On Jan. 20, 2025, President Trump issued an executive order (Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing) requiring all federal agencies to “terminate, to the maximum extent allowed by law, all DEI, DEIA, and ‘environmental justice’ offices and positions.” By early February, HHS had deleted the Office of Environmental Justice from its website.
Background
On May 31, 2022, HHS announced a new Office of Environmental Justice within HHS’s Office of Climate Change and Health Equity, which was tasked with focusing on developing and implementing a department-wide EJ strategy and offering EJ expertise to HHS’s Office of Civil Rights. Dr. Sharunda Buchanan who previously worked at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention where she researched childhood lead poisoning, was announced as the head of the new office.