SLS 22RS-2937 ORIGINAL
2022 Regular Session
SENATE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 68
BY SENATOR FESI
ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL. Requests the attorney general to review the Office of
Environmental Justice within the United States Department of Justice.
1 A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
2 To urge and request the attorney general to review the creation of the Office of
3 Environmental Justice within the Environment and Natural Resources Division of
4 the United States Department of Justice, monitor the office's operations, and take any
5 actions necessary, including coordinating actions with attorneys general of other
6 states, to ensure the office's compliance with all laws, including the United States
7 Constitution.
8 WHEREAS, President Biden signed Executive Order 14008, Tackling the Climate
9 Crisis at Home and Abroad, on January 27, 2021, declaring that environmental justice must
10 be a key consideration in federal governance and directing the Attorney General of the
11 United States to develop a comprehensive environmental justice enforcement strategy to
12 remedy systemic environmental, violations, contaminations, and injury to natural resources;
13 and
14 WHEREAS, the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the United States
15 Department of Justice, in coordination with the Office of Enforcement and Compliance
16 Assurance within the Environmental Protection Agency, developed its Environmental Justice
17 Enforcement Strategy to advance the edicts of Executive Order 14008; and
18 WHEREAS, the express purpose of the Environmental Justice Enforcement Strategy
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SLS 22RS-2937 ORIGINAL
1 is to selectively utilize the federal civil and criminal enforcement apparatus to prioritize
2 enforcement against certain entities and to attempt to create economic equity in underserved
3 and marginalized communities, all under the guise of environmental justice; and
4 WHEREAS, the Department of Justice has created the Office of Environmental
5 Justice within the Environment and Natural Resources Division and has created the
6 Environmental Justice Enforcement Steering Committee comprised of representatives from
7 the Office of the Attorney General, Office of the Deputy Attorney General, Office of the
8 Associate Attorney General, the Environment and Natural Resources, Civil rights, and Civil
9 Divisions, the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys, the Offices of Justice Programs, Tribal
10 Justice, and Access to Justice, the Community Relations Service, the Federal Bureau of
11 Investigation, and the Department of Justice's law enforcement agencies; and
12 WHEREAS, the Department of Justice strategy intends to utilize tools outside of
13 traditional environmental statutes in pursuit of enforcement actions, including the use of
14 Supplemental Environmental Projects (SEP), which often facilitate payments to
15 non-government third parties who are neither victims nor directly involved in the
16 enforcement action and which may bear a tenuous connection to redress of a violation; and
17 WHEREAS, monetary penalties are imposed in enforcement actions to address the
18 gravity of the violation and to recoup the economic gain realized through noncompliance
19 with the law; SEP diverts penalty funds away from the United States Treasury; and
20 WHEREAS, the Department of Justice previously prohibited its components from
21 entering into settlement agreements that directed or provided for payments to
22 non-government third parties, under 28 C.F.R. §50.28; however, the department has issued
23 an interim rule rescinding 28 C.F.R. §50.28 and reinstituting the use of SEP in enforcement
24 policy; and
25 WHEREAS, current Department of Justice policy allows for the input of unelected
26 officials in selecting SEP recipients and beneficiaries and does not require the authorization
27 of Congress, presenting a conduit for corruption and undue influence in the enforcement of
28 environmental law, outside the bounds of restitution; and
29 WHEREAS, the Department of Justice's Environmental Justice Enforcement Strategy
30 threatens the abandonment of the principle of equal justice under the law and presents
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SLS 22RS-2937 ORIGINAL
1 important questions of separation of powers, constitutional authority, and fairness.
2 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
3 urge and request the attorney general to review the creation of the Office of Environmental
4 Justice within the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the United States
5 Department of Justice, monitor the office's policies and operations, and take any actions
6 necessary, including coordinating actions with attorneys general of other states, to ensure
7 the office's compliance with all laws, including the United States Constitution.
8 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
9 attorney general.
The original instrument and the following digest, which constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument, were prepared by Jacob K. Wilson.
DIGEST
SCR 68 Original 2022 Regular Session Fesi
Requests the attorney general to review the creation, policies, and operation of the United
States Department of Justice Office of Environmental Justice and to take action to ensure
its compliance with law.
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