FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 6, 2025
Contact: Ashley Sullivan, ashley.sullivan@weact.org
WASHINGTON – This week, President Trump shared an address to a joint session of Congress that focused on partisan propaganda and reinforced his administration’s efforts to misrepresent environmental justice for the sake of a self-serving, regressive agenda. Just six weeks into the current term, the Trump administration has continued to strategically target vulnerable groups through harmful illegal funding freezes, executive orders, and federal firings for programs and policies that are vital to everyday people.
In response, WE ACT for Environmental Justice instead emphasizes what is moral, constitutional, and overwhelmingly desired and needed by people across the country: a federal government that protects their right to safety; health; clean air, water, and land; affordable energy and housing; and a livable future for all. These are only achievable through the full protection and advancement of environmental justice across the federal government. The directives of the current Trump administration aim to do the exact opposite, and reinforce existing discrimination in exposure to pollution, extreme unnatural weather events fueled by the climate crisis, growing energy costs and other unnecessary economic burdens, and deadly health impacts. Rather than give recognition to the cruel misinformation justifying the malicious policies shared in this address, we aim to focus on the truth and our unwavering commitment to seeing environmental justice achieved.
In response, Leslie Fields, Chief Federal Officer at WE ACT for Environmental Justice, shared the following statement:
“Environmental justice is based on a set of values and principles that guide us towards what we know can and must be achieved: healthy communities that can live comfortably in safety; thrive in sharing their ideas; strengthen and expand their cultures; and build a future of opportunity for their families. Trump and his allies’ efforts seek to misinform and mislead in terms of both what environmental justice is and how widely people across the U.S. support it, including a majority of those who voted for him. His intent is clearly to obscure and diminish the importance and benefits of environmental justice policies, so he can put the interests of polluters and their personal bank accounts ahead of the needs of the people.
“The truth is that environmental justice at the scale we had only just begun to achieve under the Biden-Harris administration is hugely effective and profoundly important. Not only does it address decades of systems that unfairly hurt people of color and low-income, but environmental justice programs and policies are opportunity superchargers. We know that these programs – including clean, green energy – create less pollution, make less people sick, create jobs, and lower costs. We know that investing in the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to curb deadly soot pollution and keep our waters safe from sewage is non-negotiable. The truth is absolute: environmental justice gives us the key to happier, healthier lives and a livable future. What Trump is creating will only lead to despair. We can and must choose what is really working, and that’s environmental justice.”
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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 weact.org and follow us on Facebook, Bluesky, Twitter/X, and Instagram.