This article discusses the Biden administration's initial guidance for the Justice40 initiative, which promises to deliver 40% of the government's climate and infrastructure spending to disadvantaged communities. EJ advocates are wary of Biden's level of commitment due to the economic and environmental hardships that plague front-line communities in his own home state of Delaware. However, many of these advocates have been pleased with these initial guidelines, though with some reservations. These advocates would like for the guidelines to restrict investments in nuclear and/or carbon capture from counting towards this 40%. This position was influenced by EJ research and personal testimony that showed how these types of infrastructure have harmed marginalized communities in the past. Advocates also expressed worry about the guidlines lack of precision for how the funding would be distributed and spent at the state and local level. Historically, state and local governments have proven to be untrustworthy when it comes to equitable investments across their diverse communities. In fact, much of the way structural racism has been structured has taken place at these sub-federal levels of government. Furthermore, many of the local governments that are in the most need of financial assistance simply do not have the staff or capacity to spend time applying for this funding. Thus, advocates are asking that the guidelines specify a more hands on role for the Council on Environmental Quality in determining the distribution of this 40% of investment.
Source
Anton, Adam. 2021. “Front-Line Communities Bet on Biden. Can His EJ Plan Deliver?” E&E News: Climate Wire, July 27, 2021.
Cite as
Adam Anton, "Front-line communities bet on Biden. Can his EJ plan deliver?", contributed by James Adams, The Energy Rights Project, Platform for Experimental Collaborative Ethnography, last modified 23 August 2022, accessed 26 April 2024. https://energyrights.info/content/front-line-communities-bet-biden-can-his-ej-plan-deliver
Critical Commentary
This article discusses the Biden administration's initial guidance for the Justice40 initiative, which promises to deliver 40% of the government's climate and infrastructure spending to disadvantaged communities. EJ advocates are wary of Biden's level of commitment due to the economic and environmental hardships that plague front-line communities in his own home state of Delaware. However, many of these advocates have been pleased with these initial guidelines, though with some reservations. These advocates would like for the guidelines to restrict investments in nuclear and/or carbon capture from counting towards this 40%. This position was influenced by EJ research and personal testimony that showed how these types of infrastructure have harmed marginalized communities in the past. Advocates also expressed worry about the guidlines lack of precision for how the funding would be distributed and spent at the state and local level. Historically, state and local governments have proven to be untrustworthy when it comes to equitable investments across their diverse communities. In fact, much of the way structural racism has been structured has taken place at these sub-federal levels of government. Furthermore, many of the local governments that are in the most need of financial assistance simply do not have the staff or capacity to spend time applying for this funding. Thus, advocates are asking that the guidelines specify a more hands on role for the Council on Environmental Quality in determining the distribution of this 40% of investment.