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On Tuesday of last week, Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti joined a 23-state coalition demanding the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) modify existing regulations in Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. These regulations consider “disparate impacts” to forward race-conscious “environmental justice” initiatives.
“Federal agencies continue to pursue rules that treat people differently based solely on the color of their skin, in violation of the Constitution and our American ideal of equality,” Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti said in a statement. “This insistence on illegal racial decision-making wastes time and tax dollars and distracts the EPA from its core mission of lawfully enforcing our nation’s environmental laws.”
Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prevents the government from excluding any person in the United States from any program receiving federal funding on the grounds of race, color, or national origin. Yet, since 2021, the EPA has taken unprecedented steps to advance so-called “environmental justice”—which includes racial factors in making policy determinations. As a result, States are forced to consider racial and demographic characteristics when deciding to, for example, issue environmental permits or funding in direct violation of Title VI.
These regulations also run afoul of its statutory authority. The coalition argued in its petition that the EPA must change its regulations to be in line with the Equal Protection Clause and its statutory authority.
Tennessee Attorney General Skrmetti joined the Florida-led petition along with Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
Read the full petition here.
