{"id":5727,"date":"2025-11-07T10:19:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T15:19:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/weact.org\/?post_type=update&p=5727"},"modified":"2026-02-16T21:17:46","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T02:17:46","slug":"environmental-justice-organizations-from-across-u-s-to-the-hill-we-will-not-be-shutdown","status":"publish","type":"update","link":"https:\/\/weact.org\/es\/updates\/environmental-justice-organizations-from-across-u-s-to-the-hill-we-will-not-be-shutdown\/","title":{"rendered":"Environmental Justice Organizations From Across U.S. to the Hill: We Will Not Be Shutdown"},"template":"","class_list":["post-5727","update","type-update","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","update_type-press-release","focus_tax-civic-engagement","focus_tax-climate-justice","focus_tax-environmental-health","focus_tax-movement-building","person_tax-albert-aj-yuan"],"acf":{"details":{"":null,"featured_image":5221,"update_type":[366],"focus_area":[8,6,4,11],"authors":[210],"abstract":""},"page_layout":[{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_hero_links","acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_hero_links":{"title":"","abstract":"","links":null}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_wysiwyg":{"content":"\u201cWe will not stop fighting for our basic human rights to clean air, clean water, and healthy environments\u201d <\/span><\/i>\r\n\r\nFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<\/b>\r\n<\/span>November 7, 2025<\/span>\r\n<\/span>Contact: Ashley Sullivan, ashley.sullivan@weact.org, 1-917-837-1183<\/span>\r\n\r\nWASHINGTON <\/b>- This week, nearly 30 leaders from dozens of environmental justice and Indigenous organizations went to Capitol Hill to advocate for the needs of their communities as part of the <\/span>Environmental Justice Leadership Forum (EJLF)<\/span><\/a>, hosted by <\/span>WE ACT for Environmental Justice<\/span><\/a>, in coordination with <\/span>Climate Justice Alliance<\/span><\/a>. The leaders from Illinois to North Carolina and beyond collectively represent hundreds of thousands of people demanding accountability for the largest environmental and public health rollbacks in modern history, calling for allyship from their Congressional representatives on advancing key legislation including the forthcoming iteration of the <\/span>Environmental Justice for All Act<\/span><\/a>. Constituents from red and blue states made their message clear: Environmental justice policies benefit everyone and we will continue to protect our communities. We won\u2019t accept the regressive, dangerous actions of this administration, and ask you to stand up for a safe, healthy, more affordable future for all.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nTogether, the leaders shared community stories, providing the data and lived experiences of continuing and growing disproportionate impacts from pollution and the climate crisis, solutions to local issues, along with Federal level policy recommendations. As the Trump administration has been one of the <\/span>most actively hostile towards environmental justice<\/span><\/a> the nation has ever seen, leaders vocalized the reality on the ground such as that <\/span>nearly half of Americans, including almost 60% of people of color, face failing air quality.<\/span><\/a> EJLF members also shared the vital need to reverse the gutting of hard-earned EPA protections like <\/span>the foundational Endangerment Finding<\/span><\/a> regulating climate and vehicle pollution, as well as <\/span>critical community funding that was unlawfully terminated<\/span><\/a> - <\/span>including $29 billion in EPA grants<\/span><\/a>. The meetings emphasized the intentional and prejudiced disregard by this administration for communities of color and low-income who historically and currently bear the brunt of disinvestment, toxic pollution, and increasingly deadly climate-driven disasters.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n
\u201c<\/span><\/i>The environmental justice leaders who traveled from all across our country to advocate to their direct representatives here in D.C. demonstrate that the environmental justice movement will not stop fighting for our basic human rights to clean air, clean water, and healthy environments,\u201d shared Albert \u201cAJ\u201d Yuan, Legislative Coordinator at WE ACT for Environmental Justice. \u201cWe will not stop holding our elected officials accountable for their policy decisions that directly impact our neighborhoods. It is critical - now more than ever in this political moment - that our representatives in Congress stand up for overburdened communities and protect the crucial bedrock environmental laws that protect our public health and safety.\u201d<\/span><\/blockquote>\r\nWith solutions and positive examples in hand, EJLF groups shared stories of their local advancements such as city level <\/span>cumulative impacts laws<\/span><\/a> that would address the multiple sources of pollution environmental justice communities often face. Likewise, groups shared the long overdue need to pass community-led Federal legislation - primarily the Environmental Justice for All Act - which would move forward cumulative impacts assessments, while also expanding Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to ensure that federally funded programs do not cause disparate impacts on the basis of race, color, or national origin.<\/span>\r\n
\u201cIn a time when powerful lobbyists and deep-pocketed interests are working to dismantle the very protections our communities rely on, we are holding the line. Our lives\u2014and our children\u2019s future\u2014are at stake. This week\u2019s advocacy days showed what\u2019s possible when environmental justice leaders from our alliance in Kentucky, Mississippi, Arizona and Washington D.C., including our partners at the Environmental Justice Leadership Forum (EJLF) come together with congressional champions to defend our rights, demand accountability, and push for the funding our communities deserve. We\u2019re deeply grateful to the congressional offices and committees that continue to listen, stand with frontline communities, and act with courage in the face of mounting pressure,\u201d said Mar Zepeda Salazar, Legislative Director at Climate Justice Alliance.<\/span><\/blockquote>\r\nThe EJLF Advocacy Day was generously supported by Earthjustice.<\/a><\/strong><\/em>\r\n\r\n \r\n

# # #<\/span><\/p>\r\nAbout WE ACT for Environmental Justice\r\n<\/b>WE ACT for Environmental Justice is a Northern Manhattan-based, membership-driven organization whose mission is to build healthy communities by ensuring that people of color and\/or low-income residents are meaningfully included in the development of sound and fair environmental health and protection policies and practices. WE ACT has offices in New York and Washington, D.C. Visit us at <\/span>weact.org<\/span><\/a> and follow us on <\/span>Facebook<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>Bluesky<\/span><\/a>, and <\/span>Instagram<\/span><\/a>.<\/span>\r\n\r\nAbout the Environmental Justice Leadership Forum\r\n<\/b>The Environmental Justice Leadership Forum (EJLF) is a national coalition of nearly 40 organizations in 22 states who work to ensure that a diverse grassroots perspective is reflected in federal, state, and local programming and policy decisions. Organizations are based in red, blue, and swing states, including those in Appalachia, the Deep South, Northwest, Midwest, Northeast and Southwest regions. EJLF members represent Black, Latinx, Indigenous and low-income communities in large cities to rural areas. These groups are actively working together to advance key climate justice and environmental policy to ensure the protection and advancement of communities of color and low-income communities throughout the U.S. The EJLF is hosted by <\/span>WE ACT for Environmental Justice.<\/span><\/a>\r\n\r\nAbout Climate Justice Alliance\r\n<\/b>Climate Justice Alliance is a growing member-based organization of nearly 100 urban and rural frontline and Indigenous communities, organizations, and supporting networks working to build a Just Transition away from the extractive economy and toward a more regenerative one. Visit our website at <\/span>climatejusticealliance.org<\/span><\/a> and follow us on <\/span>Facebook<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>X<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>Instagram<\/span><\/a>, and <\/span>Bluesky<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/strong>","include_drop_cap":false}}]},"yoast_head":"\nEnvironmental Justice Organizations From Across U.S. to the Hill: We Will Not Be Shutdown<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Environmental justice leaders from across U.S. gathered in Washington D.C. to demand accountability and policy to protect their communities.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/weact.org\/es\/updates\/environmental-justice-organizations-from-across-u-s-to-the-hill-we-will-not-be-shutdown\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"es_ES\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Environmental Justice 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