Louisiana Civil Rights Case Threatens EPA’s Enforcement Plans

The Environmental Protection Agency’s civil rights enforcement effort was dealt a blow when a Louisiana federal judge ruled that certain cumulative impacts were off-limits in consideration of Title VI cases.

Judge James D. Cain Jr. of the US District Court for the Western District of Louisiana ruled on Tuesday that the EPA and Justice Department can’t impose “any disparate-impact-based requirements against the State or any State agency” in civil rights cases under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. Disparate impact refers to unintentional discrimination.

Environmentalists lambasted the ruling, which blocks the EPA from using metrics that advocates have long ...