HTML PLAIN TEXT COPY <h1>The White House wants to fix environmental racism without mentioning race</h1> <p> <em>"This story was originally published by <a href="https://grist.org" title="Grist">Grist</a>. Sign up for Grist's <a href="https://go.grist.org/signup/weekly/partner?utm_campaign=republish-content&utm_medium=syndication&utm_source=partner" title="Weekly newsletter">weekly newsletter here</a>."</em> </p> <p><em>Keith Hirokawa is associate dean of research and scholarship at Albany Law School, and Rachel Patterson is policy lead at Evergreen Action.</em></p> <hr class="wp-block-separator"/> <p class="has-drop-cap">On the campaign trail in 2020, Joe Biden promised that his administration would direct 40 percent of the benefits from climate- and clean energy-related investments toward communities that have been historically marginalized and overburdened by pollution. This promise led to<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/27/executive-order-on-tackling-the-climate-crisis-at-home-and-abroad/"> </a>the <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/27/executive-order-on-tackling-the-climate-crisis-at-home-and-abroad/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Justice40 initiative</a>. To implement it, the Council on Environmental Quality developed the <a href="https://screeningtool.geoplatform.gov/en/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool</a>, which maps disadvantaged neighborhoods based on pollution factors like proximity to toxic waste sites and socio-economic factors like income. But the tool has a glaring flaw: It intentionally omits race from the list of considerations.</p> <p>The Council is soliciting feedback on the draft screening tool through April 25 and will consider comments as it develops the final version — which means there’s still time to <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2022/02/23/2022-03920/climate-and-economic-justice-screening-tool-beta-version" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tell the Biden</a> administration to change course.</p> <p><a href="https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML1310/ML13109A339.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">We’ve known for decades</a> that racism is inextricably linked to environmental inequities due to racially motivated land-use patterns that relegate communities of color to polluted areas, while wealthier and whiter communities enjoy cleaner, healthier environments. Zoning decisions, <a href="https://grist.org/accountability/redlined-neighborhoods-pollution/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">redlining</a>, “<a href="https://justice.tougaloo.edu/sundown-towns/using-the-sundown-towns-database/state-map/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">sundown towns</a>,” and “revitalization” efforts such as “urban blight removal” — often coded language for “Black removal” — have resulted in pollution exposure that <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abf4491" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">disproportionately affects people of color</a>. Today, Black Americans are <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2017/11/study-black-people-are-75-percent-more-likely-to-live-near-toxic-oil-and-gas-facilities/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">75 percent more likely</a> to live near toxic facilities than white Americans.</p> <p>But indicators like proximity to pollution, income, educational attainment, and housing expenses are not a substitute for race in measuring environmental burden. While these indicators are important and belong in the screening tool, the omission of race discounts the impacts faced by middle- or high-income people of color, who still <a href="https://www.epa.gov/sciencematters/study-finds-exposure-air-pollution-higher-people-color-regardless-region-or-income" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">experience pollution at greater rates</a> than their white counterparts. </p> <p>In other words, a median-income white household is statistically more likely to breathe cleaner air and live in a nontoxic neighborhood than a median-income Black household. Without including race, these Black and brown communities might not be counted as disadvantaged under the screening tool.</p> <div class="wp-block-in-article-recirc"> <article class="in-article-recirc"> <span class="in-article-recirc__label">Read more on environmental justice</span> <div class="in-article-recirc__content"> <a class="in-article-recirc__art" href="https://grist.org/fix/opinion/epa-chemical-disaster-rule-frontline-communities-toxic-neighbors/"> <figure> <img src="https://grist.org/fix/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2022/01/Voices_EPA.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" alt="Aerial shot of oil refinery in Ohio" class="js-modal-gallery__hidden" srcset="https://grist.org/fix/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2022/01/Voices_EPA.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 1600w, https://grist.org/fix/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2022/01/Voices_EPA.jpg?resize=300%2C169&quality=75&strip=all 300w, https://grist.org/fix/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2022/01/Voices_EPA.jpg?resize=768%2C432&quality=75&strip=all 768w, https://grist.org/fix/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2022/01/Voices_EPA.jpg?resize=1024%2C576&quality=75&strip=all 1024w, https://grist.org/fix/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2022/01/Voices_EPA.jpg?resize=1536%2C864&quality=75&strip=all 1536w, https://grist.org/fix/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2022/01/Voices_EPA.jpg?resize=160%2C90&quality=75&strip=all 160w, https://grist.org/fix/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2022/01/Voices_EPA.jpg?resize=150%2C84&quality=75&strip=all 150w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" height="900" width="1600" loading="lazy" decoding="async"> </figure> </a> <div class="in-article-recirc__body"> <div class="in-article-recirc__title"> <a class="in-article-recirc__title-link" href="https://grist.org/fix/opinion/epa-chemical-disaster-rule-frontline-communities-toxic-neighbors/">Strengthening this one rule could keep frontline communities safe from their toxic neighbors</a> </div> <div class="in-article-recirc__meta"> <div class="tease-meta"> <a class="byline-link" href=https://grist.org/fix/author/attica-scott-and-larry-lambert/>Attica Scott and Larry Lambert</a> </div> </div> </div> </div> </article> </div> <p>A <a href="https://grist.org/equity/climate-and-economic-justice-screening-tool-race/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">recent analysis by Grist</a> shows how if a community is low-income but not low-income <em>enough, </em>it might not be considered disadvantaged even if it lives with high pollution exposure. This means that two communities with equal pollution exposure could be treated differently if one of them has a higher income than the other.</p> <p>The Biden administration <a href="https://www.eenews.net/articles/missing-from-white-house-ej-screening-tool-race/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">has explained the omission</a> of race as a legal strategy, stating that the Justice40 Initiative must be able to stand up in court. Presumably, it fears the recent attacks on affirmative action programs <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/01/supreme-court-affirmative-action-republican-policy.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">by conservative judges</a>. Yet the administration is kidding itself if it thinks a “race-neutral” alternative can reverse the impacts historic racism has had on communities of color. Legally, if race is not an explicit decision-making factor written into the policy, it cannot be used to assess who should receive the benefits. The screening tool is our only shot. Otherwise, administrators of programs will have to ignore race when giving out investments.</p> <p>By refusing to name the root cause of economic, social, and environmental disparities, the Council on Environmental Quality has produced a fundamentally inaccurate and functionally limited tool.</p> <p>Following the tool’s release in February, leaders in the environmental justice movement, including members of Biden’s own <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/04/13/environmental-justice-leaders-fault-white-house-race-neutral-approach/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Environmental Justice Advisory Council</a>, have denounced the omission. This backlash from those within the very communities the tool is intended to serve provides a clear signal: Voters who elected President Biden on his promise to pursue the “<a href="https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/joe-biden-barack-obama-campaign-event-speech-transcript-flint-mi-october-31" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">most ambitious environmental justice agenda ever</a>” won’t be satisfied with the current plan.</p> <p>To live up to the president’s commitment to begin rectifying decades of environmental racism, the screening tool must include race as a factor for identifying affected communities, and the Council should release it by the end of the year. This will strengthen the tool’s effectiveness and allow the Justice40 Initiative to fulfill its true potential by prioritizing communities that have experienced the greatest environmental harms.</p> <p><a href="https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/toxic-wastes-and-race-at-twenty-1987-2007.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Historic racialized oppression</a> is why communities of color continue to suffer the most from pollution and displacement. Ignoring this suggests the administration is willing to hamstring its signature environmental justice initiative and portends that Justice40 will fail to achieve its goal of sending greater investments where they are needed the most.</p> <p>In his victory speech, President Biden said, “The African American community stood up again for me. They always have my back, and I’ll have yours.” <a href="https://apnews.com/article/election-2020-joe-biden-race-and-ethnicity-virus-outbreak-georgia-7a843bbce00713cfde6c3fdbc2e31eb7" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Black Americans delivered</a> President Biden the White House. Now, he must deliver the basic rights of clean air, clean water, and nontoxic land to Black Americans — and all who live with pollution. Let’s tell him so.</p> <p><em>The views expressed here reflect those of the authors. </em></p> <p><em>Fix is committed to publishing a diversity of voices, and we want to hear from you. Got a bold idea, fresh perspective, or insightful news analysis? Send a draft, along with a note about who you are, to </em><a href="mailto:opinions@grist.org" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>opinions@grist.org</em></a><em>.</em></p> <hr class="wp-block-separator"/> <p><em><strong>Correction: </strong>An earlier version of this article misstated how the screening tool assesses income. It’s been updated to better reflect how it defines disadvantaged communities and distributes funds.</em></p> <p>This article originally appeared in <a href="https://grist.org/">Grist</a> at <a href="https://grist.org/fix/opinion/justice-40-screening-tool-environmental-racism/">https://grist.org/fix/opinion/justice-40-screening-tool-environmental-racism/</a>.</p> <link href="https://grist.org/fix/opinion/justice-40-screening-tool-environmental-racism/" rel="canonical"/> <p>Grist is a nonprofit, independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future. Learn more at <a href="https://grist.org/">Grist.org</a></p> <script id="grist-syndication-pixel" async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id=" data-source="repub" data-canonical="https://grist.org/fix/opinion/justice-40-screening-tool-environmental-racism/" data-title="The White House wants to fix environmental racism without mentioning race" crossorigin="anonymous"/>