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A new civil rights office has been created within the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Biden administration announced Saturday (September 24), per MSNBC.
According to a White House press release, the new office, titled the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights, “will dedicate more than 200 EPA staff in EPA headquarters and across 10 regions towards solving environmental challenges in communities that have been underserved for far too long.”
The EPA's civil rights office has been tasked with distributing $3 billion of the more than $60 billion authorized for environmental justice via the Inflation Reduction Act, per the release.
In conjunction with the White House, EPA Administrator Michael Regan, the first Black man to serve in the role, announced the formation of the office at a news conference in North Carolina.
Regan said in a video message posted on Twitter Saturday that the office will distribute billions of dollars toward solving "some of the most vexing" pollution issues that have disproportionately impacted marginalized communities for years.
“In the past, many of our communities have had to compete for very small grants because EPA’s pot of money was extremely small,” Regan said in a statement, per the Associated Press. “We’re going from tens of thousands of dollars to developing and designing a program that will distribute billions. But we’re also going to be sure that this money goes to those who need it the most and those who’ve never had a seat at the table.”
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