President Donald Trump issued a flurry of executive orders (EOs) in his first hours and days in office. The numerous EOs cover a range of topics, many of which impact environmental regulation and related areas. While many of President Trump’s EOs will be—and already are—facing litigation challenges, and others will require congressional approval prior to full implementation, the EOs nevertheless signal the intention and direction of the Trump administration in the environmental law realm and beyond. One key area at the center of these policy changes is the dismantling of environmental justice (EJ) initiatives and related policymaking. The Trump administration is widely gutting consideration of EJ in federal decision-making, primarily through EO: Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity and EO: Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions, as well as through rescinding a swath of prior EOs, including: 

• EO 13985: Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government.
• EO 13990: Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science To Tackle the Climate Crisis.
• EO 14008: Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad.
• EO 14091: Further Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government.
• EO 14096: Revitalizing Our Nation’s Commitment to Environmental Justice for All.
• EO 14052: Implementation of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
• EO 14082: Implementation of the Energy and Infrastructure Provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.

History of Pursuing EJ

EJ has been defined as “the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income, with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations and policies.”¹ In 1994, President Bill Clinton issued EO 12898, which was the first time federal agencies were directed to develop strategies for implementing EJ. Clinton’s EO has long been seen as the backbone of modern EJ policymaking in the United States. On 20 January 2025, President Trump revoked Clinton’s EO as part of an overall directive under EO: Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity, which has a stated purpose of protecting Americans from discrimination by ending the use of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies and programs. In repealing the Clinton-era mandate, President Trump said the policies violate federal civil rights laws and “deny, discredit, and undermine the traditional American values of hard work, excellence, and individual achievement in favor of an unlawful, corrosive, and pernicious identity-based spoils system.”

Biden’s EJ Legacy Dismantled

President Joe Biden and his administration enacted unprecedented and sweeping EJ policy reforms, including an expansion of President Clinton’s EO. This expansion established the “Justice40 Initiative” aimed at ensuring that marginalized or disadvantaged communities received at least 40% of federal benefits relating to the environment, housing, economic development, and other areas. Additionally, the expansion required federal agencies to develop equity action plans to detail their efforts to advance DEI to the agencies’ internal and external activities. On his first day back in office, President Trump rescinded a swath of Biden administration EOs aimed at promoting federal EJ programs. These include: EO 13985, EO 13990, EO 14008, EO 14091, EO 14096, EO 14052, and EO 14082. Some key highlights of these now-rescinded EOs are: 

• EO 13985 is President Biden’s day-one initiative establishing government-wide initiatives to advance racial equity and support for underserved communities in federal policies and programs.
• EO 14008 established the Justice40 Initiative and created the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council and the White House Interagency Environmental Justice Advisory Council. It also required the Council on Environmental Quality to create the Climate & Economic Justice Screening Tool to spatially define “disadvantaged communities” based on various climate, public health, transportation, and energy justice indicators. 
• EO 14091 directed federal agencies to undertake additional efforts to advance EO 13985 and required federal agencies to assemble agency equity teams led by a senior official to support equity training and leadership development for staff. 
• EO 14096 focused on incorporating EJ into the decision-making of all executive branch agencies and established the White House Office of Environmental Justice, which is responsible for coordinating EJ efforts across the federal government.

Key Takeaways

As expected, President Trump’s return to the White House is substantially shifting the federal government's approach to EJ. While additional future federal efforts to roll back Biden-era EJ initiatives are likely, the focus on EJ by many states will continue. Importantly, states’ EJ laws will not be immediately impacted by the actions of the Trump administration; instead, we expect the rollback of EJ at the federal level will likely encourage many states to more aggressively enact and enforce EJ standards and policies. Indeed, the regulated community should prepare for “blue state”-led regulators and attorney generals to pursue a vigorous counter-response to the Trump administration’s policies, which may include heightened enforcement actions, new state and local EJ rules, and added staffing for state environmental agencies. The firm has assembled a task force that is closely watching EJ developments under the new administration, including impacts at the state level, and is ready to work with clients to understand how these and other changes may impact their businesses. 

Footnotes