Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

File Photo

Environment

Florida Attorney General Leads 23-State Coalition Against EPA ‘Environmental Justice Initiatives’

Earlier today, Florida Attorney General Attorney General Ashley Moody released a statement regarding new federal regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency, and a 23-state coalition that is petitioning for the EPA to modify the regulations. Moody’s official statement is below:

TALLAHASSEE, Fla.—Attorney General Ashley Moody today led a 23-state coalition in filing a legal action demanding that Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency modify its Title VI regulations. These regulations—known as “disparate impact” regulations—are what the EPA is using to advance much of its race-conscious “environmental justice” initiatives.

Attorney General Ashley Moody said, “The EPA should be focusing on enforcing the environmental laws passed by Congress, not so called ‘environmental justice,’ which is a euphemism for Biden’s extreme agenda. His radical exploitation of Title VI, if followed, would force states to unconstitutionally discriminate against their own citizens. The EPA should grant our Petition and revise its Title VI regulations.”

Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was established to prevent any person in the United States from being excluded from any program receiving federal funding on the grounds of race, color or national origin. Since Biden has taken office, “the EPA has taken unprecedented steps to use the EPA’s Title VI regulations to advance what it calls ‘environmental justice’…In practice, ‘environmental justice’ asks the States to engage in racial engineering in deciding whether to, for example, issue environmental permits, rather than relying on the effect on the environment and other appropriate factors.”

In a Petition for Rulemaking, Attorney General Moody and the coalition go on to state that the U.S. Supreme Court has indicated that the EPA’s regulations are unlawful: “Although Sandoval did not directly address the validity of Title VI disparate impact regulations, the Court expressed significant skepticism on the validity of those regulations. The Court explained that the regulations were “in considerable tension with the rule…that forbids only intentional discrimination.” Additionally, the attorneys general claim that “other scholars have even suggested that the EPA’s regulations violate the Equal Protection Clause”. Notably, in 2020, the Trump administration proposed a revision to the Department of Justice’s similar Title VI regulations to remove disparate impact provisions. The Biden administration withdrew the proposal shortly after taking office. 

The attorneys general conclude by stating: “By imposing disparate impact liability where it is not called for by statute, the EPA’s regulations gravely depart from the original understanding of Title VI and compel States to unconstitutionally discriminate against their citizens by incorporating disparate-impact liability. EPA should grant this Petition and revise its Title VI regulations to be consistent with Title VI and the Equal Protection Clause.”

Attorney General Moody is joined on the petition by the attorneys general of Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

Read the full petition here

Archives

Related Articles

Crime News

The Bankrate Financial Fraud Survey shows that the biggest increase in Americans falling prey to financial scams is younger people. Gen Zers (ages 18-28)...

Political News

Op-Ed by David Williams,  President of the Taxpayers Protection Alliance From job cuts to funding freezes, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has been...

Political News

President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order to abolish the U.S. Department of Education (DOE). Below is an overview of recent votes of involving...

Political News

In 2018, Florida’s Legislature passed a bill that gave the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) authority to begin the public rulemaking process to...

Advertisement
Florida Daily
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

HOW WE COLLECT E-MAIL INFORMATION:

If you sign up to subscribe to Florida Daily’s e-mail newsletter, you will provide us your e-mail address and name, voluntarily, and we will never obtain any of your contact information that you don’t voluntarily provide.

HOW WE USE AN E-MAIL ADDRESS IF YOU VOLUNTARILY PROVIDE IT TO US:

If you voluntarily provide us with your name and email address, we will use it to send you one email update per weekday. Your email address will not be given to any third parties.

YOUR CONTROLS:

You will have the option to unsubscribe to our E-mail update at anytime by clicking an unsubscribe link that will be provided in each E-Mail we send.