Environmental-Justice

Department of Justice Eliminates 50-Year-Old Disparate Impact Standard from Civil Rights Enforcement, Requiring Proof of Intentional Discrimination

| Importance: 10/10

The Department of Justice issued a final rule eliminating disparate impact liability from Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, ending five decades of civil rights protections that allowed enforcement against policies producing racially discriminatory outcomes without proof of discriminatory …

Pam Bondi Harmeet Dhillon Department of Justice civil-rights doj legal discrimination regulation +6 more
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Trump administration purges 8,000+ climate web pages from federal agencies

| Importance: 6/10

Within first two weeks of Trump’s term, administration removed over 8,000 web pages from 12+ government websites including EPA removing “Climate Change” from homepage navigation and EJScreen environmental justice tool. NOAA climate data also targeted. 70% more changes than first …

Trump Administration EPA NOAA CDC Environmental Data and Governance Initiative climate-science information-suppression website-removal environmental-justice
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Trump Reverses Dakota Access Pipeline Denial, Orders Expedited Approval

| Importance: 9/10

Just four days after taking office, President Donald Trump signed an executive memorandum on January 24, 2017, directing the Army Corps of Engineers to expedite approval and review of the Dakota Access Pipeline, reversing the Obama administration’s December 2016 decision to halt construction …

Donald Trump Energy Transfer Partners Kelcy Warren Army Corps of Engineers Standing Rock Sioux Tribe environmental regulatory-capture corporate-corruption lobbying environmental-justice +2 more
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Law Enforcement Attacks Standing Rock Protesters With Water Cannons in Subfreezing Temperatures

| Importance: 8/10

Morton County Sheriff’s Department and allied law enforcement agencies attack approximately 400 peaceful water protectors attempting to cross Backwater Bridge near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation with water cannons, tear gas, rubber bullets, and concussion grenades in temperatures as low …

Morton County Sheriff's Department Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Mandan Rural Fire Department Standing Rock Medic and Healer Council Energy Transfer Partners +3 more police-violence indigenous-rights environmental-justice corporate-power excessive-force +2 more
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Standing Rock: Private Security and Police Attack Dakota Access Pipeline Water Protectors

| Importance: 8/10

On September 3, 2016, Standing Rock Sioux tribal members and water protectors reported the destruction of sacred burial sites by Dakota Access Pipeline construction crews, leading to violent confrontations between private security contractors and demonstrators. Security workers deployed attack dogs …

Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Energy Transfer Partners Private Security Contractors Morton County Sheriff's Department Army Corps of Engineers environmental environmental-justice corporate-corruption police-violence indigenous-rights +1 more
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BP Agrees to $20 Billion Gulf Coast Claims Fund Amid Deepwater Horizon Fallout

| Importance: 8/10

Under intense pressure from the Obama administration and Congress, BP agreed to establish a $20 billion independent claims fund to compensate victims of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The fund, administered by Kenneth Feinberg, represented an unprecedented corporate commitment to environmental …

BP (British Petroleum) Barack Obama Tony Hayward Kenneth Feinberg Gulf Coast Claims Facility +2 more compensation-fund corporate-accountability environmental-justice bp-deepwater-horizon obama-administration
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