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Preserve Environmental Justice

Our Position: support
Bill Number: H.AMDT.186 to HR2361
Sponsor: Alcee Hastings (D-FL)
Legislative Session: 2005

This environmental justice amendment passed by voice vote. This was an important victory over EPA's latest attempts to reinterpret the 1994 Executive Order 12898 and ignore the concerns of minority and low-income communities trying to protect themselves and others from exposure to toxic waste, dirty air, polluted water, and other health hazards.

Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-FL) offered an amendment to EPA's budget saying the agency cannot spend any of its funds in any way that conflicts with the Executive Order 12898 or that delays its implementation. Because of Congressman Hastings' leadership and the growing support for his amendment from a variety of civil rights, religious, grassroots, environmental, and environmental justice groups, momentum was building in favor of his amendment among House members, Democrats and Republicans.

Faced with the prospect of fighting what was starting to look like a losing battle against Congressman Hastings' amendment, the House Republican leadership decided to go along with it and the House of Representatives accepted the Hastings' amendment by voice vote (the Representatives say "aye" aloud as a group, followed by the group saying "no." The presiding officer decides which group prevailed and announces the result. No names are recorded.) In addition, Representative Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) offered an amendment to restore the 32% cut to EPA's Office of Environmental Justice that President Bush's budget had proposed; the Grijalva amendment was also accepted by the Republican majority without a roll call vote.

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