BY STAFF REPORTS
According to a memo issued this week by Attorney General Pam Bondi, the Department of Justice is rescinding the prior administration’s “environmental justice” memoranda.
U.S. Attorneys offices were given until Feb. 7 to comply with the one-page memo, which rescinded two specific prior-issued memoranda by former Attorney General Merrick Garland:
- Actions to Advance Environmental Justice (May 5, 2022)
- Comprehensive Environmental Justice Strategy (May 5, 2022)
The order also included “any other administration’s “environmental justice” agenda
“Further, the heads of all components and U.S. Attorneys’ Offices are to rescind immediately any memoranda, guidance, or similar directive applicable to their component or office,” Bondi wrote. “Going forward, the Department will evenhandedly enforce all federal civil and criminal laws, including environmental laws.”
These actions follow President Donald Trump’s move to rescind several executive orders from 2021 and 2023 by former President Joe Biden related to climate change and environmental justice. In addition, NPR reported that last week that nearly 170 employees at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights (OEJECR) were placed on paid administrative leave.
The office was created in 1992 under President George H.W. Bush with a few dozen people and a focus on environmental justice and health expanded during the Clinton and Obama administrations. NPR reported that in 2002, EPA merged two other offices into OEJECR. By last year, the office boasted more than 200 staff between EPA headquarters and regional staff.
Bloomberg reported that OEJECR during the Biden Administration ran a conflict prevention and resolution center, an office of resource management, a community support branch, an office of policy and program development section, and an external civil rights compliance division.
Bondi was sworn in on Feb. 5, the same day she issued the memo. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on the same day.
According to an EPA news release, Zeldin’s plans to focus on five key pillars:
- Clean Air, Land, and Water for Every American
- Restore American Energy Dominance
- Permitting Reform, Cooperative Federalism, and Cross-Agency Partnership
- Make the United States the Artificial Intelligence Capital of the World
- Protecting and Bringing Back American Auto Jobs
