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ARTICLE · 30 MAY 2025

Federal Environmental Justice Compliance: The 180-Degree Change

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The new administration took over four months ago and has implemented significant changes throughout the federal government, including policies affecting prior federal environmental justice (EJ) initiatives.

United StatesEnvironment
Shennie Patel
Shennie Patel
Monty Cooper
Monty Cooper

The new administration took over four months ago and has implemented significant changes throughout the federal government, including policies affecting prior federal environmental justice (EJ) initiatives. These changes will likely result in reduced regulatory burdens and faster permitting but will apply only at the federal level, leaving the existing EJ laws at the state level fully enforceable.

Environmental Justice – Historic Executive Action

Since 1994, when President Bill Clinton signed the landmark Executive Order (EO) 12898, Federal Actions To Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations, EJ initiatives have been a part of federal policy. President Biden's EJ goals (outlined in EO 14008, Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad), however, were more aggressive and specific than prior administrations when he issued them in January 2021. Biden's EO outlined the framework for a whole-federal-government approach while

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