"EPA Drilling Down on Civil Rights Complaints, Top Lawyer Says"

"The EPA is working to stiffen its enforcement of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which broadly forbids discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin, the agency’s top lawyer said Tuesday.

“There is a significant amount of work in terms of addressing the number of complaints and reviews that have been submitted” under Title VI, Jeffrey Prieto, general counsel of the Environmental Protection Agency, said at a conference hosted by the American Law Institute.

The EPA is also developing training and doing outreach to bulk up its civil rights work, Prieto said.

One of the key ways the agency must address Title VI is in assuring federally funded groups don’t unlawfully discriminate—a critical concern given that the EPA is poised to send out more than $50 billion in new grant funding under the bipartisan infrastructure law."

Stephen Lee reports for Bloomberg Environment February 15, 2022.

Source: Bloomberg Environment, 02/16/2022