First, President Donald Trump razed more than three decades of White House work to prod federal agencies into grappling with the reality that pollution hits some groups harder than others. Then, his administration began targeting environmental justice programs and staff in some of those agencies.
And that may just be the start of a broader federal retreat, local activists fear.
While ready to keep up the fight, “I don’t see a rainbow,” said Mary Hampton, an 85-year-old advocate based in the heart of the Louisiana petrochemical industry corridor often dubbed “Cancer Alley.”
In late 2021, Hampton helped welcome then-EPA Administrator Michael Regan to her predominantly Black locale on his “Journey to Justice” tour as he sought to spotlight pollution’s unequal load on people of color and low-income communities.
