EPA Administrator Regan Announces Bold Actions to Protect Communities Following the Journey to Justice Tour

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    Initial set of steps includes multiple actions to protect public health and community specific deliverables

    WASHINGTON (Jan. 26, 2022) – Following through on his commitment to action during his Journey to Justice Tour, US Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael S. Regan announced today the first in a series of actions responding directly to concerns of communities historically and disproportionately impacted by pollution. The actions, which range from policy changes to community-driven efforts, reflect Administrator Regan’s commitment to deliver environmental justice and work towards building a better America, and are part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s whole-of-government approach to addressing these issues in communities that are marginalized, underserved, and overburdened by pollution.

    “In every community I visited during the Journey to Justice tour, the message was clear – residents have suffered far too long and local, state, and federal agencies have to do better,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. “The pollution concerns have been impacting these communities for decades. Our actions will begin to help not only the communities I visited on this tour, but also others across the country who have suffered from environmental injustices.”

    In response to concerns from residents in overburdened neighborhoods, EPA is announcing specific actions in each of the areas that he visited on the tour. In addition, EPA is outlining a series of broad policy actions including:

    • Committing EPA to aggressively use its authority to conduct unannounced inspections of suspected non-compliant facilities, as needed to protect public health. When facilities are found to be non-compliant, EPA will use all available tools to hold them accountable.
    • Deploying a new program to expand air monitoring capacity, utilizing assets such as the ASPECT airplane, GMAP mobile air monitoring vehicle, and additional air pollution inspectors to enhance enforcement.
    • Mobilizing agency resources to invest in community air monitoring to better protect people and public health in vulnerable areas.
    • Pressing state and local elected officials to take urgent action to better protect the most overburdened communities.
    • Holding companies more accountable for their actions in overburdened communities with increased monitoring and oversight of polluting facilities.
    • Applying best available science to agency policymaking to safeguard public health and protect the environment.

    In addition to these policy changes, the Administrator has directed his team to work on several steps to address specific community concerns.

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    1. Although the original Executive Order the set up Environmental Justice as an issue clearly was wider than what the EPA has interpreted it to be, Areas that have significant environmental Justice issues like SW Indiana and the enormous toxic pollution burden we experience, are usually left out of the discussion because of the relative low demographic of indigenous and blacks. Valley Watch has tried for years to alter the perception that minorities are the only people impacted by environmental justice issues but have yet to succeed.

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