Clifford Chance

DOJ calls out enforcement actions as part of a new focus on environmental justice.

On Friday, October 13, 2023, the US Department of Justice ("DOJ") released its first Comprehensive Environmental Justice Enforcement Strategy Report.

This report comes a year after DOJ launched the Office of Environmental Justice ("OEJ") and implemented a Comprehensive Environmental Justice Enforcement Strategy ("CEJES") to guide DOJ work in Environmental Justice. The OEJ is mandated to coordinate within DOJ in an effort to advance its four principles: (1) prioritize cases that will reduce public health and environmental harms to overburdened and underserved communities; (2) make strategic use of all available legal tools to address environmental justice concerns; (3) ensure meaningful engagement with impacted communities; and (4) promote transparency regarding environmental justice enforcement efforts and their results. The OEJ also coordinates with other federal agencies and tribal/local officials, continuing the current Administration's focus on a "whole of government" approach when it comes to enforcement.

The report highlights the progress of DOJ divisions on the CEJES principles and related important enforcement actions. The featured enforcement actions and investigations highlight how the CEJES principles are influencing enforcement actions.

DOJ stressed with the release of the report the importance of its first Title VI environmental justice resolution agreement, requiring the state of Alabama's Department of Public Health to develop safe wastewater disposal systems.

The report also highlights actions by the OEJ in cooperation with other DOJ divisions to ensure that private companies comply with environmental regulations, emphasizing that low-income communities often bear the brunt of environmental harm from pollution. In In re MLCJR, LLC, No. 23-90324 (Bankr. S.D. Tex.) the Civil Division worked to ensure that companies holding oil and gas leases and going through bankruptcy proceedings continue to meet their decommissioning, reclamation, and remediation obligations.

In April 2023, the Environmental and Natural Resources Division secured settlements from three natural gas processors. The settlements required the companies to both pay civil penalties and to make improvements to bring their facilities into compliance with the Clean Air Act.

The OEJ also has worked with US Attorneys' Offices to bring civil and criminal complaints. These complaints include indictments in Puerto Rico for dumping construction waste into wetlands and criminal charges against individuals and three companies for disabling emissions control systems of semi-trucks.

We should expect to see continued environmental justice principles invoked in connection with enforcement actions from DOJ as DOJ devotes specific resources and develops further expertise in using those principles to inform its enforcement approach.