The Biden administration prioritized efforts to address pollution's toll on low-income communities and people of color. Those efforts are under threat by the Trump administration. Claudine Hellmuth/E&E News(illustration); markzvo/wikipedia(EPA sign); Francis Chung/E&E News (protest photo)
By Kevin Bogardus | 02/07/2025 01:55 PM EST
EPA’s national office to aid long forgotten neighborhoods saddled with pollution, created with much fanfare during the previous administration, is in trouble.
The bulk of its staff have been placed on administrative leave. Its foundational executive order has been rescinded. And front-facing media for the program, including its online tool spotlighting environmental dangers in disadvantaged communities, have been ripped off the Internet.
Supporters of EPA’s Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights now expect it to fade away under the Trump administration to a shell of its former self, at best.