Maryland's Gov. Wes Moore Signs Environmental Justice EO

Maryland Governor Wes Moore signed an executive order Thursday restoring an Environmental Justice map that had briefly gone defunct due to changes within the federal government. 

According to Maryland Matters, the state first revealed its Environmental Justice Screening tool in 2022. The map, which originally relied on federal data, allowed users to track pollution and health burdens across Maryland’s census tracts. When President Trump took office earlier this year, one of his first executive orders directed all federal agencies to cease any activity related to environmental justice. As a result, the data the Environmental Justice Screening tool relied on was no longer available. 

“Since the new Trump-Vance administration took office, we haven’t been able to rely on federal data because that data is not being released, and that data is not now readily available,” Moore said at the event signing the bill. “But in this administration, that won’t be enough to make us give up.”

Moore’s executive order has relaunched the Environmental Justice Screening tool, which is no longer relying on federal data. The tool spotlights communities that are “overburdened,” which state law identifies as any census tract where three or more environmental/health indicators are higher than 75 percent of other communities. The data gathered from the tool will be used to inform policy and decision making for state agencies. 

From Maryland Matters:

The executive order also creates an interagency advisory council focused on environmental justice and equity that Moore said will serve as a “hub for collaboration across 13 different state agencies,” which will be required to designate environmental justice officers and create environmental justice strategic plans within a year.

“Environmental justice won’t just be the work of a single department. Environmental justice is not a lane. It is a lens,” Moore said.

The council, which will meet at least quarterly, is tasked with collaborating on environmental justice training programs for state employees and identifying opportunities to streamline grant funding for environmental justice communities, among other tasks. It must submit status reports every Dec. 1, starting this year.

The Trump administration’s handling of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and abandonment of environmental justice initiatives has received criticism from none other than the EPA itself. Last month, employees at the EPA signed a “letter of dissent” over the agency essentially abandoning its mission under the leadership of Trump appointee Lee Zeldin. The letter specifically pointed out the EPA’s abandonment of environmental justice initiatives as a key point of dissent.

One of the biggest blows to environmental justice involves Louisiana’s “Cancer Alley,” an 85-mile stretch of land where numerous petrochemical plants exist alongside several predominantly Black communities. Under the Biden administration, an environmental justice lawsuit was filed against Denka Performance Elastomer, a chemical plant whose air pollution was alleged to have adverse health effects on the residents of the predominantly Black community in which it is located. As a result of Trump’s executive order, the EPA dropped the case due to “ideological overreach.” 

It’s a distinctly American brand of cruelty where protecting Black bodies is considered an “ideological” issue. 

From the workplace, schools, to environmental justice initiatives, the Trump administration consistently displays a distaste for anything that would remotely improve the lives of Black people across America. Hopefully, more states follow Gov. Moore’s lead and take the initiative on environmental justice initiatives and combat the various ways the Trump administration is weaponizing the federal government against Black and brown bodies. 

SEE ALSO:

EPA Staff Signs “Declaration Of Dissent” Over Trump’s Policies

Trump Admin Ends Wastewater Settlement For Black Alabama Town

Maryland’s Gov. Wes Moore Signs Environmental Justice EO  was originally published on newsone.com