By Trimmel Gomes, Florida News Connection
The Trump administration has begun dismantling the EPA's Office of Environmental Justice and Civil Rights, which focuses on reducing environmental harms faced by minority and low-income communities disproportionately affected by climate change and pollution. Last week, more than 160 staffers in the office were placed on paid administrative leave. The office, merged with two others in 2022, currently employs more than 200 people. In Florida, where rising sea levels, extreme weather, and pollution pose increasing risks to low-income and minority communities, environmental justice advocates warn that dismantling the office could have severe consequences.
Adrienne Hollis, vice president of the Environmental Justice with the National Wildlife Federation, said the effects are far-reaching.
"The Office of Environmental Justice and Civil Rights focuses on issues that affect communities and groups of people that are disproportionately impacted by environmental issues - or disproportionately impacted when rules and regulations are not followed," she said. "Or even when there are issues around site cleanup."
Established under President George H.W. Bush in 1992, the office has overseen more than 300 civil rights compliance reviews since 2014. Advocates warn that rollbacks will hit low-income and minority communities hardest, particularly in Miami's Liberty City, Jacksonville's Northside and Tampa's East Ybor City - areas already burdened by industrial pollution, poor air quality and climate-driven flooding.
On his first day in office, President Donald Trump moved to dismantle environmental justice offices nationwide and eliminated a long-standing tool for tracking environmental burdens. Hollis warns these changes threaten federal oversight in Florida.
"It's going to affect the ability of communities and advocates and activists to really focus on these specific environmental outcomes that are related to systemic racism. They're place-based, they're based on race, and they're exacerbated by climate change," she continued.
The administration has started dismantling the Department of Justice's Environment and Natural Resources Division, fulfilling Trump's campaign promise to slash government programs.
