According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,
environmental justice is
the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people
regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect
to the development, implementation and enforcement of environmental
laws, regulations and policies.
Importantly, environmental justice concerns are not new.
For example, in February 1994, former President Bill Clinton
signed Executive Order No. 12898 on federal efforts focusing on
environmental justice in minority and low-income populations.
Pursuant to the executive order, “each Federal agency shall
make achieving environmental justice part of its
mission.”1
Despite decades of awareness of environmental justice issues,
both federal and state governments have struggled to identify
concrete action to address the reality of persistent
disproportionate impacts from environmental stressors.
This time may be different. Both California and the Biden
administration are focused on taking concrete, verifiable and
comprehensive actions to address persistent environmental
inequities and also address climate justice.
This article discusses recent regulatory and enforcement efforts
by both the Biden administration and the state of California, and
further provides guidance for companies seeking to understand how
environmental justice issues may affect them.
Biden Administration Starting to Make Environmental Justice
Goals Concrete
Since the early days of his administration, President Joe Biden
has issued a number of executive orders and memoranda that set the
stage for addressing environmental justice on a national level.
Most significantly, Executive Order No. 14008 on tackling the
climate crisis, issued on Jan. 27, 2021, describes a governmentwide
approach to addressing climate change and environmental justice and
announces the Justice40 Initiative, which aims to deliver 40% of
the overall benefits of federal investments in climate…