This week, the Trump administration announced plans to close the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights (OEJECR), placing 168 civil servants on administrative leave. The OEJECR seeks to understand where and why deeply harmful, unjust and discriminatory environmental conditions exist and identify ways to ensure that the hardest hit communities are adequately protected and given real opportunities to participate and take action to improve their own wellbeing. After the announcement, Earthjustice Vice President of Litigation for Healthy Communities Patrice Simms issued the following statement:

“Up until three weeks ago, there was long-held consensus that the EPA’s role was to protect us from harmful pollution and toxic exposures. Eliminating the OEJECR office means more asthma deaths, higher cancer rates, increased heart attacks, loss of school and work days, and reduced economic opportunities for the most vulnerable communities across this country. Notwithstanding the overt cruelty of this decision, no one wants an unhealthier and more polluted America, coopted by industry.”

This post was originally published on Common Dreams.