US Justice Department launches Office of Environmental Justice, strategy formulated with EPA
09 May 2022
US Attorney General Merrick B. Garland and EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan last week announced a series of environmental justice actions. In addition to launching a new Office of Environmental Justice within the Justice Department, Attorney General Garland also announced a new comprehensive environmental justice enforcement strategy to guide the Justice Department’s work and also issued an Interim Final Rule that will restore the use of supplemental environmental projects in appropriate circumstances.
Developed by the Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD) in partnership with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the strategy will ensure that the entire Department is using all available legal tools to promote environmental justice.
The Office of Environmental Justice will serve as the central hub for our efforts to advance our comprehensive environmental justice enforcement strategy. We will prioritize the cases that will have the greatest impact on the communities most overburdened by environmental harm.
—Attorney General Garland
The new Office will also support environmental justice investigations and litigation and facilitate outreach by the Department to communities with environmental justice concerns.
Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim named Cynthia Ferguson, an experienced ENRD attorney with more than a decade working on environmental justice issues, as Acting Director.
The Interim Final Rule that will restore the use of supplemental environmental projects in appropriate circumstances and subject to guidelines and limitations set forth in a separate memorandum issued by the Attorney General. For decades before 2017, EPA and ENRD relied upon such projects to provide redress to communities most directly affected by violations of federal environmental laws. The Justice Department’s Interim Final Rule invites public comment on the new guidelines and limitations, including to inform any future changes to the Justice Department’s approach.
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