EPA Released First-Ever Equity Action Plan

EPA debuted its first-ever Equity Action Plan, highlighting six new priorities for the agency to tackle moving forward. The plan, required by President Joe Biden’s Executive Order No. 13985, directs EPA to: develop a comprehensive framework for considering cumulative impacts in EPA actions, build the capacity for underserved communities to provide their experience to EPA, develop EPA’s internal capacity to implement clear and accountable processes to act based on communities’ input, strengthen EPA’s external civil rights compliance program, integrate participatory science into EPA’s work, and make EPA’s procurement and contracting more equitable. A summary of the Equity Action Plan can also be found here.