association - Reflections on Water Podcast
Williams Mullen Manufacturing Edge: Environmental Enforcement in the Current Regulatory Climate
On-Demand Webinar | Linear Infrastructure Redux: Adapting Your Projects to Meet the New Regulatory Climate
On August 22, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana permanently blocked the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Justice from implement Civil Rights Act Title VI...more
A hallmark of the Biden Administration’s approach to environmental justice has been using preexisting authorities to advance its agenda, none more so than Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. That approach now faces several...more
Attorneys General from 23 states have filed a petition for rulemaking with the Environmental Protection Agency demanding the agency stop using Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 when regulating pollution. The petition,...more
The Biden Administration’s embrace of a “whole of government” approach to address environmental justice (EJ) issues occasioned litigation across the country. One of the hottest series of disputes has been the tag-team...more
Louisiana remains at the forefront of environmental justice activity. In just four days from January 19 to January 23, 2024, two courts in Louisiana offered interpretations to environmental justice efforts in the State of...more
At the end of January, a federal judge issued a ruling in a high-profile environmental justice case, Louisiana v. EPA, brought by Louisiana against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Justice...more
As the objectives gain traction, they are meeting state resistance in court. The US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) strategic plan for 2022–26, released in March 2022, added a new foundational principle to the...more
In December 2021, we reported on a “Sleeping Giant” being awakened through the Biden Administration’s 2022-2026 Strategic Plan and its goal of using enforcement of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 Title VI as a key tool to...more
In the United States, environmental and public health measures often correlate to variables like education, income, and a community’s racial makeup. In the five decades since Congress began to create comprehensive...more
The United States Department of Justice (“DOJ”) issued a June 6th news release stating that it had entered into a Settlement Agreement with the City of Houston, Texas, in response to illegal dumping in Black and Latino...more
On May 4, 2023, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a first-of-its-kind Title VI environmental justice interim resolution agreement with the Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH). The resolution follows an...more
The United States Department of Justice and United States Department of Health and Human Services (collectively “DOJ”) announced on May 4th they have entered into an Interim Resolution Agreement (“IRA”) with the Alabama...more
Earthjustice submitted a March 6th Complaint under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VI”) addressing the South Coast Air Quality Management District in California (“SCAQMD”)....more
Environmental Justice (“EJ”) continued to prove a major focus of the Biden administration in 2022. With wide-ranging initiatives across several federal agencies, the administration worked to strengthen enforcement, release...more
The first two years of the Biden Administration have resulted in a seismic shift in terminology in the environmental space. Environmental justice (EJ), formerly viewed as a theoretical goal, has become unifying federal driver...more
Recent actions by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) aim to institutionalize environmental justice as a key agency function and support development of tools, guidance and policies to advance it. A newly formed...more
The United States Environmental Protection Agency Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights (“EPA”) sent an October 12th Letter of Concern (“LOC”) to the following Louisiana state agencies: Louisiana...more
On September 24, 2022, the Environmental Protection Agency announced the establishment of a new office dedicated to advancing civil rights and environmental justice. The Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil...more
The EPA’s External Rights Compliance Office recently released Interim Environmental Justice and Civil Rights in Permitting Frequently Asked Questions (“the FAQ”). Stressing “that it is time to use the full extent of its...more
On August 16, 2022, U.S. EPA released its Interim Environmental Justice and Civil Rights in Permitting Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) that provides guidance to federal, state, and local environmental permitting entities on...more
The United States Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced in a July 22nd news release that it had opened: . . . an environmental justice investigation into the City of Houston’s operations, policies and practices related...more
Environmental justice (EJ) issues continue to be at the forefront of the Biden Administration’s regulatory agenda, with promises to deploy non-environmental statutes - most notably, federal civil rights laws - to address...more
Earthjustice and 11 other environmental organizations submitted a document to the Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) on June 28th titled: Petition for Action Regarding Deficiencies...more
On May 23, 2022 the Biden administration submitted a report to Congress outlining the administration’s stated progress in implementing a number of environmental justice measures:. the Justice40 Initiative (which aims to...more
The Biden Administration and EPA continue to strengthen and expand the federal Environmental Justice (EJ) strategy as evidenced by the President’s April 2022 Equity Action Plan (Plan) and the United States DOJ’s May 2022...more