Under the Biden administration, the Environmental Protection Agency made environmental justice a key priority through Justice40, aiming to improve health conditions in Black, Latino, and low-income neighborhoods long burdened by industrial pollution. But those protections are now being dismantled under the new administration.
Within his first week back in office, President Donald Trump disbanded the White House team responsible for ensuring federal support reached communities near heavy industry.
He also rolled back the “Justice40” initiative, which had directed 40% of federal environmental investments to historically marginalized communities on the frontlines of pollution.
Community leaders and environmental advocates are sounding the alarm, warning that these rollbacks will increase pollution in already overburdened neighborhoods. Without the safeguards established under “Justice40,” funding for clean energy, infrastructure improvements, and pollution reduction efforts in marginalized communities is now in jeopardy.
Advocates plan to sue Trump for environmental protections
In places like Newark, New Jersey, and Louisiana’s “Cancer Alley,” residents fear worsening air and water contamination, leading to higher rates of asthma, heart disease, and other health crises. Activists say they are prepared to fight back, with legal challenges and grassroots organizing already underway.
“The lawyers are ready,” Robert Bullard, founding director of the Bullard Center for Environmental and Climate Justice, told journalists at Inside Climate News. “We’ve got to fight to make sure we don’t roll over and let things happen to us, but be ready and prepared to fight back,” he said.
In Newark’s Ironbound district, where residents are surrounded by major highways and fossil fuel power plants, the fear is palpable. “We’ve been fighting for cleaner air for years, and now we’re back to square one,” Maria Lopez-Nuñez, a longtime environmental justice organizer, told reporters at Inside Climate News.
Similar concerns are growing in Louisiana’s Cancer Alley, where predominantly Black communities have long suffered from some of the highest cancer rates in the country due to toxic emissions from petrochemical plants.
“President Trump’s decisions will set us back several years … but I don’t want people to lose hope,” Roishetta Ozane, a Louisiana-based organizer fighting against pollution in Cancer Alley, told journalists at Inside Climate News. “It’s like I tell my children, you can’t back down to a bully” she said.
Oklahoma organization in limbo
Under Biden’s “Justice40” framework, millions in federal funding were slated for clean-up projects in these areas—but now, with Trump’s rollback, advocates worry those resources will never materialize.
OKC Beautiful, an environmental organization based in Oklahoma City, is now in limbo, awaiting clarity on the future of its federally funded projects. The organization previously received grants through the Inflation Reduction Act via Oklahoma Forestry Services, allowing them to plant trees in underserved Oklahoma City neighborhoods.
While they successfully completed one grant, two others remain in jeopardy. With funding uncertainty under the new administration, their urban forestry initiatives are currently on hold. If those grants are revoked, hundreds of trees meant to improve air quality and provide much-needed green spaces may never be planted.
The battle for environmental justice is far from over. While Trump’s rollbacks threaten years of progress, advocates, legal experts, and frontline communities are mobilizing to fight back. From Louisiana’s Cancer Alley to Newark’s Ironbound district, residents refuse to accept policies that put their health and futures at risk. As lawsuits are filed and grassroots resistance builds, one thing is clear—this movement isn’t backing down.
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