In January, President Biden formalized multiple campaign pledges to bolster the role of Environmental Justice (EJ) across the government. Those include creating a White House Environmental Justice Interagency Council and a White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council to address “current and historical environmental injustices,” and a “Justice40 Initiative” meant to ensure that 40 percent of the overall benefits of relevant federal investments go to disadvantaged communities. Further, the order will boost EJ enforcement “through new or strengthened offices” at EPA, the Justice Department and the Department of Health and Human Services. To measure progress, President Biden’s Executive Order also creates a Climate and Environmental Justice Screening Tool, building off EPA’s EJSCREEN tool to collect and provide the data to support these mandates.

Join Whit Swift, Kevin Ewing, and Anna Burhop as they discuss the approaches EPA may take to advance EJ initiatives, highlight programs and tools the Biden EPA’s Office of Environmental Justice may deploy in furtherance of EJ, and offer insights on whether and how these efforts are likely to have meaningful impacts on both project development and the operation of existing sources.