The U.S. Justice Dept. plans to launch a new office within its Environment and Natural Resources Division that will focus on enforcing environmental laws in communities that are most affected by pollution and environmental-related crimes, administration officials said May 5.
The new Office of Environmental Justice is one component of an administration-wide environmental justice strategy that also includes restoring the use of supplemental environmental projects, or SEPs, in communities as a key component of enforcement actions. Such project are environmentally beneficial added investments that a defendant agrees to in exchange for a lower civil penalty. They are not directly related to environmental infractions being settled but offset harm they have caused, EPA says.