SUBJECT: Next Steps - Environmental Justice and Civil Rights

FROM: Administrator Lisa P. Jackson

TO: All EPA Employees

15 years ago, the first Executive Order on Environmental Justice was signed by President Clinton. Since that time, EPA and its partners have made progress on identifying and addressing the health and environmental burdens faced by communities disproportionately impacted by pollution. We should be proud of the work we’ve done to expand the reach of environmentalism and give those communities a voice in critical decisions that impact their lives. But a great deal of work remains ahead of us, and as EPA Administrator I am more committed than ever to environmental justice.

As part of our commitment to environmental justice, I’m proud to announce that Lisa H. Garcia will be joining my office as my Senior Advisor for Environmental Justice. Lisa will be directly responsible for ensuring that issues confronting vulnerable communities are a priority throughout the agency. She will promote meaningful, working relationships with EJ communities, build strong partnerships to address some of our most persistent challenges, and ensure that EJ needs receive attention at the highest level of this Agency. She will also be working closely with our Office of Environmental Justice to strengthen all of EPA’s EJ initiatives and promote agency-wide partnerships in our efforts.

Lisa joins us after serving as the Chief Advocate for Environmental Justice and Equity at the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. In that position she developed statewide environmental justice initiatives to tackle critical environmental challenges, and served as co-chair of the Governor’s Environmental Justice Interagency Task Force. Lisa has a long and impressive history of using her legal, policy and legislative experience to promote environmental justice.

In addition to leadership on environmental justice, EPA must also demonstrate leadership on civil rights. In our service to all Americans it is our responsibility to ensure that recipients of our financial assistance act in a non-discriminatory manner. I have previously noted that the past pattern of delays in processing Title VI complaints is unacceptable. To help us address these challenges and strengthen our civil rights efforts, I am pleased to announce the appointment of Patrick Sungwook Chang as Senior Counsel for External Civil Rights.

Patrick is exceptionally well qualified for this new role. He joins the EPA after serving as the Deputy Section Chief for the Coordination and Review Section in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, where he worked on implementation of Title VI across the Federal Government. He previously worked for EPA for thirteen years in a range of positions, including Assistant General Counsel for Civil Rights, Counsel to the Title VI Task Force, and Attorney-Advisor on the Clean Air Act.

Patrick will focus on resolving the Agency’s backlog of pending Title VI complaints and will work closely with senior leaders in the Agency to evaluate and reform the Title VI program. I have also asked that he evaluate potential long-term institutional changes to the Agency’s Title VI complaint process to avoid future delays, with a particular focus on ensuring that all appropriate Agency components are used to create a timely and effective Title VI process.

Please join me in welcoming Lisa and Patrick to our team. They will both play valuable roles in expanding environmentalism and fulfilling our mission to protect health and the environment in every community.

Sincerely,

Lisa P. Jackson, Administrator