Global Courant 2023-04-21 16:45:05
President Biden will sign an executive order in the Rose Garden Friday that will direct every agency of the federal government to include “environmental justice” in its mission, the White House said.
The White House has invited environmental justice leaders, climate advocates and community leaders to join the president at the signing ceremony today. There, Biden will reaffirm his administration’s commitment to fighting climate change and correcting “disproportionate environmental damage,” including that caused by a “legacy of racial discrimination, including redlining.”
“The executive order will direct agencies to address gaps in science and data to better understand and prevent the cumulative effects of pollution on people’s health. It will create a new Office of Environmental Justice at the White House to direct all efforts to coordinate environmental justice across the federal government.” government. And it will require agencies to notify nearby communities in the event of a release of toxic materials from a federal facility,” a White House official said.
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President Biden signs another executive order on Friday directing each federal agency to include “environmental justice” in its mission. (Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
According to the White House, the executive order will recognize that “racism is a fundamental driver of environmental injustice.” It will direct federal agencies to consider and prevent disproportionate impacts of environmental and health damage on poor and minority communities. It also requires agencies to consult historically excluded communities and “actively facilitate meaningful public participation and equitable treatment of all people in agency decision-making.”
The new White House Office of Environmental Justice created by Biden’s action will be headed by a Federal Chief Environmental Justice Officer, who will be tasked with coordinating “environmental justice” policies across the federal government.
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US President Joe Biden speaks at an event at the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, D.C., Tuesday, April 18, 2023. Biden will return to the Rose Garden on Friday to sign an executive order on “environmental justice.” (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
In addition, the executive order changes the language used in a Clinton-era environmental order calling for the administration to address “disproportionately high and adverse” effects of their actions, dropping the word “high” to avoid the “possible misunderstanding that agencies are only taking into account large disproportionate effects.”
The White House contrasted Biden’s planned action with the policies that House Republicans and Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.
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President Biden delivers the State of the Union address at a joint session of Congress as Vice President Kamala Harris and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) listen in the House Chamber of the Capitol in Washington, D.C., February 7, 2023 The Biden-Harris White House has accused McCarthy and House Republicans of being in the pocket of major oil companies. (Jacquelyn Martin-Pool/Getty Images)
Republicans have introduced HR 1, the Lower Energy Costs Act, broad legislation that pushes back Biden’s climate agenda on everything from Biden’s rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline to restrictions on oil and gas development to proposed bans on gas stoves. The legislation, passed with bipartisan support in the House, would repeal taxes and regulations on oil and gas production and make it easier to develop fossil energy. President Biden has said he will veto the bill.
McCarthy has said the Biden administration has “strained US energy production” with “misguided policies” that increase costs for Americans.
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“Speaker McCarthy and the proposals of his extreme caucus, including HR 1, would be a climate and health disaster that President Biden will not allow while in office,” the White House official said.
Chris Pandolfo is a writer for Fox News Digital. Send tips to [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @ChrisCPandolfo.
