Trump Environmental Justice Cuts Put Focus on States, Advocates

Protecting communities disproportionately vulnerable to pollution and climate change will be the responsibility of courts, local governments, and other groups as the Trump administration abandons federal environmental justice programs, advocates say.

Overburdened communities will turn to state and local governments, which can refuse to permit polluting projects and can include community voices in regional environmental decision-making without the Trump administration at the table, said Kym Meyer, litigation director for the Southern Environmental Law Center.

“One thing the federal government can’t change is the fact that the past few years have seen a huge mobilization in communities across the South and ...