A coalition of NYC Black Lives Matter activists and environmental justice groups marched on the 51st anniversary of the assassination of Malcolm X to demand justice for the people of Flint, Mich., in 2021. On Tuesday, the Health and Human Services secretary said environmental justice “requires our focused attention.” Erik McGregor /Getty Images
HHS Launches an Environmental Justice Office
Environmental justice is a cornerstone policy of the Biden administration.
Environmental justice is one of the Biden administration’s main priorities and now the Health and Human Services Department has an office focused solely on that.
The office will be housed within the Office of Climate Change and Health Equity – which was created by executive order – at the department. The interim director is Sharunda Buchanan, who was most recently a senior advisor in HHS’s environmental justice unit and previously spent over 30 years at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"The blunt truth is that many communities across our nation – particularly low-income communities and communities of color – continue to bear the brunt of pollution from industrial development, poor land use decisions, transportation, and trade corridors,” HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement on Tuesday. “Meeting the needs of these communities requires our focused attention. That’s why HHS is establishing the Office of Environmental Justice.”
The new office will lead initiatives to incorporate environmental justice into HHS’s mission; create and implement an HHS-wide strategy on environmental justice and health; coordinate HHS’s annual environmental justice reports; advise HHS’ Office of Civil Rights on environmental justice; and promote training to establish an environmental justice workforce.
Similarly, last month the Justice Department launched its own Office of Environmental Justice. Other agencies with “new or strengthened” offices focused on environmental justice and making change in communities include the Agriculture Department and Environmental Protection Agency, as identified by the White House.
“Since taking office, President Biden has set the most ambitious environmental justice agenda in history,” such as by “securing historic and long overdue investments, implementing the Justice40 commitment to deliver 40% of the overall benefits of certain federal investments to disadvantaged communities, and creating new offices,” the announcement from HHS stated.
The Office of Climate Change and Health Equity, established in September, is still unfunded, so like its parent office, has staff on detail from other parts of HHS, Politico reported. The administration asked for $3 million in initial funding, but Congress nixed it from the fiscal 2022 budget and then the administration requested it again in its fiscal 2023 budget proposal, said the report.