Law360 (March 11, 2025, 9:52 PM EDT) — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday dissolved its more than 30-year-old environmental justice and civil rights office, the latest in a string of EPA actions targeting efforts to ease pollution burdens on historically disadvantaged communities.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin told agency leaders in a memorandum that the elimination of the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights, or OEJECR, is part of his plan to carry out President Donald Trump’s order to get rid of all diversity, equity and inclusion positions, and all environmental justice offices and positions “immediately.”
He said he is “approving and directing the reorganization and elimination” of the office’s assistant administratorship, the environmental justice divisions within the 10 EPA regional offices, and the Office of Inclusive Excellence within the Office of Mission Support.
“As these offices are eliminated, EPA will assess and retain statutory functions and administration priorities to improve implementation of programs to provide clean air, water and land,” Zeldin said in the memo obtained by Law360.
The EPA’s Office of Environmental Justice was created in 1992 and had remained active since, even throughout the first Trump administration. Then in 2022, in line with the Biden administration’s priorities, it was merged with the Office of External Civil Rights Compliance and Conflict Prevention and Resolution Center.
The new OEJECR was created to put an even stronger emphasis on the problem of disproportionate pollution impacts in certain communities and provide more resources to address the issue.
The Biden administration said at the time the office would employ roughly 200 employees and have a presence in all 10 EPA regional offices.
Throughout the Biden administration, environmental justice work took many forms, including increasing and improving communication with communities; dedicating more resources to studying and learning about pollution’s effects on vulnerable communities; creating a mapping tool called EJScreen that allowed regulators to identify the most at-risk communities; developing new legal frameworks and technical guidance to incorporate environmental justice into the agency’s work; and acting to distribute funds allocated by Congress for environmental justice projects.
But Trump came into his second term with an immediate focus on rooting out DEI and environmental justice initiatives and employees across the federal government.
On his first day in office, Trump issued executive orders rolling back previous presidents’ executive orders prioritizing environmental justice, and directed federal agencies to “terminate, to the maximum extent allowed by law,” all diversity, accessibility and environmental justice offices and positions.
The EPA said it has, in cooperation with the Elon Musk’s Department of Governmental Efficiency, carried out Trump’s orders by terminating $20 billion in Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund grants that allowed for environmental justice projects, cancelling about 450 other grants worth about $2 billion and disabled the EJScreen tool.
The agency placed 171 employees in DEIA and environmental justice jobs on administrative leave, although some of them reportedly have returned to work. The EPA also fired 388 probationary workers, some of whom had environmental justice functions.
“President Trump was elected with a mandate from the American people,” Zeldin said in a statement Tuesday. “Part of this mandate includes the elimination of forced discrimination programs. Under the Trump administration, EPA is affirming our commitment to serve every American with equal dignity and respect.”
–Editing by Lakshna Mehta.