Casten, Lee, Barragán, McClellan, Lead 100+ Colleagues Demanding EPA Restore Environmental Justice Offices
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Representatives Sean Casten (IL-06), Summer Lee (PA-12), Nanette Barragán (CA-44), and Jennifer McClellan (VA-04) led more than 100 colleagues in sending a letter to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin demanding the reversal of the agency’s recently announced decision to eliminate all EPA regional environmental justice offices and programs. The lawmakers urged the EPA to reinstate these critical offices, emphasizing that their closure disproportionately harms low-income communities, communities of color, and rural areas by stripping away essential resources, technical assistance, and legal protections against environmental pollution.
“EPA’s regional environmental justice offices were established to ensure Americans in every community receive equal protection under the law,” the lawmakers wrote. “This action would cause extraordinary and disproportionate harm and constitute a complete dereliction of the EPA’s statutory responsibility to protect human health and the environment.”
The letter highlights the historical significance and critical role these offices have played over the past three decades in providing resources and support to frontline communities fighting environmental hazards.
“For generations, historically disadvantaged communities such as low-income, rural, and communities of color have been systematically exposed to hazardous waste, industrial pollution, and toxic emissions—not by accident, but through deliberate and discriminatory policies,” the letter continues. “Without EPA’s environmental justice offices, the agency will have limited ability to prevent disadvantaged communities from shouldering the greatest pollution burden, track environmental health disparities, or enforce civil rights protections.”
The lawmakers concluded their letter by demanding “the immediate restoration of the EPA’s environmental justice offices and programs, along with a firm recommitment to the agency’s founding purpose.”
In addition to Reps. Casten, Lee, Barragán, and McClellan the letter was signed by Reps. Gabe Amo, Yassamin Ansari, Becca Balint, Joyce Beatty, Wesley Bell, Donald Beyer, Suzanne Bonamici, Julia Brownley, Shontel Brown, Salud Carbajal, André Carson, Troy Carter, Kathy Castor, Judy Chu, Yvette Clarke, Emanuel Cleaver, Steve Cohen, Gerald Connolly, Jasmine Crockett, Danny Davis, Madeleine Dean, Diana DeGette, Mark DeSaulnier, Maxine Dexter, Lloyd Doggett, Sarah Elfreth, Veronica Escobar, Adriano Espaillat, Dwight Evans, Bill Foster, Valerie Foushee, Laura Friedman, Maxwell Frost, John Garamendi, Jesús García, Robert Garcia, Daniel Goldman, Jimmy Gomez, Al Green, Steven Horsford, Jared Huffman, Jonathan Jackson, Sara Jacobs, Pramila Jayapal, Henry Johnson, Sydney Kamlager-Dove, Robin Kelly, Timothy Kennedy, Ro Khanna, Raja Krishnamoorthi, George Latimer, Mike Levin, Stephen Lynch, Seth Magaziner, Lucy McBath, Betty McCollum, James McGovern, LaMonica McIver, Robert Menendez, Grace Meng, Kweisi Mfume, Gwen Moore, Seth Moulton, Kevin Mullin, Jerrold Nadler, Eleanor Norton, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Johnny Olszewski, Ilhan Omar, Chellie Pingree, Mark Pocan, Ayanna Pressley, Mike Quigley, Delia Ramirez, Luz Rivas, Raul Ruiz, Andrea Salinas, Linda Sánchez, Mary Gay Scanlon, Janice Schakowsky, Hillary Scholten, Robert Scott, Terri Sewell, Lateefah Simon, Adam Smith, Eric Sorensen, Melanie Stansbury, Haley Stevens, Eric Swalwell, Mark Takano, Shri Thanedar, Bennie Thompson, Dina Titus, Rashida Tlaib, Jill Tokuda, Paul Tonko, Norma Torres, Ritchie Torres, Juan Vargas, Nydia Velázquez, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Maxine Waters, Bonnie Watson Coleman, Nikema Williams, and Frederica Wilson.
Endorsements: WE ACT for Environmental Justice, Sierra Club, Earthjustice, Climate Action Campaign, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Union of Concerned Scientists, Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), National Wildlife Federation (NWF).
A COPY OF THE LETTER CAN BE FOUND HERE.