Environmental Justice

ENRD’s mission has long intersected with environmental justice. Our commitment is most evident in our enforcement work, as we resolve enforcement actions that help communities with environmental justice concerns and bring cases under federal environmental and natural resource laws – laws like the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and the Superfund cleanup law.

We are dedicated to ensuring the fair and impartial administration of justice for all Americans. That means doing our part, alongside our client agencies, to ensure that environmental laws are enforced in overburdened and underserved communities. ENRD proudly serves as the home of the Office of Environmental Justice (OEJ), the central hub for implementing the Department’s Comprehensive Environmental Justice Enforcement Strategy and engaging the Department in the collective pursuit of environmental justice. ENRD developed the Enforcement Strategy in partnership with the Environmental Protection Agency and with input from other federal agencies, environmental justice stakeholders, and numerous DOJ components. The Enforcement Strategy serves as the Department’s environmental justice roadmap, while OEJ helps to raise environmental justice literacy and catalyze related efforts. We strive to advance this important priority in our work and to share our experience and expertise with other parts of the Department.