On May 5, 2022, Attorney General Merrick Garland and EPA Administrator Michael Regan issued a comprehensive environmental justice enforcement strategy designed to improve and promote environmental justice through the Department of Justice (Strategy) Along with creating an Office of Environmental Justice within the Department of Justice (DOJ), The Strategy focuses on four principles:

• Prioritization of cases that reduce public health and environmental harms to overburdened and underserved communities;
• Maximizing the use of all available legal tools to address environmental justice concerns;
• Ensuring meaningful engagement with impacted communities; and
• Promotion of transparency regarding environmental justice enforcement efforts and their results.

Much of the strategy is consistent with previous guidance and presidential directives. It seeks to “provide a roadmap” for using DOJ’s enforcement authorities “to advance environmental justice through timely and effective remedies for systemic environmental violations and contaminations … in underserved communities that have been historically marginalized and overburdened.” Of particular interest is the strategy’s focus for DOJ to use “all enforcement authorities,” including “tools outside of the traditional environmental statutes” as well as increased coordination with other federal agencies when addressing environmental justice issues. The Strategy indicates that DOJ should look at other statutes and laws including civil rights...

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