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Quotes about decisions12/16/2023 ![]() The EPA will draw on scientific findings to ensure its environmental justice actions aren’t subjective, Tejada said. “The Clean Water Act or Safe Drinking Water Act-it doesn’t say it’s OK for 5% of the population just not to have access to safe drinking water.” Change Takes Time “The Clean Air Act doesn’t say it’s OK for 10% of the population to breathe air toxics all day long,” Tejada said. Matthew Tejada, director of the EPA’s Office of Environmental Justice, said “it would be great” to have a statute to “cut through some of those things.” But the agency’s existing statutes already equip it with enough firepower to regulate, he said. “They’re looking for some way to solidify their decision so that they can defend them in court.” Many state regulatory agencies “want to do the right thing, and are looking for something less subjective, because they’re really concerned about issuing permits that will then get appealed and go to court,” Hansen said. “And if you’re in the regulatory business, subjectivity is not helpful.” “His exact quote is, ‘A lot of this stuff becomes subjective,’” said Hansen, who didn’t name the official. An official from the Department of Environmental Protection recently said the agency is “powerless to statutorily enforce environmental justice and that the EPA is short on guidance,” Hansen said at the Thursday meeting. ![]() Evan Hansen (D) of the West Virginia House of Delegates said he’s already seen pushback in his state. Some states have already run into problems trying to enact the Biden administration’s ambitious environmental justice agenda, which includes steering at least 40% of the overall benefits from federal clean energy investments to disadvantaged communities. “And I think it’s only fair to acknowledge that.”īut states in a coalition, including New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, and others, are now “looking at their local authority to see whether and how they can begin to use the power that they actually do have to implement some of these ideas about environmental justice,” said Collin, speaking at a meeting of the EPA’s Local Government Advisory Committee. “It’s going to be challenged,” said Robin Morris Collin, the Environmental Protection Agency’s environmental justice senior adviser. That push comes as environmental justice advocates across the country face tough battles to put additional protections on the books, especially in states with Republican-controlled legislatures. The EPA is taking a hard look at its legal authorities for enforcing its environmental justice agenda across the US, and is encouraging states to team up and do that work as well, agency officials said on Thursday.
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