Redirection for Environmental Justice

Abstract

AbstractPresident Clinton issued an environmental justice executive order that made each federal agency responsible to promote environmental justice as part of its mission. Generally, this executive order was not substantively implemented. For example, implementation of the executive order by the Clinton administration's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was frustrated by a lack of clear direction and federal court decisions that limited the EPA's approach of using a civil rights statute to challenge state environmental decisions.The Bush administration's EPA reconfirmed that environmental justice is a high agency priority. However, the EPA could be signaling a different approach. This article examines the reasons why implementation of environmental justice stalled at the end of the Clinton administration and the forecast for a significant shift in the EPA's approach.This article discusses how implementation of environmental justice fared at the end of the Clinton administration and during the first year and a half of the Bush administration.1 The Clinton administration left office with expectations unfulfilled. The Bush administration, through Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Christine Todd Whitman, has reconfirmed that environmental justice remains a priority. Administrator Whitman, however, appears to be moving toward a NEPA‐like approach and away from relying on civil rights laws as the primary tool to assess the effects of state environmental decisions on minority and low‐income communities. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.