It’s a fraction of the three million federal employees that American taxpayers are carrying, but the Environmental Protection Agency has just sent more than 160 employees in the Office of Environmental Justice packing. These few dozen are part of the expansion of government that, under President Joe Biden, grew the federal workforce by 6% in four years.
The division says that “’Environmental justice’ means the just treatment and meaningful involvement of all people, regardless of income, race, color, national origin, Tribal affiliation, or disability, in agency decision-making and other Federal activities that affect human health and the environment so that people have equitable access to a healthy, sustainable, and are fully protected from disproportionate and adverse human health and environmental effects (including risks) and hazards, including those related to climate change, the cumulative impacts of environmental and other burdens, and the legacy of racism or other structural or systemic barriers and have equitable access to a healthy, sustainable, and resilient environment in which to live, play, work, learn, grow, worship, and engage in cultural and subsistence practices.”
In 2023, $150 million of environmental justice money from federal borrowing was directed to Alaska tribes, some of it to be used to clean up contaminated land, and to focus on “Alaska-specific climate action strategies … community energy resilience, improving human health and climate resilience, permafrost degradation management strategies, climate emergency management and response, and nature-based solutions.”
The funding from the environmental justice grant was applauded in 2023 by then-Rep. Mary Peltola and Sen. Lisa Murkowski for bringing national-debt-funded cash to Alaska for projects that had indeterminate goals and no specific deliverables for the nation.
