FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 21, 2025
CONTACT: Edder Díaz Martínez, Communications Manager, [email protected]
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Yesterday, the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) announced the repeal of key regulations implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). This foundational law has long protected communities for over 50 years from harmful environmental and health impacts by ensuring a mechanism for public participation in major federal projects. This move prioritizes industry interests over public health and safety, stripping away vital protections that ensure communities—especially Latino/a/e, Black, Indigenous, and low-income communities—can have a voice and can push back against polluting projects that threaten their air, water, and overall well-being.
“The weakening of NEPA protections will hurt communities and their right to a safe and healthy environment,” said Irene Burga, Climate Justice & Clean Air Program Director at GreenLatinos. “Latine, communities of color, and low-income communities already bear the brunt of pollution and climate change. Weakening NEPA removes one of the only tools communities have to hold the government and corporations accountable for environmental and public health harm.”
Without NEPA’s safeguards, industrial projects could move forward unchecked, leading to increased air pollution, water contamination, and worsening climate impacts on our families. This decision disproportionately affects Latino/a/e, Black, Indigenous, and low-income communities, which are often located near toxic industries and infrastructure projects that contribute to health disparities and environmental destruction.
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About GreenLatinos
GreenLatinos (NOTE: GreenLatinos is ONE WORD) is an active comunidad of Latino/a/e leaders, emboldened by the power and wisdom of our culture, united to demand equity and dismantle racism, resourced to win our environmental, conservation, and climate justice battles, and driven to secure our political, economic, cultural, and environmental liberation.
GreenLatinos (NOTA: GreenLatinos es UNA PALABRA) es una comunidad activa de líderes latinos/a/e, envalentonados por el poder y la sabiduría de nuestra cultura, unidos para exigir equidad y desmantelar el racismo, con recursos para ganar nuestra justicia ambiental, batallas de conservación, climáticas e impulsados a asegurar nuestra liberación política, económica, cultural y ambiental.
