Stacey Halliday Discusses Environmental Justice Outlook for 2023

Law360’s “Environmental Policy To Watch In 2023” covers various topics companies should pay attention to in the new year, highlighting the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s proposed ozone restrictions, the nationwide focus on PFAS, and the Biden Administration’s focus on environmental justice (EJ).

Stacey Halliday, co-chair of B&D’s EJ practice, said that “challenges to agency decisions that incorporate EJ within 'existing authority' are likely to come to fruition in 2023, including the selection of funding recipients for Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and Inflation Reduction Act grants and permitting decisions that incorporate EJ impact components.”

She commented that EPA’s new EJ office will likely to be able to "supercharge" the agency's activities — including Civil Rights Act Title VI investigations and enforcement, potentially in alignment with the U.S. Department of Justice’s new EJ office.

"In addition, EPA's new regional enforcement and monitoring programs — like follow-up from the Journey to Justice Tour and new focused efforts in Appalachia — will move beyond the formation stage," said Stacey.

"The [White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council] will now have a broader cross-section of members (including industry) and guidance from that body will now shift from a group fully constituted by EJ organizations," Stacey added. "Finally, the Justice40 program was mostly in a formative state in 2022, and I think 2023 will show how that benefits accounting is performed by various agencies."

B&D's Environmental Justice practice has been at the forefront of EJ issues for decades, bringing specialized private sector and government experience to bear. We represent multinational companies and municipal clients in complex disputes and high-profile project development, corporate ethics and governance, environmental compliance, and investigations related to EJ and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 enforcement.