Republican AGs attack Biden’s EPA for pursuing environmental discrimination cases

By MICHAEL PHILLIS
Associated Press

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Twenty-three Republican attorneys general are attacking the Biden administration’s stated goal of pursuing environmental justice. They officials call it a form of “racial engineering.” They are demanding that the Environmental Protection Agency stop using civil rights laws to investigate actions and policies that harm Black people or other minority groups — even unintentionally — more than white residents. At issue is Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which aims to prevent discrimination in programs that receive federal funds. The Biden administration has used the law more aggressively than past administrations. The EPA declined to comment, but Administrator Michael Regan said earlier this month that the agency remains committed to fighting environmental discrimination.