Lyons Quoted on New EPA Office to Address Environmental Justice
Bloomberg Law
Partner Francis Lyons, a former US Department of Justice environmental enforcement attorney and US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regional administrator, was quoted on the EPA’s launch of the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights (OEJECR).
Industry stakeholders are watching to see how influential the OEJECR will be and its effect on the EPA’s core missions.
“The regulated community craves certainty,” Frank said.
The OEJECR will ultimately be run by a Senate-confirmed appointee, which Frank said is the strongest signal yet that the EPA wants environmental justice “embedded in the DNA of the EPA.”
The office is set up to ensure that “environmental justice and civil rights are taken into account in everything that the agency does across the board — and that would include permitting, that will include enforcement, and that would include distribution of grants,” Frank said.
He added, “It may mean certain permits potentially don’t get renewed, or it may mean that certain conditions are put into permits that were never there before.”
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