On the recordNovember 14, 2022
I rise to introduce the Empowering and Enforcing Environmental Justice Act to improve efforts at the Department of Justice to hold polluters accountable and to build capacity at State, local, and Tribal governments to do the same. The Empowering and Enforcing Environmental Justice Act builds on the recent announcement by the Department of Justice to launch a new Office of Environmental Justice. My bill would make this new office permanent and authorize $50 million in grant funding to assist State, local, and Tribal governments with their own environmental enforcement efforts. It would also create a new Section for Environmental Justice within the Environment and Natural Resources Division to bring cases for violations of environmental laws in low-income communities and communities of color burdened by pollution. Environmental hazards like air, water, and land pollution disproportionately affect communities that have been historically marginalized, such as Tribal communities, low-income populations, and communities of color. Many of these communities have been further neglected by decades of underinvestment in housing, transportation, water and wastewater infrastructure, and healthcare.…
