Republican AGs attack Biden’s EPA for pursuing environmental discrimination cases

ST. LOUIS – Republican legal professionals normal attacked the Biden management’s said function of pursuing environmental justice, calling it a type of “racial engineering.‘’

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody and 22 other GOP officials asked the EPA Tuesday to stop using civil rights laws to investigate actions and policies that result in harm to Black people or other minority groups — even unintentionally — more than white residents.

“The EPA should be focusing on enforcing the environmental laws passed by Congress, not so called ‘environmental justice,’ which is a euphemism for Biden’s extreme agenda,‘’ Moody said. Their petition demands that the EPA change decades-old rules, though the civil rights law could still be used where discrimination was intentional.

The petition is unlikely to convince the Biden administration to back away from an issue EPA Administrator Michael Regan has taken pains to highlight. Regan, for example, went on a “Journey to Justice” excursion to puts like the economic stretch of Louisiana generally referred to as Cancer Alley to turn how majority-Black communities dwelling close to polluters had been being harm. To cope with such harms, the EPA has became partly to a piece of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 referred to as Title VI to open investigations and drive states to make adjustments.

The petition in an election yr is the newest in Republicans’ increasing battle in opposition to federal insurance policies aimed toward addressing historical racial discrimination and so they consider courts are on their facet. They cited the recent Supreme Court decision that eradicated affirmative motion in faculty admissions, arguing it presentations the courtroom is cautious of race-conscious federal insurance policies.

“Because the EPA’s regulations prohibit any action that results in racial disparities, a funding recipient must set demographic targets for their projects to maintain compliance,” the attorneys general wrote. “This kind of allocation based on group membership is a constitutional nonstarter.”

The Florida attorney general’s office, which took the lead on the petition, said the states would sue if the EPA does not amend its rules.

EPA declined to comment, citing ongoing litigation around the issue.

Title VI aims to prevent discrimination in programs that receive federal funds. The agency can investigate allegations of discrimination, publish their findings and pressure states and local governments to agree to change policies. The federal government can yank funding if they find a Title VI violation.

Debbie Chizewer, managing attorney in the Midwest office at the environmental group Earthjustice, said Title VI is part of the country’s historic fight against discrimination and is still a critical tool. Elected officials across the county permitted numerous polluting factories, chemical plants and refineries near minority communities that now are burdened with the effects, including poorer health, lower property values and economic blight.

“I think it is a perversion of our civil rights laws to say otherwise, to say that you can’t account for these past harms by creating policies that protect communities that are disproportionately harmed,” she said.

Previously, Title VI has been a relatively weak environmental weapon, rarely resulting in significant changes to environmental policy. Under the Biden administration, however, environmental and civil rights groups were hopeful it could be used to do more.

Those groups asked the EPA to investigate Louisiana’s regulation of air pollution, arguing that it disproportionately hurt majority-Black communities near heavy industry. They highlighted the Denka Performance Elastomer plant that makes synthetic rubber and emits harmful chloroprene. It’s located a half-mile from an elementary school. The agency agreed to investigate and released initial findings saying there was evidence of discrimination.

But before the state agreed to any changes, the EPA dropped its investigation. The end came soon after Louisiana sued the agency, arguing that focusing on policies that may harm one group more than another but weren’t intentionally discriminatory went too far.

That lawsuit has so far seen success. In January, a federal judge in Louisiana put a temporary halt on the EPA’s power to investigate discrimination that had a so-called “disparate impact.” A final decision in the case hasn’t come yet.

Environmental groups have worried that the EPA’s transfer in Louisiana quantities to a pullback at the Biden management’s dedication to combating environmental discrimination.

EPA officials are wary of unfavorable court rulings and a conservative Supreme Court that has already curtailed its regulatory power. The Supreme Court restricted the EPA’s authority to fight air and water pollution — including a landmark 2022 ruling that limited the EPA’s authority to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from power plants that contribute to global warming.

Regan said earlier this month that he believes strongly in using Title VI to fight environmental discrimination, but it’s complicated.

“It is not just on this issue, we face headwinds in the courts on a lot of issues,” Regan said. He added that the EPA is trying to ensure every action it takes can withstand a court challenge.

But the company has different choices to carry polluters responsible, he stated. Recently, for instance, the EPA finalized new, tougher, emissions limits for greater than 200 chemical vegetation, together with the Denka facility below scrutiny in Louisiana.

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