II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 720
To establish an Office of Environmental Justice within the Department of
Justice, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
FEBRUARY25, 2025
Mr. P
ADILLA(for himself, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. BOOKER,
Mr. M
ERKLEY, Mr. VANHOLLEN, Ms. DUCKWORTH, Mr. WYDEN, Mr.
S
CHIFF, Mr. SANDERS, and Mr. WHITEHOUSE) introduced the following
bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To establish an Office of Environmental Justice within the
Department of Justice, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Empowering and En-4
forcing Environmental Justice Act of 2025’’. 5
SEC. 2. OFFICE OF ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE. 6
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Chapter 31 of title 28, United 7
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-8
lowing: 9
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‘‘§ 530E. Environmental Justice 1
‘‘(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 2
‘‘(1) C
OUNCIL.—The term ‘Council’ means the 3
Senior Advisory Council established under subsection 4
(c). 5
‘‘(2) D
EPARTMENT.—The term ‘Department’ 6
means the Department of Justice. 7
‘‘(3) E
NVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE .—The term 8
‘environmental justice’ means the just treatment and 9
meaningful involvement of all people, regardless of 10
income, race, color, national origin, Tribal affiliation, 11
or disability in agency decision-making and other 12
Federal activities that affect human health and the 13
environment so that individuals— 14
‘‘(A) are fully protected from dispropor-15
tionate and adverse human health and environ-16
mental effects (including risks) and hazards, in-17
cluding those related to climate change, the cu-18
mulative impacts of environmental and other 19
burdens, and the legacy of racism or other 20
structural or systemic barriers; and 21
‘‘(B) have equitable access to a healthy, 22
sustainable, and resilient environment in which 23
to live, play, work, learn, grow, worship, and 24
engage in cultural and subsistence practices. 25
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‘‘(4) ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE MATTER .—The 1
term ‘environmental justice matter’ includes any 2
civil or criminal matter in which the conduct or ac-3
tion at issue may involve a disproportionate and ad-4
verse environmental or human health effect on— 5
‘‘(A) an identifiable low-income, Tribal, or 6
Indigenous population or community in the 7
United States; or 8
‘‘(B) a community in the United States 9
with environmental justice concerns. 10
‘‘(5) I
NDIGENOUS POPULATION OR COMMU -11
NITY.—The term ‘Indigenous population or commu-12
nity’ includes populations or communities of Amer-13
ican Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians. 14
‘‘(6) L
OW-INCOME COMMUNITY .—The term 15
‘low-income community’ means any census block 16
group in which 30 percent or more of the population 17
are individuals with an annual household income 18
equal to, or less than, the greater of— 19
‘‘(A) an amount equal to 80 percent of the 20
median income of the area in which the house-21
hold is located, as reported by the Department 22
of Housing and Urban Development; and 23
‘‘(B) 200 percent of the Federal poverty 24
line. 25
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‘‘(7) OFFICE.—The term ‘Office’ means the Of-1
fice of Environmental Justice established under sub-2
section (b)(1). 3
‘‘(8) S
TATE.—The term ‘State’ means any 4
State of the United States, the District of Columbia, 5
the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Is-6
lands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Common-7
wealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. 8
‘‘(b) O
FFICE OFENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE.— 9
‘‘(1) E
STABLISHMENT.—There is established 10
the Office of Environmental Justice within the Envi-11
ronment and Natural Resources Division of the De-12
partment. 13
‘‘(2) P
ERSONNEL AND FUNDING .—The Attor-14
ney General shall provide to the Office such per-15
sonnel and funds as are necessary to establish the 16
Office under paragraph (1) and to carry out the du-17
ties of the Office under paragraph (4). 18
‘‘(3) L
EADERSHIP.—The Office shall be headed 19
by a Director, who shall be appointed by the Attor-20
ney General. 21
‘‘(4) D
UTIES.—The Director shall: 22
‘‘(A) Develop, and update every 5 years 23
thereafter, the environmental justice strategy 24
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for the Department relating to Federal actions 1
to address environmental justice. 2
‘‘(B) Coordinate environmental justice 3
matters that arise at the Department and 4
United States Attorneys’ offices, including 5
building outreach and engagement capacity and 6
competency among the Department’s personnel. 7
‘‘(C) Administer the grant program estab-8
lished under section 3 of the Empowering and 9
Enforcing Environmental Justice Act of 2025. 10
‘‘(D) Promote and protect the right of the 11
public to participate meaningfully in the deci-12
sion-making process on environmental justice 13
matters and design communications efforts with 14
the goal of maximizing community under-15
standing of how to participate in environmental 16
justice matters, including how to file adminis-17
trative complaints with Federal agencies. 18
‘‘(E) Counsel and assist State, local, and 19
Tribal governments on how to coordinate their 20
actions with the Federal Government with re-21
spect to environmental justice matters and 22
counsel and assist State, local, and Tribal gov-23
ernments and Indigenous populations or com-24
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munities in providing equal environmental pro-1
tection for all individuals. 2
‘‘(F) Provide support for State and local 3
environmental enforcement training in commu-4
nities with environmental justice concerns. 5
‘‘(G) Work with the Community Relations 6
Service to facilitate a working relationship be-7
tween parties involved in environmental justice 8
matters, including regulated industry, State, 9
local, and Tribal decision-makers, nonprofits, 10
low-income communities, and Indigenous popu-11
lations or communities. 12
‘‘(H) Organize, at minimum, bimonthly 13
calls or meetings with environmental justice or-14
ganizations and communities with environ-15
mental justice concerns. 16
‘‘(I) Manage the Council. 17
‘‘(J) Make recommendations to Federal 18
agencies on community participation in the de-19
velopment of administrative settlement agree-20
ments relating to environmental justice matters. 21
‘‘(K) Develop— 22
‘‘(i) instructional videos and other ma-23
terials for Department personnel to provide 24
an overview of the scope of environmental 25
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justice matters and procedures for identi-1
fying and reporting such matters; 2
‘‘(ii) education programs for environ-3
mental attorneys about criminal, civil, and 4
civil rights laws; 5
‘‘(iii) education programs for civil, 6
criminal, and civil rights attorneys about 7
environmental laws for the purpose of 8
identifying and effectively addressing envi-9
ronmental justice matters; 10
‘‘(iv) an email address that Depart-11
ment attorneys and other Department per-12
sonnel may contact that enables Depart-13
ment attorneys and other Department per-14
sonnel to seek information and guidance 15
on environmental justice matters; 16
‘‘(v) joint education and training ac-17
tivities, where appropriate, with Federal 18
agencies and State, local, and Tribal legal 19
offices; 20
‘‘(vi) a continuing legal education 21
course on environmental justice matters, 22
developed in coordination with the Office 23
of Legal Education and the Environmental 24
Protection Agency; and 25
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‘‘(vii) training programs with respect 1
to environmental justice for individuals 2
participating in the Attorney General’s 3
Honors Program. 4
‘‘(L) Coordinate with all relevant compo-5
nents within the Department to develop and 6
maintain an appropriate system for tracking 7
and assessing cases that raise environmental 8
justice matters. 9
‘‘(c) S
ENIORADVISORYCOUNCIL.— 10
‘‘(1) E
STABLISHMENT.—There is established a 11
Senior Advisory Council to advise the Assistant At-12
torney General of the Environment and Natural Re-13
sources Division on matters of environmental justice 14
and recommend policy and initiatives with respect to 15
environmental justice matters. 16
‘‘(2) C
O-CHAIR.—The Co-chairs of the Council 17
shall be the Assistant Attorney General of the Envi-18
ronment and Natural Resources Division and the 19
Director of the Office. 20
‘‘(3) M
EMBERS.—The Council shall be com-21
posed of: 22
‘‘(A) The Assistant Attorney General of 23
the Environment and Natural Resources Divi-24
sion. 25
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‘‘(B) The Director of the Office. 1
‘‘(C) One representative of the Office of 2
the Deputy Attorney General. 3
‘‘(D) One representative of the Office of 4
the Associate Attorney General. 5
‘‘(E) One representative from the Environ-6
mental Enforcement Section of the Environ-7
mental and Natural Resources Division. 8
‘‘(F) One representative from the Environ-9
mental Defense Section of the Environment and 10
Natural Resources Division. 11
‘‘(G) One representative of the Civil Rights 12
Division. 13
‘‘(H) One representative of the Civil Divi-14
sion. 15
‘‘(I) One representative of the Federal Bu-16
reau of Investigation. 17
‘‘(J) One representative of the Bureau of 18
Prisons. 19
‘‘(K) One representative of the Community 20
Relations Service. 21
‘‘(L) One representative of the Office for 22
Access to Justice. 23
‘‘(M) One representative of the Office of 24
Legal Policy. 25
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‘‘(N) One representative of the Office of 1
Legislative Affairs. 2
‘‘(O) One representative of the Office of 3
Tribal Justice. 4
‘‘(P) Two representatives from the Execu-5
tive Office for United States Attorneys. 6
‘‘(Q) The Section Chief of the Environ-7
mental Justice Section. 8
‘‘(R) Not fewer than 2 representatives 9
from United States Attorneys’ offices. 10
‘‘(4) R
EPORTING REQUIREMENT .— 11
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 180 12
days after the date of enactment of the Empow-13
ering and Enforcing Environmental Justice Act 14
of 2025, and annually thereafter, each member 15
of the Council shall submit to the Director a re-16
port on the implementation of the progress of 17
the component of which the member is a rep-18
resentative in implementing the environmental 19
justice strategy of the Department and any pro-20
posed revisions to the environmental justice 21
strategy of that component. 22
‘‘(B) O
THER REPORTS AND BRIEFINGS .— 23
In addition to the reports required under sub-24
paragraph (A), the Director may also request a 25
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report or briefing from the head of any compo-1
nent not a member of the Council explaining 2
how the component may facilitate the efforts of 3
the Department in meeting the obligations of 4
the Department under the environmental justice 5
strategy. 6
‘‘(5) A
DMINISTRATION.—The Director shall co-7
ordinate and support the work of the Council. The 8
Director shall convene the Council not later than 90 9
days after the date of enactment of the Empowering 10
and Enforcing Environmental Justice Act of 2025 11
and shall convene the Council not less than 4 times 12
annually thereafter. 13
‘‘(6) G
UIDANCE FOR DEPARTMENT .— 14
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 180 15
days after the date of enactment of the Empow-16
ering and Enforcing Environmental Justice Act 17
of 2025, the Council shall develop guidance 18
with respect to environmental justice and pro-19
vide such guidance to Department personnel, 20
including provisions for identifying, tracking, 21
and addressing environmental justice matters. 22
‘‘(B) R
EVIEW AND UPDATE .—Not later 23
than 3 years after the development of the guid-24
ance under subparagraph (A), and every 3 25
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years thereafter, the Department shall review 1
and update such guidance.’’. 2
(b) T
ECHNICALAMENDMENT.—The table of sections 3
for chapter 31 of title 28, United States Code, is amended 4
by adding at the end the following: 5
‘‘530E. Environmental justice.’’.
SEC. 3. ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE MATTERS ENFORCE-
6
MENT GRANTS. 7
(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 8
(1) C
ERTAIN CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES .— 9
The term ‘‘certain congressional committees’’ 10
means— 11
(A) the Committees on Environment and 12
Public Works and the Judiciary of the Senate; 13
(B) the Committees on Energy and Com-14
merce and the Judiciary of the House of Rep-15
resentatives. 16
(2) E
NVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE .—The term ‘‘en-17
vironmental justice’’ means the just treatment and 18
meaningful involvement of all people, regardless of 19
income, race, color, national origin, Tribal affiliation, 20
or disability in agency decision-making and other 21
Federal activities that affect human health and the 22
environment so that individuals— 23
(A) are fully protected from dispropor-24
tionate and adverse human health and environ-25
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mental effects (including risks) and hazards, in-1
cluding those related to climate change, the cu-2
mulative impacts of environmental and other 3
burdens, and the legacy of racism or other 4
structural or systemic barriers; and 5
(B) have equitable access to a healthy, sus-6
tainable, and resilient environment in which to 7
live, play, work, learn, grow, worship, and en-8
gage in cultural and subsistence practices. 9
(3) E
NVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE MATTER .—The 10
term ‘‘environmental justice matter’’ includes any 11
civil or criminal matter where the conduct or action 12
at issue may involve a disproportionate and adverse 13
environmental or human health effect on an identifi-14
able low-income, minority, Tribal, or Indigenous 15
population or community in the United States. 16
(4) I
NDIGENOUS POPULATION OR COMMU -17
NITY.—The term ‘‘Indigenous population or commu-18
nity’’ includes populations or communities of Amer-19
ican Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians. 20
(5) L
OW-INCOME COMMUNITY .—The term ‘‘low- 21
income community’’ means any census block group 22
in which 30 percent or more of the population are 23
individuals with an annual household income equal 24
to, or less than, the greater of— 25
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(A) an amount equal to 80 percent of the 1
median income of the area in which the house-2
hold is located, as reported by the Department 3
of Housing and Urban Development; and 4
(B) 200 percent of the Federal poverty 5
line. 6
(6) S
TATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means any 7
State of the United States, the District of Columbia, 8
the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Is-9
lands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Common-10
wealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. 11
(b) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 12
date of enactment of this Act, the Attorney General shall 13
establish a grant program (in this section referred to as 14
the ‘‘Program’’) within the Office of Environmental Jus-15
tice to improve the capacity of State, local, and Tribal gov-16
ernments to enforce environmental laws involving environ-17
mental justice matters. 18
(c) G
RANTAUTHORITY.—In carrying out the Pro-19
gram, the Assistant Attorney General may award grants 20
on a competitive basis to eligible recipients, except that 21
no eligible recipient may be awarded more than 1 grant. 22
(d) E
LIGIBLERECIPIENTS.—The Assistant Attorney 23
General may award a grant under the Program to a State, 24
local, or Tribal government determined by the Assistant 25
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Attorney General to be capable of carrying out a project 1
pursuant to subsection (e). 2
(e) G
RANTFUNDS.—Grant funds awarded under the 3
Program, shall only be used to— 4
(1) train State, local, and Tribal agencies re-5
sponsible for prosecuting and enforcing laws involv-6
ing environmental justice matters; 7
(2) hire staff to assist in the investigation, 8
prosecution, and enforcement of laws involving envi-9
ronmental justice matters; or 10
(3) establish collaborative programs to provide 11
technical and legal assistance, outreach, and engage-12
ment to help communities with environmental justice 13
concerns participate in decisions impacting the envi-14
ronment, health, and safety of those communities 15
with environmental justice concerns. 16
(f) A
PPLICATIONS.—To be eligible for a grant under 17
the Program, an eligible recipient shall submit to the As-18
sistant Attorney General an application in such form, at 19
such time, and containing such information as the Assist-20
ant Attorney General determines to be appropriate. 21
(g) L
IMITATIONS ONGRANTAMOUNTS.—Subject to 22
the availability of appropriations under subsection (j), 23
each grant made under this section shall be for an amount 24
not less than $50,000 and not greater than $1,000,000. 25
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(h) FEDERALSHARE.—The Federal share of a 1
project under the Program shall not exceed 80 percent, 2
unless the Attorney General waives, wholly or in part, this 3
requirement. 4
(i) R
EPORT.—Not later than 18 months after the 5
date of enactment of this Act, and every 2 years there-6
after, the Attorney General shall submit a report to cer-7
tain congressional committees on the grant program es-8
tablished under this section, including a description of the 9
grantees and activities for which grantees used grants 10
awarded under this section. 11
(j) A
UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 12
authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 13
$50,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2026 through 14
2035. 15
Æ
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