Climate advocate: Trump EPA office closure harms environment
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The Trump administration has started dismantling the Environmental Protection Agency's office dealing with reducing environmental harms to minority and low-income communities who have faced the brunt of climate change and pollution.
More than 160 staffers in the EPA's Office of Environmental Justice and Civil Rights were put on paid administrative leave last week. More than 200 staffers work for the office, which was combined with two others in 2022.
Donald Trump at the Pentagon 2017 - Public Domain
Adrienne Hollis, vice president of environmental justice, health and community resilience and revitalization for the National Wildlife Federation, said the EPA department is just like any other office dealing with environmental protection. A specific environmental effort, she said, needs a specific office to coordinate efforts.
"Some communities may file a complaint about the fact that, given the contamination they're exposed to, there may be issues that violate the civil rights act," Hollis pointed out. "Just as the air group, you need a focal point: a place to go, a place to get information and share information."
The office was first created by former President George H.W. Bush in 1992. Since 2014, the Environmental Protection Agency has conducted more than 300 reviews of civil rights compliance, including 11 in Maryland.
On his first day in office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order working to disband environmental justice offices across the federal government. The administration has also taken down a decades-old tool to track environmental burdens across the country.
Hollis noted some of the state's most vulnerable communities will be the most negatively affected by the major rollbacks and potential shutterings.
"It's going to affect the ability of communities and advocates and activists to really focus on these specific environmental outcomes that are related to systemic racism," Hollis emphasized. "They're place-based, they're based on race, and they're exacerbated by climate change."
The administration has also paused all environmental litigation in the Justice Department. The administration has said it is following through on promises Trump made during the presidential campaign to whittle down the size of the federal government.
