Environmental justice is one underreported objective of President Donald Trump’s executive order avalanche from January 20. Trump ordered the closure of environmental justice offices and posts and revoked executive directives pertaining to environmental justice that date back to the Clinton Administration. Because of this, it will be simpler for polluting industries to cause harm to underprivileged areas and more difficult to hold them accountable when they do. Racism in policy is what this is. America isn’t becoming great again because of it. Americans continue to become ill as a result of it.
It goes without saying that Trump’s executive order on “Unleashing American Energy,” often known as “Drill, baby, drill,” turns the entire world into a battlefield for the greed of American fossil fuel corporations. These polluters would have to pay for the harm they are purposefully and deliberately creating worldwide if environmental justice were to be practiced.
Supporting SJR28, a joint resolution that proposes an environmental rights amendment to the Oregon Constitution, will allow Oregonians to retaliate. Should Oregon alter its Constitution to include an environmental rights amendment? July 29, Beat Check podcast.
SB682, a measure that would create a Climate Superfund cost recovery program inside the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, is another option they have.
Portland’s Scott Killops
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