Wheeler’s Environmental Justice Pledge Leaves Activists Cold

Environmental justice leaders say they are perplexed by EPA chief Andrew Wheeler’s commitments to low-income communities of color—one of the main themes of a speech he gave in California.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Wheeler laid out his views in a Thursday speech about the agency’s future, arguing the nation’s environmental policies have been a problem for frontline communities for decades, stretching back before the Trump administration. He said past policies haven’t done a thorough enough job of cleaning up such communities, and have pounded them economically.

But Anthony Rogers-Wright, policy coordinator at the Climate Justice Alliance, said Wheeler’s comments are ...