Matthew Tejada joined the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2013 as Director of the Office of Environmental Justice. Now a key focus of President Joe Biden's administration under its Justice40 initiative, environmental justice has moved into the conversational and governmental mainstream. ENR talked to Tejada about what changes the initiative will bring to communities, how project planners and developers can address environmental justice concerns and how tndustry professionals can use EPA's environmental justice mapping tool to make the process go more smoothly.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.