Biden orders tougher reviews for projects in pollution-scarred areas

President Joe Biden is tightening up environmental approvals for new projects that would add pollution to communities that are already suffering from health threats from their air and water, according to an executive order being issued Friday.

Biden’s new order will direct federal agencies on how to work with communities early in project development timelines and improve data to consider the “cumulative impacts” of environmental and health stressors of an area when weighing new proposals that could affect where to site infrastructure like pipelines, waste incinerators, chemical processing facilities and highways. The moves deliver long-sought wins for residents in “environmental justice” communities that bear disproportionate environmental and health burdens.

By instructing agencies to research and incorporate new data on those cumulative impacts and involving communities early in the process, Biden marries two of the “four historic crises” he identified on the campaign trail in 2020: Climate change and racial inequality. A majority of people who face outsized health and climate vulnerabilities from concentrated pollution sources are people of color and low-income households.

The order comes as the Biden administration attempts to strike a contrast with House Republicans, who are pushing a slate of provisions that would put deadlines on environmental reviews for energy infrastructure projects, expand oil and gas drilling and exports and slash chunks of clean energy tax credits from the Inflation Reduction Act, Democrats’ massive climate legislation.

The White House and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in recent days have sniped at each other over negotiations to lift United States borrowing limits, a standoff that could have major implications for the U.S. and global economy. McCarthy on Wednesday proposed passing his caucus’ energy bill, H.R. 1 (118), in exchange for a one-year debt ceiling increase, with Democrats accusing Republicans of turning what had once been a fairly routine procedural vote into a hostage taking.

“Speaker McCarthy and his extreme caucus’ proposals, including H.R. 1, would be a climate and health disaster that President Biden won’t allow on his watch,” a White House official said in a statement.

Biden will announce the actions Friday at a Rose Garden event with environmental justice leaders.

Biden has pledged that at least 40 percent of clean energy and climate benefits will flow to environmental justice communities to correct historical systemic inequalities and underinvestment in communities of color and low-income areas. Republicans have proposed cutting one of his administration’s signature programs for driving clean energy investment to poorer communities — a $27 billion green bank created by the IRA.

While his administration set lofty goals, many environmental justice advocates have also criticized the White House. They have accused the Biden administration of not properly staffing its environmental justice initiatives, and have sought more transparent accounting of how the administration is reaching its 40-percent goal. And they have slammed subsidies for carbon capture and hydrogen power in the IRA as well as the bipartisan infrastructure law.

Friday’s actions, however, address a key concern for the environmental justice movement, as asking agencies to consider the totality of already present pollution and health risks has been a pillar of its agenda since its infancy.

That push took on increased attention in recent years in Congress. Getting the federal government to more seriously assess the cumulative impacts was also the primary goal for the late Rep. Donald McEachin (D-Va.), an early Biden supporter whose input shaped the then-candidate’s platform on environmental justice. McEachin sponsored the Environmental Justice For All Act, H.R. 1705 (118) — which now bears his name — along with House Natural Resources Committee ranking member Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.), which would require agencies to consider cumulative impacts.

The moves announced Friday also answer other concerns environmental justice activists wanted the White House to address.

The order creates a White House Office of Environmental Justice to coordinate and implement environmental justice across the federal government — a White House fact sheet did not specify how many people will work for it. The office will be housed inside the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

The Biden administration will also unveil an scorecard to evaluate agencies’ environmental justice progress and detailed new programs at the Commerce Department, National Science Foundation and NASA that qualify for Biden’s commitment to send 40 percent of benefits to disadvantaged communities.