Duckworth, Booker Join Colleagues in Introducing Legislation to Codify DOJ’s Office of Environmental Justice
[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – U.S. Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Cory Booker (D-NJ)—founding co-chairs of the Senate’s first-ever Environmental Justice Caucus—joined U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-CA) and other Senate colleagues in introducing bicameral legislation to permanently codify the Office of Environmental Justice within the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD). The introduction of the Empowering and Enforcing Environmental Justice Act comes after Attorney General Pam Bondi’s recent order eliminating all environmental justice efforts at the DOJ on her first day as Attorney General.
“The Trump Administration seems determined to undermine the protections aimed at helping every American—no matter their zip code—to be able to breathe safe air, drink clean water and live, work and play on uncontaminated land,” said Senator Duckworth. “Our bill would help ensure the Justice Department holds polluters accountable and fulfills its promise to serve all Americans, including those in communities who have been hit hardest by environmental injustice and are suffering from severe health consequences.”
The Empowering and Enforcing Environmental Justice Act would strengthen efforts at the Department of Justice to enforce environmental laws, hold polluters accountable and support state and local environmental enforcement capacity. The legislation would also authorize $50 million in annual grant funding to assist state and local governments with their own environmental enforcement efforts.
A copy of the bill text can be found on Senator Duckworth’s website.
As co-chair and co-founder of the U.S. Senate Environmental Justice Caucus, Duckworth has been a strong advocate for bringing environmental justice to Illinois and across the country. Her Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Act (DWWIA), which was included in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, is the most significant federal investment in water infrastructure in history, including $15 billion for national lead pipe replacement. DWWIA, which focuses on disadvantaged communities, is helping rebuild our nation’s crumbling and dangerous water infrastructure and enable communities to repair and modernize their failing wastewater systems, with many of the provisions to help low-income communities designed specifically for communities like Chicago, Cahokia Heights and East St. Louis. Duckworth also led the reintroduction of the A. Donald McEachin Environmental Justice For All Act—the most comprehensive environmental justice legislation in history—which would help achieve health equity and climate justice for all, particularly in underserved communities and communities of color that have long been disproportionately harmed by environmental injustices and toxic pollutants.
Duckworth has consistently worked to bring attention to the environmental injustice, calling on EPA to conduct enhanced monitoring and enforcement in the Metro East, requesting a formal public health assessment by ATSDR on the impact of decades of flooding in Cahokia Heights, as well as ATSDR health assessments for several other communities like Sauget, Southside Chicago and Lake Couty. Duckworth has frequently met with residents to discuss the persistent inland flooding and environmental justice issues the community faces, including leading a federal delegation tour of the area. In Sauget, Duckworth has made multiple requests for air monitoring in the area and secured EPA enhanced air monitoring in 2021. She has also helped secure multiple funding streams for environmental justice across the state of Illinois and the country, such as the $3 billion in Environmental Justice grants under the Biden Administration and several Congressionally-directed grants.
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