Big Agencies Call for Patience as Environmental Equity Ramps Up

President Joe Biden’s governmentwide push for environmental justice is sweeping across health, agriculture, and other departments with programs that complement those at the EPA, which has long quarterbacked such efforts.

The Department of Agriculture’s fledgling Equity Commission aims to highlight and root out inequitable treatment of disadvantaged communities. Meanwhile, the Department of Health and Human Services’ new Office of Climate Change and Health Equity serves as a hub to drive more equitable health outcomes and to review regulatory and statutory powers HHS can wield to reduce barriers to equitable treatment.

And the Energy Department is broadening existing environmental justice efforts, ...