Environmental advocates will monitor funding

Abstract

“I think 2023 will be a very busy year,” says Robert Bullard, director of the Bullard Center for Environmental and Climate Justice. “Busy from the standpoint of building on some of the wins that we were able to achieve in 2022, particularly as it relates to getting environmental and climate justice integrated into federal policy, and making sure resources and funding follow those priorities.” Bullard, Distinguished Professor of Urban Planning and Environmental Policy at Texas Southern University, notes that federal funds and programs from President Joe Biden’s administration amount to a level of support that the environmental justice movement has never seen before. The $369 billion Climate Bill, part of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, for example, commits $60 billion to establishing grants and funding clean energy and environmental mitigation projects in disadvantaged communities. More broadly, the Biden administration has committed to channeling 40% of the benefits of relevant