EPA Official Vows ‘Prompt’ Response to Environment Equity Advice

The EPA will answer pleas for help in vulnerable communities, such as assistance with water in Flint, Mich., that languished during the Trump administration, a top agency official said Wednesday.

A July 12 letter from a panel that advises the Environmental Protection Agency on environmental justice issues said 15 reports and letters—all but one sent during the Trump administration—either went unanswered or generated inadequate responses.

Future “written advice and recommendations will receive prompt written acknowledgment, followed by engagement directly” between panel members and key EPA officials, Deputy Administrator Janet McCabe told the panel.

The National Environmental Justice Advisory Council, launched ...