FEDERAL POLICY OFFICE

Harlem-based WE ACT for Environmental Justice established an office in Washington, DC in 2012 to advance the federal policy needs and interests of its Northern Manhattan community. Our Federal Policy office works with lawmakers, agencies, and other organizations to advocate on behalf of environmental justice legislation and policies.

WE ACT has a long track-record of successfully impacting federal legislation over the years, as well as working to advance the cause of the environmental justice movement at the national level. See our Federal impacts here, and some highlights below.

HIGHLIGHTS

1991: Participated in the first National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit, helping create the Principles of Environmental Justice.

1994: Participated in the signing ceremony of the President’s Executive Order 12898, to focus federal attention on the environmental and human health effects of federal actions on minority and low-income populations with the goal of achieving environmental protection for all communities.

1994: Participated in the ground-breaking National Institute of Environmental Health meeting in Crystal City, VA that launched community/university partnership grants.

1996: Worked with the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to conduct the first assessment of Northern Manhattan’s air quality, revealing that harmful particulates were more than 200% higher than the air quality standards.

2001: Participated in a national review panel on the second edition of EPA’s major report, America’s Children and the Environment.

2002: Organized a national conference on the ethical and social implications of genetics research in communities of color, which drew 400 participants.

2008: Established the Environmental Justice Leadership Forum to strengthen the capacity of environmental justice organizations to address and impact climate and energy policy at the national level.

2009: Hosted the first two-day national conference on climate justice which was attended by more than 400 participants.

2012: Established Federal Policy office in Washington, DC.

2012: Campaigned to support the EPA’s more stringent “Soot Rule,” which regulates particulate pollution (the PM 2.5 Standard).

2015: Worked to get the EPA to issue guidance on incorporating environmental justice into the Clean Power Plan.

2016: As part of the Safer Chemicals, Healthy Family coalition, participated in the reform of the Toxic Substances Control Act, the Nation’s primary chemicals management law, which resulted in the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act.

2017: Brought more than 160 community members to the 2017 People’s Climate March in Washington, DC.

2017: Published Unequal Air and Care: Federal Impact on Pediatric Asthma Disparities in 4 U.S. Cities, an in-depth report, which draws on community-based research in four states to provide concrete recommendations and call for strengthening of the 2010 Coordinated Federal Action Plan to Reduce Racial and Ethnic Asthma Disparities.

2017: With the Environmental Justice Leadership Forum, published the Cleaner Air, Cleaner Communities: 6 Steps to Develop Environmentally Just State Implementation Plans, a step-by-step resource to integrate environmental justice considerations into State Implementation Plans of the Federal Clean Air Act.

2020: Released the Green Jobs Report: Creating a Green Workforce, Community-Based Solutions for a Diverse Green Jobs Sector, with the Environmental Justice Leadership Forum. This groundbreaking report outlined imperatives for bringing underrepresented groups into climate change work and the clean energy economy, and offers policy and best practice prescriptives for closing diversity gaps in the renewable energy industry.

2022: WE ACT partnered with the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice and the Bullard Center for Environmental and Climate Justice to co-host the first-ever Climate Justice Pavilion inside the Blue Zone at COP27, the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference, in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. The pavilion brought together and provided a platform for representatives from the Global South, the U.S. Environmental Justice Movement, and Indigenous peoples to spotlight the voices of communities disproportionately impacted by climate change.

2023:  WE ACT for Environmental Justice launched the Justice40rward Campaign. This initiative educates communities about funding opportunities from the IRA, spanning sectors from clean energy to housing and pollution control. We’ve taken this campaign on the road, with tours across the nation in places such as Kansas, Michigan, Alaska, Texas, and New York. We’ve also hosted webinars with leaders such as U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Dr. Henry McCord with the U.S. Department of Energy, and Senator Markey (D-MA). These events fostered conversations about accessing the available investments in communities at the forefront of climate impacts and the cumulative impacts of pollution. Additionally, an in-depth analysis of Justice40 mapping tools led to briefings with the Council on Environmental Quality and the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council, resulting in updated guidance for federal agencies.

The WE ACT Federal Policy Office also collaborated with key Congressional offices to support the reintroduction of the A. Donald McEachin Environmental Justice for All Act. To further advance environmental justice at the state level, WE ACT partnered with Columbia Law School’s Sabin Center for Climate Change Law to launch Dismantling Injustice: M.O.D.E.L., a suite of model environmental justice bills for local and state legislators.

2024: The Federal Policy Office is actively advocating for environmental justice to be integrated into U.S. energy policies to protect frontline communities and combat discriminatory practices that harm the health, livelihoods, and dignity of environmental justice communities. WE ACT opposes the permitting of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminals, both existing and planned, due to their role in causing numerous premature deaths. Through the collective efforts of the Environmental Justice Leadership Forum and Clean Air For The Long Haul, the Wrong Direction Campaign and Dare To Breathe Campaign were launched to highlight how U.S. energy policies disproportionately harm Black, Brown, Indigenous, and low-income communities. These campaigns have been mentioned in congressional hearings, eventually leading to the Biden administration pausing the permitting of new LNG projects.