AGs issue guidance affirming legality of environmental justice initiatives

A coalition of 13 state attorneys general, including Andrea Joy Campbell of Massachusetts, issued guidance yesterday affirming the “necessity and legality” of environmental justice initiatives.

In the face of federal administration efforts to brand environmental justice activities as illegal, the guidance says public and private entities can still lawfully engage in environmental justice work to ensure a healthy environment for all.

In a prepared statement, Campbell said recent statements from Washington have “no impact on the law.”

“As we try to remediate the longstanding and disproportionate environmental burdens faced by the many communities with environmental justice concerns,” she said, “it is critical that we do everything in our power to advance equity and support communities to participate in decision-making processes that directly impact their lives.”

The guidance states that environmental justice, which has its roots in the country’s civil, economic, labor, and immigrants’ rights movements, aims to ensure that every person has equal access to clean air; clean water; safe and healthy food; a healthy, sustainable, and stable environment; and protection from the impacts of climate change.

Campbell said environmental justice principles and practices “remain both necessary and urgent.”

Campbell said evidence-based studies and lived experience demonstrate that communities of color, indigenous people and tribal nations, low-income, rural, and unincorporated communities, people with disabilities, and non-English speaking communities routinely face disproportionate environmental and health burdens. Examples include lead poisoning and pollution-related asthma in children, the presence of waste dumping and contaminated sites, excessive car and truck traffic, and extreme temperatures, flooding and wildfires. She added that climate change is worsening these environmental dangers.

Environmental justice initiatives aim to overcome this division, developing solutions to persistent harms and advancing public health, safety, well-being, and prosperity across communities.

The Trump administration has issued executive orders and memoranda attempting to undermine environmental justice, a longstanding federal policy. The administration has terminated environmental and climate justice programs and grants; discontinued environmental enforcement actions; and called for legal challenges to state environmental justice and climate laws.

A president, however, cannot change or dismantle laws passed by Congress, according to the guidance from the attorneys general, nor can executive orders or agency memoranda change protections afforded by the U.S. Constitution and other federal and state laws. In fact, civil rights and environmental laws support public and private efforts to advance environmental justice, as does the U.S. Constitution.

The guidance is directed to national, state, tribal, and local governments, nonprofit and charitable entities, businesses, and neighborhood-based groups that are engaging in efforts to restore and protect environmental and public health.

Joining Campbell in issuing the guidance, which she co-led with the attorneys general of California and New York, are the attorneys general of Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Oregon.