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Friend, Juneteenth, a holiday celebrating Black freedom, is also an important day to
highlight the continuing fight against the many forms of racial injustice that
persist around the country. One of these is environmental racism — the reality that people of color face disproportionate
harm from pollution, toxic waste, extreme weather driven by climate change, and
other environmental hazards.To push back against the discriminatory practices and policies of business and
government that drive environmental racism, Black activists launched the environmental justice movement [link removed] in the 1980s. Last Juneteenth we celebrated Justice40, the largest ever U.S. national commitment to environmental justice. [link removed] Established by President Biden during his first week in office, Justice40
required that at least 40% of the benefits from federal investments in
infrastructure and climate go to communities that have been historically
underresourced and overburdened by pollution, including Black communities. As of
last summer, the administration had achieved $600 billion in Justice40 investments across more than 500 federal programs within 19 federal agencies. These investments funded grants to help communities clean up contaminated land [link removed], replace diesel school buses with cleaner models [link removed], build clean energy infrastructure [link removed] much more. These projects helped reduce the health hazards created by
pollution, reduce energy costs, and create good-paying clean energy jobs in
these communities. This Juneteenth, however, the situation is very different.  On his very first day in office President Trump rescinded the Justice40
initiative, effectively freezing all funding for current and planned projects
and leaving communities in limbo. This executive order was only the beginning of
the Trump administration’s attacks on anything they say is related to Diversity,
Equity and Inclusion (DEI). Eliminating environmental justice initiatives has
been a major prong of those attacks, including: Ordering the termination of “all DEI, DEIA, and ‘environmental justice’ offices and positions”  across the federal government
 Dismantling the EPA’s Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights and the Department of Justice’s Office of Environmental Justice
 Rescinding the Council on Environmental Quality’s authority to implement the National Environmental Policy Act, removing enforcement of rules directing agencies to consider environmental impacts of their projects — and urging agencies to stop considering environmental justice impacts specifically
 Directing the Attorney General to identify and block all state and local laws addressing environmental justice and climate change Among the administration’s latest attacks on environmental justice are those in
the federal budget reconciliation bill that is currently before the Senate. The Trump administration has dubbed it their “Big Beautiful Bill,” while in reality it is a billionaire tax scam [link removed] that will strip away protections against pollution, sell off public lands, and
drive up energy costs, all to line the pockets of billionaires and Big Oil. Its
environmental justice rollbacks include: Canceling environmental justice block grants funding projects in neighborhoods hardest hit by pollution
 Creating a “pay-to-play” scheme allowing corporations to pay a fee to fast-track projects and shortcut environmental review, leaving surrounding communities vulnerable to pollution — and blocking them from challenging projects in court
 Eliminating clean energy tax credits and incentives that help local governments, businesses, nonprofits, schools, and families transition to clean energy for cleaner air in their communities We have a short window of opportunity to stop this bill. LCV and our partner
organizations are showing up on the Hill every week to urge senators to protect
our communities by rejecting this harmful bill. Join us! If you have 5 minutes: Call your senators (here’s how!) [link removed] or send them a message [link removed] and tell them to vote NO on Republicans’ billionaire tax scam. For more resources on our movement’s wins in recent years and the Trump
administration’s attacks, check out our blog post.  Tiernan Sittenfeld
Senior Vice President, Government Affairs
League of Conservation Voters This email was sent to [email protected]. If this isn't the best email address at which to reach you,update your contact information [link removed] here to unsubscribe [link removed] from our supporter list.Send us any comments, criticisms, or feedback here mailto:[email protected]?subject=, or just reply to this email! Thanks for your support. 

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