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Contender to lead Biden EPA says agency should focus on environmental justice
Environment Nov 12, 2020
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency should strengthen its use of the federal Civil Rights Act to better to protect poor and minority communities from pollution and climate change, a top candidate to head the agency under the incoming administration of President-elect Joe Biden said. Heather McTeer Toney, a former regional EPA administrator under the Obama administration and senior director at the Moms’ Clean Air Force, is among a short-list of candidates being vetted for the post, according to sources close to Biden.
McTeer Toney told Reuters in an interview late Wednesday that the agency should explore how to better use Title IV of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which prohibits “discrimination based on race, color or national origin in programs or activities which receive federal financial assistance.” “It’s a problem that EPA has not been able to figure out,” she said. “We haven’t spent the time to dig into how to use it effectively, to make sure regulations are done in a way that is non-discriminatory.”
Minority and poor communities are disproportionately affected by climate change and pollution according to researchers, a fact that has come into focus since a series of killings of Black people […]
