"President Joe Biden’s administration is prioritizing environmental civil rights cases, with the Justice Department joining the EPA to turn the dial on a yearslong struggle to manage a growing list of complaints.

Current cases in front of the Environmental Protection Agency’s External Civil Rights Compliance Office include discrimination allegations relating to the granting of permits for hog farms in North Carolina, health impacts of air emissions in Louisiana, and pollution problems in Michigan.

“What you’ve seen is this administration taking a pause and looking at some decisions by state regulatory agencies,” said Byron Brown, a former EPA associate deputy general counsel and now senior counsel at Crowell & Moring LLP."

Jennifer Hijazi and Stephen Lee report for Bloomberg Environment May 3, 2022. [2]