Race excluded as WH rolls out climate justice screening tool

By DREW COSTLEY
AP Science Writer

The Biden administration has released a screening tool to help identify disadvantaged communities long plagued by environmental hazards, but it won’t include race as a factor in deciding where to devote resources. Administration officials tell reporters excluding race will make projects less likely to draw legal challenges and will be easier to defend. That’s even as they acknowledge race has been a major factor in terms of who experiences environmental injustice. The decision to exclude race as a factor in deciding where to devote resources has been harshly challenged by members of the environmental justice community. The screening tool was released on Friday.