Federal agencies' 'environmental justice' programs cut under Trump's reversal of Biden's climate agenda

Federal agencies have sought to cut their “environmental justice” programs as the Trump administration has reversed climate policies implemented by Biden administration. The same day Trump was inaugurated, he signed a slew of executive orders, 78 of them calling for the reversal of Biden’s orders, including climate policies, as well as the cutting of “environmental justice” programs across government.

The DOJ’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, an office in charge of climate litigation, has been slated to have 20 staffers fired, per the Washington Post. Attorney General Pam Bondi directed all heads of the US Attorney's office to revoke any "memoranda, guidance, or similar directive that implement the prior administration’s ‘environmental justice’ agenda."

The EPA as well had around 168 employees leave its Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights last week.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), an agency in charge of a wide array of climate research will cut half of its staff, according to the Scientific American. The agency is a large player in funding college and university research into climate change and related policies.

This comes after President Donald Trump signed an executive order that would cut all “environmental justice” programs in the federal government Trump also paused funding disbursements from the Inflation Reduction Act that was put into motion by the Biden administration. According to Axios, NOAA has also been instructed to comb through its grants given out to institutions for keywords related to climate change.

Some of the terms include "climate," "methane," "nitrous oxide," "greenhouse gas," "climate science," "carbon," the "Paris Agreement," as well as others. It is unclear what the information on the grants will be used for by the Trump administration, however it is believed by some that it will be used to cut the grant programs. The document outlining the keyword search was authored by individuals within the Commerce Department, which oversees NOAA.

Rick Spinrad, who led NOAA under the Biden administration, called any challenge to the grants from NOAA "myopic and misguided." Spinrad emphasized that NOAA's work is crucial for addressing climate challenges and protecting lives and property. "If anything, these investments should be increased, not threatened," Spinrad claimed.

"A grant with the words 'climate' or 'carbon dioxide' in it is most likely tied to improving our ability to predict sea level rise, precipitation and temperature extremes, hurricane patterns, drought intensity, or flood frequency," he added. "These are not esoteric academic exercises but 'real world' applications focused on saving lives, protecting property, and ensuring economic viability."