The U.S. EPA Recommits to Environmental Justice

By releasing the EJ 2020 Action Agenda earlier this week, the U.S. EPA has taken on a more ambitious role in pursuing environmental justice.

1 minute read

October 28, 2016, 12:00 PM PDT

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


Flint

Barbara Kalbfleisch / Shutterstock

Ben Adler and Aura Bogada report on a new effort from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to recommit to the cause of environmental justice. The article breaks the news about a new four-year plan from E.S. EPA "to tackle lead poisoning, air pollution, and other problems."

"The effect would be to take environmental justice considerations into account at every step in the EPA’s rulemaking and enforcement process, from going after violators to issuing permits for polluting industries," according to Adler and Bogado.

The U.S. EPA released the EJ 2020 Action Agenda, as the plan is called, earlier this wee, and Adler and Bogada spoke with EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy in an exclusive interview prior to the release, touting the plan's ambitious scope.

The article notes that this isn't the U.S. EPA's first attempt at establishing a plan to tackle environmental justice, but the new plan seems to be "more ambitious and far-reaching" than Plan EJ 2014.

Thursday, October 27, 2016 in Grist

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