Millions More For “Environmental Justice”

It’s been a spectacular month so far for grant recipients of President Obama’s costly “environmental justice” program, which keeps doling out millions to help “underserved” and minority communities obtain the same protection from health and environmental hazards as their wealthy counterparts.

So what if the national debt is a gargantuan $16 trillion and growing? In 2011, Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) allocated upwards of $10 million for these minority causes and the cash flow remains strong this year. In the last few days alone the EPA announced that over $2 million will go to several justice programs that include “indoor air quality projects” for minority and low-income families, asthma-friendly homes and education and the development of “solutions to local health and environmental issues in communities overburdened by harmful pollution.”

Here’s how it works; the EPA gives money to leftwing groups—including some dedicated to helping illegal immigrants—that teach black, Latino and indigenous folks how to recycle, reduce carbon emissions through “weatherization” and participate in “green jobs” training. The agency even funded a $7 million study to determine how pollution, combined with stress and other social factors, affects people in “poor and underserved communities.”

The latest round of allocations will go to organizations that will “educate, empower and enable their communities to understand and address local environmental and public health issues,” according to an EPA announcement. Another chunk of cash will go to a nonprofit that will teach low-income public school students in California asthma self-management skills.

 More than $1 million will go to organizations and local governments that will try to develop indoor air quality projects that protect the needy in classrooms, communities and homes. This includes “asthma-friendly homes” for poor minorities and special training to educate the primary adults in the life of an asthmatic child.

All this will help the administration meet its goal of bringing environmental justice to America. Here is an explanation via the EPA: “The principles of environmental justice uphold the idea that all communities overburdened by pollution – particularly minority, low income and indigenous communities – deserve the same degree of protection from environmental and health hazards, equal access to the decision-making process and a healthy environment in which to live, learn and work. “