Environmental justice advisers in the Biden-Harris administration are expected to receive or influence the spending of nearly $500 million in grants from the agencies they advise.

These advisors are members of the 36-member White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council (WHEJAC). WHEJAC is an obscure but influential White House agency created in January 2021 by the Office of Legal and Executive Executive. provide Make policy recommendations to federal agency heads as part of President Joe Biden’s “whole of government” initiative approach Towards environmental justice. Records reviewed by the Daily Caller News Foundation show that the majority of grants to environmental justice activist groups headed by the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Committee (WHEJAC) were awarded to the EPA under the Inflation Control Act. Approximately 41.5 billion dollars. .

Six environmental justice organizations represented by WHEJAC have received or will receive more than $230 million in EPA grants, according to a DCNF review. EPA also selected four organizations, represented by WHEJAC, as award partners for a $200 million grant under EPA’s $600 million Environmental Justice Thriving Communities Grant (EJTCG) program.

EPA in December 2023 named The Texas Southern University (TSU) Bullard Center for Environmental and Climate Justice, headed by WHEJAC’s Robert Bullard, received a $50 million award under the agency’s EJTCG program. In April, the EPA provided An additional $156 million to TSU’s Bullard Center to fund the development of community solar power projects in “low-income and disadvantaged communities” as part of the IRA’s $7 billion Solar for All program will be donated.

“This is a very clear conflict of interest in which no one intends to provide objective advice, or even distort that advice, and compete to receive millions or even hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer benefits.” It will increase our strength,” Gunasekara told DCNF.

The EPA under the Trump administration is particularly noteworthy. submitted October 2017 Directive prohibiting EPA grant recipients from serving on EPA advisory committees. The D.C. Circuit unanimously appealed. struck down This directive follows a major lawsuit in April 2020. (Related: President Trump’s EPA plans to eliminate science advisers who receive taxpayer funding)

EPA in October 2023 announced Smaller awards of 500,000 or less will be presented to several environmental justice organizations represented by WHEJAC, including Ironbound Community Corporation, Appalachian Voices, and New Jersey Environmental Justice Alliance. In a statement to DCNF, EPA confirmed that these three awards are mandatory for designated recipients.

Vice President Kamala Harris has been supportive of WHEJAC since the start of the Biden-Harris administration. (Related: Green New Deal Coalition backs Kamala Harris after member organizations receive $50 million from administrators)

“We need your insight, your expertise, your lived experience. We need your ideas and your suggestions. Fundamentally, we need you,” Vice President Kamala Harris said. said WHEJAC members during the first meeting of the advisory committee in March 2021.

A few months later, WHEJAC put out The May 2021 document includes recommendations against fossil fuel procurement, nuclear power generation, highway expansion, road improvements, and research and development, among many other left-wing proposals.

Several influential WHEJAC members whose organizations have received or will receive major grants are supporting Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign.

“The environmental justice community firmly supports Kamala,” said Beverly Wright, WHEJAC member and founder of the Deep South Environmental Justice Center (DSCEJ). said An article published in Politico on August 11th.

Wright and Peggy Shepherd, co-chair of WHEJAC and executive director of WE ACT for Environmental Justice, said: spoke At the Democratic National Committee (DNC) Environment and Climate Crisis Council meeting At the DNC convention in Chicago in August.

“Her participation and statements were not an endorsement of any candidate. Rather, they were her opinions on the Biden administration’s environmental record, both good and bad,” said Chris, director of public affairs at WE ACT. – Daubens told DCNF in a statement.

WHEJAC has largely avoided congressional oversight by Republicans, even though it promotes a number of far-left environmental policies that conservative energy experts believe are harmful to the pockets of low-income and minority communities. .

“It would probably be more accurate to call it the anti-economic growth, anti-Black Progressive Council,” Donna Jackson, director of membership development for Project 21 Black Leadership Network, told DCNF. “The question is, when they push for all these radical regulations, when they fight fossil fuels, who will be sacrificed? Which businesses will close? Those who have the least capital: minority communities All recommendations are regressive taxes on Black businesses and Black homeowners.”

“Over the past three and a half years, they have taken steps that have made life difficult for communities, especially low-income minority communities. Things like inflation and high cost energy have made life even more difficult. ”’ Mandy Gunasekara, former chief of staff to Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler, told DCNF.

Former President Donald Trump and his advisers promised to rollback If the Biden-Harris administration wins in November, it would also include environmental policies, including tougher EPA rules for new electric vehicle sales and the power sector. (RELATED: ‘Gross Overreach’: Energy Groups Urge Congress to Depart from Biden-Harris Administration’s ‘EV Mandate’)

Gunasekara confirmed to DCNF that the White House’s Environmental Justice Advisory Council and EPA’s new Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights are likely to do the same.

“We use this as a marketing gimmick and a process that wastes taxpayer dollars by funding nonprofits that have little to do with improving the environmental justice community and are more often kept by Democrats in power.” We are going to abolish these new offices that have been created,”’ Gunasekara told DCNF.

“President Trump has promoted conservation and environmental stewardship while fostering economic growth for families across the country,” said Caroline Leavitt, national press secretary for the Trump campaign, in a statement to DCNF. “America’s energy policy under President Trump will create affordable and reliable energy for consumers, stable, high-wage jobs for small businesses, and at the same time lower U.S. carbon emissions than in the past 25 years. Radical energy policies like Kamala Harris’ EV mandate and the Green New scam only hurt American workers, help China, and do virtually nothing to protect the environment. will not contribute.”

The White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council, DSCEJ, TSU’s Bullard Center, Ironbound Community Corporation, Appalachian Voices, and the New Jersey Environmental Justice Alliance did not respond to DCNF’s requests for comment.

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