Latest news with #environmentaljustice
E&E News
4 days ago
- Business
- E&E News
EPA updates layoff plans for environmental justice staffers
EPA told some of its environmental justice employees when their last days at the agency will be, following weeks of ambiguity from court-ordered pauses. 'Consequently, you will be separated from the EPA effective 08/25/25,' according to a specific notice of reduction in force reviewed by POLITICO's E&E News sent by Assistant Deputy Administrator Travis Voyles late Friday afternoon. EPA spokesperson Carolyn Holran said the agency issued RIF 'notices to 50 EJ employees located in the Washington D.C. headquarters offices.' Advertisement The Friday notice says the employees affected 'will be eligible for severance pay' and laid out the procedural steps for appealing the RIF decision to the Merit Systems Protection Board 'if you believe your retention rights were violated.'
The Independent
23-07-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Healthy environment ruled a human right by world's top court, as campaigners hail ‘seismic' win
The world's top court has said a healthy environment is a human right, and governments could be violating international law if they fail to act on climate change in a landmark ruling for international law and environmental justice. The opinion by the International Court of Justice was welcomed by campaigners as a 'turning point' and a 'seismic win' that sets a precedent for thousands of legal cases against governments and fossil fuel companies. As judge Yuji Iwasawa delivered his opening remarks in The Hague on Wednesday, he warned of 'the urgent and existential threat posed by climate change' and said that greenhouse gas emissions are 'unequivocally caused by human activities which are not territorially limited.' "Climate change treaties establish stringent obligations on states," he said, adding that failing to comply with them was a breach of international law. "States must cooperate to achieve concrete emission reduction targets," Iwasawa said, as he read out the court's advisory opinion. He said that national climate plans must be of the highest ambition and collectively maintain standards to meet the aims of the 2015 Paris Agreement that include attempting to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit). Under international law, he said: "The human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment is essential for the enjoyment of other human rights." "Failure of a state to take appropriate action to protect the climate system ... may constitute an internationally wrongful act,' he said. Crowds had gathered outside the Peace Palace ahead of the ruling, chanting, 'What do we want? Climate justice! When do we want it? Now!' The ruling follows a legal campaign led by Vanuatu, which drew submissions from over 100 countries and organisations – making it the biggest case in the court's history. The case asks judges to clarify countries' legal obligations to prevent climate crisis -related harm, and the consequences they could face for failing to act. While the court's opinion is not legally binding, it is expected to influence future litigation and negotiations around the world, especially as countries prepare new national climate plans ahead of the COP30 summit in Brazil. The 500-page opinion is being hailed as a turning point in the fight against climate inaction. "Today, the tables have turned. The world's highest court provided us with a powerful new tool to protect people from the devastating impacts of the climate crisis — and to deliver justice for the harm their emissions have already caused," former UN human rights chief Mary Robinson said in a statement. 'This is a seismic win for climate justice,' said Christian Aid's global advocacy lead Mariana Paoli. 'The ICJ has made it crystal clear: big polluters can't dodge responsibility any longer.' Bill Hare, chief executive of Climate Analytics, said the court had reinforced the legal weight behind existing agreements. 'States have a responsibility to regulate private activity within their jurisdictions and they have a responsibility to all other states for the consequences of actions taken,' he said. 'This together means that countries have an obligation to limit, reduce and ultimately eliminate fossil fuel production.' From Vanuatu, which spearheaded the case, ActionAid's country manager Flora Vano said: 'This ruling is a powerful tool we can use to demand that those most responsible for this climate crisis be held accountable.' A panel of 15 judges was tasked with answering two questions: What are countries obliged to do under international law to protect the climate and environment from human-caused greenhouse gas emissions? Second, what are the legal consequences for governments when their acts, or lack of action, have significantly harmed the climate and environment? Small island developing states (SIDS), who launched the push for the ICJ opinion, argue that existing frameworks such as the Paris Agreement do not go far enough in defining responsibility. They have asked the court to draw from human rights law, the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and the wider body of international law to set a clear legal standard. 'For the world's most vulnerable, the upcoming advisory opinion... is a milestone after decades of our calls for international accountability,' the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) said in a statement ahead of the ruling. 'This advisory opinion brings to bear the responsibility of countries to urgently accelerate climate action and safeguard vulnerable nations whose fundamental rights are debilitated by a crisis we did not cause.' During the hearings, held in December last year, the court heard testimonies from almost 100 countries and 12 international organisations. Countries like Tuvalu and Zambia used their time before the court to detail the existential threats posed by sea-level rise and climate-linked drought. 'Tuvalu will not go quietly into the rising sea,' its delegation said. In the decade up to 2023, sea levels rose by a global average of around 4.3 centimetres (1.7 inches), with parts of the Pacific rising higher still. The world has also warmed 1.3 degrees Celsius (2.3 Fahrenheit) since preindustrial times because of the burning of fossil fuels. While countries like the UK and Germany argued that the Paris Agreement already provides sufficient legal direction, others – including France, Spain and many Global South nations – urged the court to go further. The United States and Russia, both of whom are major petroleum-producing states, are staunchly opposed to the court mandating emissions reductions. Spain cited the European Court of Human Rights ' recent ruling recognising that governments have human rights obligations in the face of the climate crisis, while France said the ICJ opinion could help clarify international law in the fight against climate impacts. In its submission, Palau, the chair of AOSIS, presented evidence of 'worrying warming' in its waters and warned that high-end sea-level rise scenarios could leave large parts of the country underwater by 2100. The opinion, AOSIS said, 'can make clear that countries' duties to live up to their commitments are irrefutable'. AOSIS called the moment 'an opportunity to restore trust and correct a grave injustice,' urging countries to match the courage shown by climate-vulnerable nations with political will. The ruling comes just a day after UN Secretary-General António Guterres declared that 'the fossil fuel age is flailing and failing' and called for 'deep, rapid, and sustained' emissions cuts. 'The clean energy future is no longer a promise. It's a fact,' Guterres said. 'Countries that cling to fossil fuels are not protecting their economies, they are sabotaging them.' The ICJ's ruling will be advisory but carries symbolic and legal weight. Supporters of the case say the ruling could strengthen future climate lawsuits by grounding them more firmly in international law, and by making it harder for states to ignore climate harm that crosses borders. Oxfam's Chiara Liguori said the opinion 'injects strong new impetus into negotiations at the COP30 Summit in Brazil this November' and urged wealthy nations like the UK to accept their legal obligations. 'This is not a wish list – it is international law,' she said. With nearly 3,000 climate-related lawsuits filed globally across 60 countries, the ICJ's interpretation could shape how courts everywhere respond to future claims. Lorenzo Cotula, principal researcher at IIED, said the court had delivered long-overdue legal clarity. 'The weight of evidence showing governments are legally obliged to fight climate change is now as overwhelming as the science showing how our planet is changing,' he said. But Cotula also warned that international treaties protecting fossil fuel investments may obstruct progress. 'The system governing investor–state relations should be reformed as part of the response to climate change,' he said. 'The ICJ's advisory opinion provides a basis for that reform.'
The Independent
22-07-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
In the nation's poorest Congressional district, federal funding cuts create perfect storm
On a sweltering summer day, children leap between rocks along the Bronx River while cyclists pedal on newly paved paths. Kayaks rest on what was once an industrial dumping ground, now transformed into a bustling promenade along the city's only freshwater river. The Bronx River Greenway, a series of stitched-together waterfront parks built atop once largely abandoned and polluted wasteland, is a hard-fought victory for the country's poorest congressional district — one that locals call a 'beacon of environmental justice' built by federal dollars and water-pollution settlements from the borough's wealthier neighbors. Now, like thousands of nonprofits around the country, this organization's future is in jeopardy. The Trump administration's sweeping federal grant cuts have left nonprofits nationwide and the communities they serve in precarious straits. But few places face as stark a reckoning as the Bronx, where federal funding has proved indispensable for revitalizing green spaces, protecting survivors of domestic violence, and preventing youth violence. Over 84% of the 342 nonprofits based in the Bronx rely on federal grants now at risk, according to an analysis by the Urban Institute. It's a significant increase from the 70% of groups vulnerable to government defunding statewide. In all but two of the country's 437 congressional districts, the typical nonprofit could not cover its expenses without government grants. Nonprofits have increasingly served as contractors for government services — like operating homeless shelters — since the 1960s. In the Bronx, if such grants were to disappear entirely, the borough's nonprofits could face a collective deficit of nearly 30% — cuts that have begun to force layoffs and austerity on dozens of groups connecting Bronxites to low-cost health care, food assistance, and preschool slots. 'When America sneezes, the Bronx gets the flu,' said U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres, the Democrat who represents the district. 'I think we in the Bronx feel we have been and will continue to be the hardest hit by the impact of a Trump presidency.' From revival to reversal Nestled in a corner of parkland atop the site of an abandoned amusement park, the headquarters of the Bronx River Alliance is among the borough's greenest buildings, boasting nature classrooms, samples of the river's flora and fauna, and a storage space teeming with kayaks and canoes. In March, the group received formal notice that it would lose $1.5 million in federal grants promised under the Inflation Reduction Act last year for improving water quality and climate-resilience projects. After years of rising momentum, cubicles now sit empty. Leaders held off on hiring in anticipation of cuts, and now they don't know if they'll be able to fill those roles. 'I've met some of the folks who were pulling cars out of the river in the '70s and '80s,' said Daniel Ranells, the group's deputy director of programs. Back then, the area was a 'dumping ground' so inundated with industrial waste, tires, abandoned cars, ovens, and microwaves that 'folks didn't really understand there was a river there.' That has shifted dramatically in recent years thanks in part to decades of federal investment. Just south of its headquarters, the organization restored salt marshes along the riverbanks of a shuttered concrete plant. In 2007, the first beaver appeared on the Bronx River in over 200 years — named 'José the Beaver' in honor of former Congressman José E. Serrano, who helped direct millions in federal funds to groups dedicated to the river's restoration. 'The Bronx River is a shining light of environmental justice,' Ranells said, and millions in federal funding over the years has helped 'make it a destination' after years of neglect. Progress frozen Now staffers at the Bronx River Alliance describe a sense of 'whiplash' in seeing hard-fought funds dry up and grant language scrubbed of any allusions to racial or environmental justice. The Bronx River Alliance has joined other nonprofits in suing the Trump administration to unfreeze funds, but the uncertainty has already disrupted years of planning, a reality that has rippled across the neighborhood, leaving few organizations untouched. Up the street from the Alliance, the office of the Osborne Association, a group that has worked to prevent youth violence for nearly a century, has grown quieter. In April, an email from the Bureau of Justice Assistance stated the remaining $666,000 of a $2 million grant 'no longer effectuates department priorities.' The cut thrust the nonprofit into 'triage mode,' said Osborne president Jonathan Monsalve, who was forced to lay off three staffers and reduce the number of participants in a diversion program offering young adults facing gun charges an alternative to jail time. 'It's a lifeline for young people, and it's no longer there for 25 more of them,' Monsalve said. 'Without another alternative, it's 25 young people that will see prison or jail time, and that's incredibly frustrating.' Why the Bronx bears the brunt The Department of Justice has canceled over $810 million in similar grants to nonprofits working in violence prevention. The Environmental Protection Agency attempted to cancel $2 billion in grants for environmental justice work. Nonprofit leaders say the cuts hit hardest in the places that can afford them the least. In the Bronx, almost 30 percent of residents live in poverty, the vast majority of whom are Black or Latino, and nearly one in six schoolchildren experience homelessness every year. 'We've had decades of disinvestment in these communities, and we had been starting to see some meaningful investment and community-based solutions that were actually working,' said Monsalve. 'And then all of a sudden that support just gets yanked away.' The federal government, he said, is essentially telling these communities: 'You aren't a priority anymore. You don't fit the plan.' For decades, a million-dollar federal grant allowed the victim-service organization Safe Horizon to operate a program that stationed domestic violence advocates in the borough's criminal court. When the grant came up for renewal this year, it came with new restrictions that CEO Liz Roberts described as 'so extreme, so broad, so radical' that the organization chose to walk away rather than accept conditions which would have prohibited supporting transgender survivors or treating domestic violence as a systemic issue. It was an agonizing decision given the volume of domestic violence in the Bronx, Roberts said. It means that hundreds of survivors 'may not have the opportunity to talk to an advocate about their options, about their rights, or about their safety,' she said. Filling the void Roberts said she's bracing for more cuts — federal funds make up about 24% of the group's budget — that could force the closure of shelters or reductions to a citywide hotline. As nonprofits nationwide grapple with similar losses, Roberts said private philanthropy and local governments will need to 'make some smart and thoughtful and principled decisions about where they can help to fill those gaps.' In places like the Bronx, finding alternative funding is especially challenging. 'The not-for-profit sector is often fragile, and nowhere more so than the Bronx,' Torres said of the district he represents, where organizations tend to be more dependent on government funding than wealthier enclaves. 'Organizations spent hundreds of thousands of dollars simply to apply for a contract and hired staff and made all these plans only to see the written contract disappear,' Torres said. 'It's deeply destabilizing.' _____ Sara Herschander is a senior reporter at the Chronicle of Philanthropy, where you can read the full article. This article was provided to The Associated Press by the Chronicle of Philanthropy as part of a partnership to cover philanthropy and nonprofits supported by the Lilly Endowment. The Chronicle is solely responsible for the content. For all of AP's philanthropy coverage, visit
Washington Post
22-07-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
In the Bronx, the nation's poorest Congressional district, federal funding cuts create perfect storm
NEW YORK — On a sweltering summer day, children leap between rocks along the Bronx River while cyclists pedal on newly paved paths. Kayaks rest on what was once an industrial dumping ground, now transformed into a bustling promenade along the city's only freshwater river. The Bronx River Greenway, a series of stitched-together waterfront parks built atop once largely abandoned and polluted wasteland, is a hard-fought victory for the country's poorest congressional district — one that locals call a 'beacon of environmental justice' built by federal dollars and water-pollution settlements from the borough's wealthier neighbors.
Yahoo
22-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
In the Bronx, the nation's poorest Congressional district, federal funding cuts create perfect storm
NEW YORK (AP) — On a sweltering summer day, children leap between rocks along the Bronx River while cyclists pedal on newly paved paths. Kayaks rest on what was once an industrial dumping ground, now transformed into a bustling promenade along the city's only freshwater river. The Bronx River Greenway, a series of stitched-together waterfront parks built atop once largely abandoned and polluted wasteland, is a hard-fought victory for the country's poorest congressional district — one that locals call a 'beacon of environmental justice' built by federal dollars and water-pollution settlements from the borough's wealthier neighbors. Now, like thousands of nonprofits around the country, this organization's future is in jeopardy. The Trump administration's sweeping federal grant cuts have left nonprofits nationwide and the communities they serve in precarious straits. But few places face as stark a reckoning as the Bronx, where federal funding has proved indispensable for revitalizing green spaces, protecting survivors of domestic violence, and preventing youth violence. Over 84% of the 342 nonprofits based in the Bronx rely on federal grants now at risk, according to an analysis by the Urban Institute. It's a significant increase from the 70% of groups vulnerable to government defunding statewide. In all but two of the country's 437 congressional districts, the typical nonprofit could not cover its expenses without government grants. Nonprofits have increasingly served as contractors for government services — like operating homeless shelters — since the 1960s. In the Bronx, if such grants were to disappear entirely, the borough's nonprofits could face a collective deficit of nearly 30% — cuts that have begun to force layoffs and austerity on dozens of groups connecting Bronxites to low-cost health care, food assistance, and preschool slots. 'When America sneezes, the Bronx gets the flu,' said U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres, the Democrat who represents the district. 'I think we in the Bronx feel we have been and will continue to be the hardest hit by the impact of a Trump presidency.' From revival to reversal Nestled in a corner of parkland atop the site of an abandoned amusement park, the headquarters of the Bronx River Alliance is among the borough's greenest buildings, boasting nature classrooms, samples of the river's flora and fauna, and a storage space teeming with kayaks and canoes. In March, the group received formal notice that it would lose $1.5 million in federal grants promised under the Inflation Reduction Act last year for improving water quality and climate-resilience projects. After years of rising momentum, cubicles now sit empty. Leaders held off on hiring in anticipation of cuts, and now they don't know if they'll be able to fill those roles. 'I've met some of the folks who were pulling cars out of the river in the '70s and '80s,' said Daniel Ranells, the group's deputy director of programs. Back then, the area was a 'dumping ground' so inundated with industrial waste, tires, abandoned cars, ovens, and microwaves that 'folks didn't really understand there was a river there.' That has shifted dramatically in recent years thanks in part to decades of federal investment. Just south of its headquarters, the organization restored salt marshes along the riverbanks of a shuttered concrete plant. In 2007, the first beaver appeared on the Bronx River in over 200 years — named 'José the Beaver' in honor of former Congressman José E. Serrano, who helped direct millions in federal funds to groups dedicated to the river's restoration. 'The Bronx River is a shining light of environmental justice,' Ranells said, and millions in federal funding over the years has helped 'make it a destination' after years of neglect. Progress frozen Now staffers at the Bronx River Alliance describe a sense of 'whiplash' in seeing hard-fought funds dry up and grant language scrubbed of any allusions to racial or environmental justice. The Bronx River Alliance has joined other nonprofits in suing the Trump administration to unfreeze funds, but the uncertainty has already disrupted years of planning, a reality that has rippled across the neighborhood, leaving few organizations untouched. Up the street from the Alliance, the office of the Osborne Association, a group that has worked to prevent youth violence for nearly a century, has grown quieter. In April, an email from the Bureau of Justice Assistance stated the remaining $666,000 of a $2 million grant 'no longer effectuates department priorities.' The cut thrust the nonprofit into 'triage mode,' said Osborne president Jonathan Monsalve, who was forced to lay off three staffers and reduce the number of participants in a diversion program offering young adults facing gun charges an alternative to jail time. 'It's a lifeline for young people, and it's no longer there for 25 more of them,' Monsalve said. 'Without another alternative, it's 25 young people that will see prison or jail time, and that's incredibly frustrating.' Why the Bronx bears the brunt The Department of Justice has canceled over $810 million in similar grants to nonprofits working in violence prevention. The Environmental Protection Agency attempted to cancel $2 billion in grants for environmental justice work. Nonprofit leaders say the cuts hit hardest in the places that can afford them the least. In the Bronx, almost 30 percent of residents live in poverty, the vast majority of whom are Black or Latino, and nearly one in six schoolchildren experience homelessness every year. 'We've had decades of disinvestment in these communities, and we had been starting to see some meaningful investment and community-based solutions that were actually working,' said Monsalve. 'And then all of a sudden that support just gets yanked away.' The federal government, he said, is essentially telling these communities: 'You aren't a priority anymore. You don't fit the plan.' For decades, a million-dollar federal grant allowed the victim-service organization Safe Horizon to operate a program that stationed domestic violence advocates in the borough's criminal court. When the grant came up for renewal this year, it came with new restrictions that CEO Liz Roberts described as 'so extreme, so broad, so radical' that the organization chose to walk away rather than accept conditions which would have prohibited supporting transgender survivors or treating domestic violence as a systemic issue. It was an agonizing decision given the volume of domestic violence in the Bronx, Roberts said. It means that hundreds of survivors 'may not have the opportunity to talk to an advocate about their options, about their rights, or about their safety,' she said. Filling the void Roberts said she's bracing for more cuts — federal funds make up about 24% of the group's budget — that could force the closure of shelters or reductions to a citywide hotline. As nonprofits nationwide grapple with similar losses, Roberts said private philanthropy and local governments will need to 'make some smart and thoughtful and principled decisions about where they can help to fill those gaps.' In places like the Bronx, finding alternative funding is especially challenging. 'The not-for-profit sector is often fragile, and nowhere more so than the Bronx,' Torres said of the district he represents, where organizations tend to be more dependent on government funding than wealthier enclaves. 'Organizations spent hundreds of thousands of dollars simply to apply for a contract and hired staff and made all these plans only to see the written contract disappear,' Torres said. 'It's deeply destabilizing.' _____ Sara Herschander is a senior reporter at the Chronicle of Philanthropy, where you can read the full article. This article was provided to The Associated Press by the Chronicle of Philanthropy as part of a partnership to cover philanthropy and nonprofits supported by the Lilly Endowment. The Chronicle is solely responsible for the content. For all of AP's philanthropy coverage, visit Sara Herschander Of The Chronicle Of Philanthropy, The Associated Press Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
