They do.
The Attorney General of the United States launched a new Office of Environmental Justice. Included in the statement creating this DOJ effort is:
“Although violations of our environmental laws can happen anywhere, communities of color, indigenous communities, and low-income communities often bear the brunt of the harm caused by environmental crime, pollution, and climate change,” said Attorney General Garland. “For far too long, these communities have faced barriers to accessing the justice they deserve. The Office of Environmental Justice will serve as the central hub for our efforts to advance our comprehensive environmental justice enforcement strategy. We will prioritize the cases that will have the greatest impact on the communities most overburdened by environmental harm.”
Think about this for a moment. We have robust environmental laws. We have robust federal, state, and local enforcement. We even have authorized private enforcement of which various advocacy groups take full advantage, often to a fault. So what exactly is the law enforcement or governmental purpose of this effort? I have no clue. Except to say its more irrelevant BS from an increasingly obvious incompetent administration. Harmful pollution is ubiquitous. Consistent enforcement and remediation protects all of us.
But if Attorney General Garland is convinced about creating another bureaucracy centered on minorities I have a suggestion. How about an
Office of Educational Justice. The education we provide black youngsters in this country is a national disgrace. It became worse during the pandemic as democratic-leaning teacher groups kept schools shut down, which we now know was overdone and hurt the education of minority kids the most. But we won't hear a peep about educational justice from Democrats because democrats, particularly inner-city black Democrats, are responsible for our horrible educational inequality.
How about an office of Gun Justice. The body count of black youngsters in the United States is another national disgrace. The dead young black bodies are the result of other black young men, who themselves will probably be dead or in jail soon. The largest cause of death of black young men is homicide. Attorney General Garland, where are you on this?
How about an office of Drug Abuse Justice? Black overdose deaths are rocketing upward and have now passed whites.
This isn't to say a clean environment isn't important. But good grief, a bad environment won't even make the list of things that specifically harm blacks in this country.
The Biden Administration truly is stupid and irrelevant in so many ways.
Attorney General Merrick B. Garland was joined by EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan today in announcing a series of actions to secure environmental justice for all Americans.
www.justice.gov
