President Trump Issues Sweeping Executive Orders to Eliminate Federal Environmental Justice Programs

On January 20, 2025, President Trump rescinded a suite of Executive Orders (“EOs") aimed at promoting federal environmental justice (“EJ”) programs, including:

• Executive Order 12898 (Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations). This EO was issued by President Clinton in 1994 and required the US Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) to consider whether its policies and regulations disproportionately impact minority populations. We discussed EO 12898 in detail in our prior client alert from January 2022.
• Executive Order 14007 (President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology). This EO was issued by President Biden in 2021 and established the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (“PCAST”) to advise the President on various matters, including energy, the environment, and racial equity. EO 14007 was subsequently amended by EO 14044, which was also rescinded by President Trump. On January 23, 2025, President Trump issued an EO reestablishing the PCAST to chart “a path forward for American leadership in science and technology.” The new EO makes no mention of the environment or racial equity.
• Executive Order 14008 (Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad). This 2021 EO described government-wide initiatives for the United States to support global efforts to address the climate crisis and support EJ, including through the creation of the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council and White House Interagency Environmental Justice Advisory Council.
• Executive Order 14096 (Revitalizing Our Nation’s Commitment to Environmental Justice for All). This 2023 EO focused on incorporating EJ into the missions of all executive branch agencies. It also created the White House Environmental Justice Office. We discussed EO 14096 in detail in our prior client alert from August 2023.

President Trump also issued a separate EO on January 20, 2025, aimed at eliminating “illegal and immoral discrimination programs” in the federal government. This EO largely focuses on terminating government-sponsored diversity, equity, and inclusion (“DEI”) initiatives and preventing “illegal DEI” efforts in the private sector (which we discussed in a separate client alert), but it also addresses federal EJ programs. Specifically, the EO (1) calls for the termination of all EJ offices and positions in the federal government, (2) requires the Office of Management and Budget to prepare a list of all existing federal EJ positions, committees, programs, services, activities, budgets, and expenditures, and (3) requires all federal agencies to assess the operational impact and cost of existing EJ policies and programs and recommend actions to eliminate such policies and programs.

The timing of the projected impacts from President Trump’s EOs is uncertain (especially for agency-level EJ policies that may require notice-and-comment rulemaking to rescind), but major agency-level EJ policies that could now face the chopping block include:

• EPA’s Legal Tools to Advance Environmental Justice (discussed in our June 2022 client alert);
• EPA’s Environmental Justice Action Plan (discussed in our October 2022 client alert);
• EPA’s Principles for Addressing Environmental Justice in Air Permitting (discussed in our March 2023 client alert); and
• The US Department of Justice’s Comprehensive Environmental Justice Strategy (discussed in our May 2022 client alert).

President Trump’s EOs also introduce uncertainty about the future of various EPA-administered grant programs established under the Inflation Reduction Act, including the US$27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. 

We will continue tracking developments in this space, including future changes to agency- and state-level EJ policies.

This memorandum is a summary for general information and discussion only and may be considered an advertisement for certain purposes. It is not a full analysis of the matters presented, may not be relied upon as legal advice, and does not purport to represent the views of our clients or the Firm. John Rousakis, an O'Melveny partner licensed to practice law in New York; Eric Rothenberg, an O'Melveny of counsel licensed to practice law in New York and Missouri; and Chris Bowman, an O’Melveny associate licensed to practice law in California, contributed to the content of this newsletter. The views expressed in this newsletter are the views of the authors except as otherwise noted.

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