EPA Justice Shift May Boost Enforcement in Polluted Communities

EPA Administrator Michael Regan is pushing to make environmental justice a top priority at the agency by directing changes that could spur stiffer enforcement of pollution violations in disadvantaged communities near highways, factories and refineries.

The initiative, which Regan is detailing in a memo to Environmental Protection Agency staff Wednesday, also could spur the distribution of more grants to underserved communities as well as deepen efforts to weigh how EPA policies directly affect people living in neighborhoods long battered by pollution.

Michael Regan

Photographer: Caroline Brehman/CQ Roll Call/Bloomberg

The goal is “integrating environmental justice and equity into the very DNA of EPA,” Regan said in an ...