In recent days, many of you have seen or heard about the new administration’s slate of executive orders. While several of these orders warrant close attention, we’re focusing on those with the most significant implications for climate and the environment: the withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement and the “Unleashing American Energy” executive order.

Withdrawing from the Paris Climate Agreement

One of the most concerning orders seeks to withdraw the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement. This decision would place the U.S. among a small group of nations—alongside Iran, Yemen, and Libya—that remain outside this global pact. The agreement is designed to combat climate change by reducing carbon emissions on a global scale.

If this order proceeds, it will mean abandoning the ambitious goal of reducing toxic emissions by 66% by 2025. Additionally, it will halt promised payments to under-resourced countries, funds that were critical for helping these nations transition to clean energy solutions. However, it’s important to note that this move will not affect the U.S.’s participation in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Misleading Messaging: The “Unleashing American Energy” Executive Order

Another key executive order, titled “Unleashing American Energy,” may sound promising, but its implications tell a different story. This order instructs agency heads to halt the disbursement of funds allocated through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

The IRA, passed under the previous administration, was a groundbreaking piece of legislation aimed at investing in clean energy projects and addressing climate-related challenges, particularly in Black, Brown, and low-income communities through the Justice40 initiative. Under the new order, agencies must submit spending reports to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the National Economic Council, aligning their disbursements with the new administration’s vision for energy policy.

Declaring an Energy Emergency

The new administration has also declared a national energy emergency. While this may sound urgent and necessary, it’s being used as a pathway to bypass permitting and approval processes. This declaration could fast-track fossil fuel production projects while excluding cleaner energy sources, further solidifying reliance on nonrenewable resources.

What You Can Do

These are just a few of the executive orders that demand our attention. We encourage you to review the complete list of executive orders to understand their full scope and implications.

It’s also worth noting that several of these orders will likely face legal challenges, which could alter their implementation and impact. We will continue to monitor the viability and consequences of these actions because these decisions affect not only the present but also the environmental future of our communities and our planet.

Climate and Environment Resources

Jovita Lee, Ed.D. is the policy director for Advance Carolina and convener of the North Carolina Black and Brown Policy Network. Her advocacy and policy work focuses on environmental justice for Black and Brown communities, operating on both state and national levels.

La’Meshia Whittington, Deputy Director

Advance North Carolina Deputy Director and NC Black Alliance Deputy Director of Programs, La’Meshia Whittington, was recently appointed to the NC Department of Environmental Quality’s Environmental Justice and Equity Advisory Board.

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is the lead stewardship agency for the protection of North Carolina’s environmental resources. The Environmental Justice and Equity Advisory Board assists DEQ in achieving and maintaining the fair and equal treatment and meaningful involvement of North Carolinians regardless of where they live, race, religion, or income regarding the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental protection laws, regulations, and policies.

Regarding the appointment, Whittington said, “It is an immeasurable honor to continue my service to the great people of North Carolina in this capacity to advance the goals of equity and liberation for Black, brown, low wealth, and rural communities facing environmental injustices every day. I am in deep gratitude for the support of my family, community, my team at the NC Black Alliance, and Sec. Elizabeth Biser, for your faith in my leadership.”

Advance North Carolina and six public health and environmental justice groups in Eastern North Carolina filed a petition seeking judicial review of the inadequate and negligent risk evaluation of 1,4-dioxane, a known carcinogen found in drinking water and consumer products, issued by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). 

The evaluation was finalized on January 8, 2021, days before the Biden Administration took office, and is based on the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), the nation’s principal law for reducing the risks of unsafe chemicals. The petition was filed in the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. 

The Biden Administration played no part in the flawed risk evaluation, and petitioners look forward to working with the new EPA leadership to redo the evaluation so it fully protects public health.   

Petitioners are deeply concerned about widespread 1,4-dioxane contamination of the Cape Fear and Haw Rivers and other water bodies that provide drinking water to hundreds of thousands of North Carolina residents. Drinking water supplies in the state have among the highest levels of 1,4-dioxane in the US. Many North Carolina communities are exposed to amounts of 1,4-dioxane in drinking water that EPA and other authorities deem an unacceptable cancer risk.   

Despite this threat to public health, EPA’s risk evaluation failed to address drinking water contaminated with 1,4-dioxane based on the legally questionable claim that this contributor to cancer risk is not within the scope of its responsibilities under TSCA. This gap in the evaluation deprives the public of a full understanding of the scope and severity of drinking water contamination in North Carolina and other impacted states and the need for EPA and states to take expeditious action to protect public health.  

1,4-dioxane is also a contaminant in household cleaning and personal care products that most Americans use every day. The Trump EPA initially refused to include these products in its evaluation. However, it reversed course in late 2020 after heavy lobbying from industry groups seeking EPA action under TSCA in order to block (or preempt) states from regulating 1,4-dioxane in consumer products.   

When asked about the public health threat and petition, La’Meshia Whittington, Deputy Director, Advance Carolina, stated, “In this Nation, countless BIPOC and low-wealth communities are faced daily with contaminated environments in their own backyards. Black Americans, specifically, face a 54% higher health burden than the overall population. It is a horrifying reality that even in household cleaning products, communities can’t escape environmental poisoning.”  

She continued that we are in this fight against 1,4 Dioxane because it is the moral thing to do, and we know historically people-of-color have seen 95% of their claims against polluters denied by the EPA. Everyone deserves to feel safe in their own home, the right to a healthy environment and access to poison-free products.

EPA obliged and rushed out a flawed and incomplete assessment finding that cleaning and personal products containing 1,4-dioxane do not present an unreasonable cancer risk to US consumers. 

In the Ninth Circuit, petitioners will demonstrate that this finding is scientifically and legally unsupportable and significantly understates real-world exposure to 1,4-dioxane in consumer products. The right conclusion is that these products do present an unreasonable risk of cancer and that EPA should act expeditiously under TSCA to protect consumers.

“I PROPOSE THAT we draw the maps to give a partisan advantage to 10 Republicans and three Democrats,” said North Carolina Rep. David Lewis, in 2016 in a legislative committee hearing, “because I do not believe it’s possible to draw a map with 11 Republicans and two Democrats.”

A bold admission made by now-former Rep. David Lewis. The notorious co-author of the worst gerrymanders in North Carolina’s history.

As many recall through media and years of litigation, Lewis, alongside the notorious Thomas Hoefeller and other henchmen legislators, together created unfair voting districts in North Carolina targeting communities-of-color and low-wealth populations. They were responsible for packing over half of North Carolina’s Historically Black Colleges & Universities into one single congressional district, Congressional District 12.

They didn’t stop there — they also targeted the area of the state with the largest African American and Indigenous population: Eastern North Carolina. Counties in the east were gerrymandered in a way that gave large dirty corporations more financial and political power than the communities. Due to these poisonous corporations, communities have faced increased illnesses, cancers and damaged land due to the negligence of said corporations especially amid major climate disasters that have exacerbated environmental impact.

When clear, environmental racism and diluting of votes through gerrymandering are combined, this creates environmental disenfranchisement.

This isn’t the first time former Rep. David Lewis has received a payout for his dirty deeds against North Carolinians. Lewis received a payout of over $30k from Big Pork corporate farms. The same Big Pork farm that directly benefited from Lewis’ co-authored Hog-Farm-Protection Bill HB467, deceptively named, because it served to protect the large corporate farms not local family farms or communities seeking restitution for damages and loss of life.

This election is critical. Voting for down-ballot is the direct lifeline to our communities. We must elect representatives who will champion the needs of the people. Black and Brown communities deserve restitution from these harmful corporations and a real plan to address health disparities, especially amid a pandemic and the aftermath of the impact on families and essential workers. All North Carolinians deserve equal access to the ballot, without the hindrance of gerrymanders. We deserve thriving economies with access to clean jobs.

This serves as an important reminder for us all on the importance of legislative leadership. With the end of David Lewis’ tenure of terror in the general assembly, let this also signal the end to environmental and economic disenfranchisement.