WASHINGTON, D.C.– The Project 21 black leadership network blasted the Biden Administration’s “fundamentally flawed” proposal to realign the mission of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) toward the political goal of “advanc[ing] environmental justice and equity.”
In a public comment submitted to the federal government prior to a November 12 deadline, Project 21 opposed the EPA’s plan to make “environmental justice” a strategic goal – calling this “inherently incompatible” with existing agency principles of adherence to science, following existing law and transparency.
“[I]n picking winners and losers,” Project 21’s comment noted, “the green lobby has pushed the government to side with the people, parties, and policies that have not helped minorities in the ways they were advertised.”
The comment added:
Administrator Michael S. Regan wants to put the EPA “at the center” of the Biden Administration’s equity agenda by pushing “environmental justice” policies likely to cause more harm than good. Instead of purportedly protecting minorities from a disproportionate share of eco-hazards, environmental justice actually puts unaccountable elites and their bureaucratic minions in the position of regulating the dispossessed to the degree they become wards of the state – further disenfranchising them.
Project 21’s comment further noted that Biden Administration actions, such as the effective cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline, have betrayed stated environmental justice goals by destroying job opportunities and wealth creation for skilled black workers. They have also increased the potential for energy poverty issues that reduce the quality of life for poor black households that must pay more for energy as a result of new government actions and regulations. Furthermore, they have prioritized an elitist green agenda over the immediate needs facing many black Americans:
Solutions to violent crime, drug abuse, high out-of-wedlock birth rates, and poor public schools cannot be remedied by addressing perceived climate conditions decades in the future or installing charging stations for luxury electric vehicles in ‘underserved communities.
Noting “the strong ties between the concepts of environmental justice and Critical Race Theory,” Project 21’s comment concluded:
Environmental justice as it is laid out in the Biden EPA’s strategic plan weaponizes the bureaucracy. It pits communities and people against each other. It sows discontent and distrust – placing political gains over clean-up goals.
In its “Blueprint for a Better Deal for Black America,” Project 21 recommended that new regulations undergo a “minority impact assessment” to ensure they don’t overburden at-risk communities.
To read all of Project 21’s public comments opposing the Biden EPA’s “Draft Fiscal Year 2022-2026 Strategic Plan,” click here.
To schedule an interview with a member of Project 21 on this or other issues, contact Judy Kent at (703) 477-7476.
Project 21, a leading voice of black conservatives for over 25 years, is sponsored by the National Center for Public Policy Research. Its members have been quoted, interviewed or published over 40,000 times since the program was created in 1992. Contributions to the National Center are tax-deductible and greatly appreciated, and may be earmarked exclusively for the use of Project 21.
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