Trump admin blows away environmental justice offices, cans more federal bureaucrats

"Environmental justice" is the name given to leftist efforts to Trojan-horse identity politics into policy decisions regarding the environment.

The Commission for Environmental Cooperation, an intergovernmental organization the Clinton administration had a hand in forming, put it plainly, stating, "The pursuit of environmental justice aims to address historical inequities, marginalization and discrimination in how environmental benefits and burdens are enjoyed or suffered by certain communities."

President Donald Trump, who made clear upon retaking office that racist DEI initiatives would not be tolerated in his administration, is laying waste to so-called environmental justice programs, starting with the offices at the Environmental Protection Agency and at the Department of Justice.

'President Trump was elected with a mandate from the American people to do just this.'

EPA spokeswoman Molly Vaseliou told the deep state-subscribed publication Politico that 168 employees at the EPA's Office of Environmental Justice were placed on administrative leave on Thursday, adding that "their function did not relate to the agency's statutory duties or grant work."

Bureaucrats at the environment-themed DEI office reportedly received a formal notification Thursday evening via email, which stated, "Effective immediately, you are being placed on administrative leave with full pay and benefits. This administrative leave is not being done for any disciplinary purpose."

"EPA is working to diligently implement President Trump's executive orders, including the 'Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing,'" Vaseliou told the New York Times in a statement. "President Trump was elected with a mandate from the American people to do just this."

While the EPA still has another 100 or so environmental justice employees spread across the country, they are similarly expected to get the boot.

The DOJ's Environment and Natural Resources Division had its own environmental justice office shuttered in the wake of Attorney General Pam Bondi's nullification of her Democratic predecessor's memorandums titled "Actions to Advance Environmental Justice" and "Comprehensive Environmental Justice Enforcement Strategy." The office was established by the Biden administration in 2022.

On his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order requiring that the head of every federal agency, department, or commission see to the elimination of all DEI offices, positions, initiatives, programs, contracts, and performance requirements. Trump specified in his order that all environmental justice offices and positions had to be terminated "to the maximum extent allowed by law."

When rescinding former Democratic presidents' "harmful executive orders and actions" on Jan. 20, Trump noted that "climate extremism has exploded inflation and overburdened businesses with regulation."

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