‘Decolonization’ Group Alleges Racial Bias at EPA Field Office

The EPA’s biggest employee union says agency leaders have rebuffed requests to meet with a “decolonization committee” it formed to address what it contends is longstanding racial bias in the regulator’s Chicago office.

James Hewitt, an EPA spokesman, confirmed that Region 5 management hasn’t met with the Racial Justice and Decolonization Committee, a working group of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 704.

There was a preliminary phone conversation in which the union laid out several conditions for a formal meeting that the agency couldn’t or wouldn’t meet, Hewitt said. Those included stipulations about which EPA officials would attend. ...