Overview:
- The Trump administration has announced its most damaging attacks on the environmental justice movement yet, including the EPA's decision to shutter its offices related to addressing "high levels of pollution impacting poor communities" and rolling back 31 landmark water, air, and climate regulations.
- This move threatens the health and safety of all Michiganders, not just Black, brown, and poor communities, and will likely make it harder for families to access clean air and water.
- The EPA is also targeting climate organizations, including those supporting frontline communities, and has announced plans to cancel $20 billion in climate grants.
The Trump administration recently announced its most damaging attacks on the environmental justice movement yet. The Environmental Protection Agency will shutter its offices related to addressing “high levels of pollution impacting poor communities.”
These closures are a direct move to comply with Trump’s rampage against DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion). Coming on top of action to roll back 31 landmark water, air, and climate regulations, this news is devastating for Michiganders who have long been struggling for access to clean air and water.
Even if current regulations were left intact, we would still have multiple crisis-level challenges in communities across our state. These rollbacks, office closures, and layoffs would move us backward, increasing threats to our health and safety.
Reading about the gutting of EPA programs, I couldn’t help but think of Benton Harbor. Families of the majority-Black community had been living with extreme levels of lead in their water for years, first documented in 2018. It took three years for the EPA to step in and conduct a study on water filters. It wasn’t until 2023, five years after detection, that the EPA confirmed that the city met safe water requirements after replacing lead service lines.
This crisis — following on the heels of Flint — happened despite our state having one of the strongest Lead and Cooper Rules in the nation. Response times to similar crises in the future will undoubtedly be worse. Exposing families to hazardous pollutants for even longer periods of time is unacceptable.
Another threat under the purview of federal EPA rules are PFAS, known as “forever chemicals,” which have been linked to everything from cancer to reproductive issues. These toxic chemicals have been in our state’s water for years and are a major problem facing Ann Arbor communities today. How much longer will these families be subjected to contaminated water with deregulations and zero federal staff in place to respond?
The Administration is also targeting climate organizations, especially ones supporting frontline communities. The EPA announced plans to cancel $20 billion in climate grants, claiming these funds approved by Congress to protect climate-impacted communities are “fraud, waste, and abuse.” Grants for non-profits working to address climate change and support a transition to clean energy have also been frozen.
In recent years, Michigan has seen a number of devastating flooding events and inclement weather conditions due to climate change. The threat of withholding federal funds jeopardizes the ability of community-based organizations to implement long-term plans to combat environmental pollution.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has suggested environmental justice is “forced discrimination” by “prescrib[ing] race-conscious decision-making.” But here’s the thing — environmental justice isn’t just about Black, brown, and poor folks, despite the disproportionate environmental impacts on their communities. Environmental justice is about protecting the public health and well-being of all Americans.
The country may be politically divided, but the Trump Administration’s moves may threaten all of us. Regardless of race, or whether you live in a rural or urban area, attacks on environmental protections will affect you. All Michiganders deserve a safe and clean environment. We deserve to step outside knowing we are breathing fresh air. We deserve to fill our glasses with clean water. Our children deserve to ride in clean-energy school buses that don’t worsen asthma.
Without staff and programs to monitor air and water quality, provide emergency response to events like flooding and wildfires, and act when polluters violate the law, our health and safety are at risk. Contact your elected representatives. Urge them to fight to keep environmental protections in place. Our future depends on it.
Planet Detroit’s Voices column includes opinion pieces from our community of partners and readers. These pieces express the voices of the authors and not necessarily those of the publication.
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