‘Environmental Justice’ Enforcement Becoming EPA’s Dominant Priority Under Biden: Report

The Supreme Court put the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in its place in a May 25 ruling, circumscribing the reach of the EPA’s regulatory authority. LD/iStock/Getty Images

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) staff and budget are exploding under President Joe Biden as his administration seeks to transform the agency into a nationwide force for “environmental justice,” according to a new oversight analysis by an independent government watchdog.

“‘Environmental justice’ has been an agency priority since the 1990s, but has accelerated under the Biden administration due to new executive orders, a new Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights, and billions of dollars in new funding to direct towards environmental justice-related goals,” according to the analysis compiled by OpenTheBooks.com (OTB).

“Grant spending specifically tagged with the words ‘environmental justice’ went from about $5.6 million in Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 to over $14 million in FY 2022, but Biden administration executive orders have made clear the entire agency must be oriented around environmental justice,” the OTB report said.

“Environmental justice” is related to Critical Race Theory (CRT)-based social, economic, and political analyses that make racial identification the key determinant of outcomes. The agency’s website quotes Professor Robert Bullard saying, “Whether by conscious design or institutional neglect, communities of color in urban ghettos, in rural ‘poverty pockets,’ or on economically impoverished Native-American reservations face some of the worst environmental devastation in the nation.”

Mr. Bullard, who is a Distinguished Professor at Texas Southern University, is known as the “Father of Environmental Justice.” Elsewhere on the EPA website, the agency defines environmental justice as “the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income, with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies.”

Funding From Major Biden Bills

The bulk of the added funding for EPA’s transformation comes from three major Biden administration spending programs, including $100 million under the American Rescue Plan of 2021, $60 billion under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also of 2021, and another $40 billion from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022.

Open the Books is an Illinois-based non-profit educational foundation devoted to “making every dime online in real time.” The government transparency watchdog has filed more than 50,000 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and related requests at all levels of government in recent years seeking to make available to citizens all public spending, including that of federal departments and agencies, as well as all 50 state governments.

The report notes that the agency’s Inspector-General (IG) is warning that a massive infusion of new spending is likely to produce a huge increase in waste and fraud in EPA’s daily operations because so little of the increasing funding is targeted to preventive measures.

“In 2023, the EPA’s own IG said in a congressional hearing that the agency had so much new funding that it could not be properly audited. The $41.5 billion from the Inflation Reduction Act, set to begin spending in fiscal year 2023, did not include any funds for oversight activities. Inspector General Sean O’Donnell said, “Without adequate resources, not only have we been unable to do any meaningful IRA oversight, but we have also had to cancel or postpone work in important EPA areas, such as chemical safety and pollution cleanup,” the report said.

The EPA workforce is also scheduled for rapid expansion under the Biden administration policies.

“The EPA announced a ‘hiring spree’ in 2021, bringing staffing levels to over 15,000 from about 14,700. For FY 2024 the EPA’s budget proposal asks for over 17,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff. Interestingly, the EPA employs 223 public affairs officers, costing taxpayers over $100 million since 2018,” according to the analysis.

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which administers the federal career civil service workforce, uses the FTE as the equivalent of one 40-hour per week position.

Positions within EPA are well-paid, with an average annual salary of $124,252, compared with $90,000 for the entire 2.2 million employees in the federal workforce. The EPA workforce also includes 40 individuals paid Schedule 42 for scientists and other research professionals. The six highest-paid EPA employees are under Schedule 42 and receive $250,000 each annually. Michael Regan, EPA Administrator, receives $183,000 annually.

Rep. Randy Weber (R-Texas) speaks at a press conference, alongside members of the Second Amendment Caucus, outside the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, on March 8, 2022. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Adam Andrzejewski, founder and president of OpenTheBooks.org, told The Epoch Times that report sheds light on an aspect of Biden administration policies that has received little national media coverage.

“The unelected bureaucrats at the EPA aren’t polling the American people when they issue regulations. The most recent example is the unpopular ban on incandescent lightbulbs. Before that, they substantially scaled back the sale of gas-powered vehicles by 2032. After expanding legal and law enforcement power, the EPA is now flexing their regulatory power,” Mr. Andrzejewski said.

Unfortunately, Congress threw them an extra $100 billion aggressively to push forward the Biden administration’s environmental justice agenda. By their own admission, the agency is a central part of Biden’s whole-of-government approach to what he calls environmental justice. But that national media pays too little attention to these developments.” he added.

Republican members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has oversight jurisdiction for EPA, were highly critical in comments to The Epoch Times of the Biden transformation of the agency.

“Why on earth is the EPA beefing up its staff, budget, and armed agents? I am all for the EPA focusing on protecting our environment and working with lawmakers to implement commonsense regulations and laws,” Rep. Randy Weber (R-Texas) said.

“But thanks to House Democrats, now the EPA has billions of taxpayers’ dollars for an ‘environmental justice transition’ with no oversight that will result in more waste and fraud. It is a shame what the EPA has turned into and what the liberals’ craze will do for climate change,” he said.

Similarly, Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-Va.) told The Epoch Times that “this new funding flowing into the EPA, and the Inspector General’s inability to properly audit said funding, is alarming. We must exercise proper oversight to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse of American taxpayer money.”

None of the Democrats on the energy and commerce panel contacted by The Epoch Times responded to a request for comment on the OpenTheBooks.com analysis. An EPA spokesman could not be reached for comment.