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In a Rose Garden ceremony on Friday, President Biden signed a new executive order, Revitalizing Our Nation's Commitment to Environmental Justice for All. The order directs all federal agencies to incorporate environmental justice into their missions, assess their environmental justice efforts, and develop and implement strategic environmental justice plans. Agencies will now be expected to identify and address gaps in research and data, including on cumulative impacts, and to make that research and data more accessible to the public. The order also creates a new Office of Environmental Justice within the White House Council on Environmental Quality; the new office will coordinate environmental justice efforts across the federal government.
Last week the Interior Department also announced a variety of funding investments, including: $125 million for land and water restoration projects; $140 million for water conservation and restoration projects; and $35 million for projects, such as culvert and dam removal, to address migration for fish and other aquatic and terrestrial species.
The Interior and Agriculture Departments also released a joint report on mature and old-growth forests on lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service. The Forest Service also announced a proposed rulemaking for national forest and grassland climate resilience.
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Will we still have the resolve to make the tough, painful choices to permanently cut our water use, so it matches what the Colorado River produces? Or will we just use this time to kick the can again?”
