Tejada

Looking forward to being part of some great conversations in Baltimore on September 30. Thanks to hashtag#BloombergAmericanHealthSummit25 for bringing this conversation together.

🌏🚨NEW ISSUE ALERT 🚨🌏

Volume 67 Issue 04 of Environment Magazine is out now, featuring articles from:
@billmckibben.bsky.social
Deborah Gordon from @rockymtninst.bsky.social
@maddyorr.bsky.social
and @mtejada24.bsky.social

Read every article online now, click the link in bio!

Last month, people from across the country came together to share powerful stories of broken promises that underscored the urgent need for the Trump administration to return control of America’s future to local communities. We’ll keep raising our voices to put communities back in the driver’s seat.

PLEASE HELP ME IN SPREADING THIS THROUGH YOUR NETWORKS!!!!

You’re invited to a town hall! Release the Funds: A National Conversation about Putting America’s Future Back in the Hands of Communities

REGISTER HERE: nrdc-org.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

This map displays environmental justice (EJ) grants the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has made through the Inflation Reduction Act since 2024. The EPA Administrator previously announced his intention to cancel many of the agency's grants and contracts and their status is quickly changing: some recipients have lost access to funds, received notices of termination, or find themselves uncertain of their status. This map is not comprehensive and will be updated periodically as additional information becomes available, but what is displayed here is a large number of the potentially affected grants.

EPA’s environment justice grants under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) were developed according to high standards and in strict adherence with federal laws, policies, and regulations. The programs were designed to be transparent, accountable, and impactful. They're being targeted by EPA and DOGE.

From EPA Staff: An Open Letter to the American Public • The Revelator “We cannot stand by and allow this to happen,” write current and former EPA employees. “We need to hold this administration accountable.”

EPA's EJ sheroes and heroes speaking #truthtopower. So proud of this crew.
therevelator.org/epa-open-let...

President Trump and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin have launched an unprecedented attack on the EPA’s mission to protect the environment and public health.

Their plans include repealing standards vital to combatting the climate crisis and shuttering the EPA's environmental justice office.

E.P.A. Plans to Close All Environmental Justice Offices (Gift Article) An internal memo directs the closure of offices designed to ease the heavy pollution faced by poor and minority communities.

“This doesn’t make America healthier or greater. It makes us sicker, smaller and uglier than we have been in at least a generation.” @mtejada24.bsky.social‬ @nytimes.com #environmentaljustice www.nytimes.com/2025/03/11/c...

#truthtopower please share. We need to lift up people’s voices, faces, and stories from their communities. We need to fight back and remember we are part of a community that is large and strong, we can’t let them bully us into silence. EJ staff speak #truthtopower. EJ communities speak #truthtopower

Rollbacks Gut Environmental Justice Gains, Former EPA Official Says - Inside Climate News “The worst outcome I feared is happening,” says Matthew Tejada, the former director of EPA’s Office of Environmental Justice, reflecting on changes the Trump administration has brought to the agency.

EJ at EPA is still being shredded. Small unknown numbers of staff being called back for unknown reasons is not a resumption of the EJ program. Recipients of EJ grants are being bullied and their awards ripped from their hands. insideclimatenews.org/news/1003202...

Here it is - they started by going after the leading edge of environmental protection by devastating the EJ office. And here comes the real point. They're shutting our government down. It's not about to happen. It is in process. This is a government shutdown.

Trump Says E.P.A. Layoffs Will Cut Staff by 65 Percent The president said Lee Zeldin, the E.P.A. administrator, was planning mass layoffs. Agency officials said the cuts would make it impossible to carry out their mission.

This an EPA Shutdown Plan.

Reagan's 1st EPA head, Ann Gorsuch, tried it. Americans hated it. Reagan fired her.

Gingrich tried it. Americans hated it. Clinton beat him with "Medicare, Medicaid, Education, and the Environment."

Won't work better this time. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/26/c...

America, this is what environmental justice is — and what we all stand to lose ​I ran the US Environmental Protection Agency’s environmental justice program for almost 11 years. It’s not what this presidential administration says it is.

Comms people tell me to stick to LinkedIn, and something I did there blew up (a little bit) and has been published. Gonna keep trying on BlueSky too though! www.ehn.org/epa-environm...

Weather be damned we need to all turn out!!!

YouTube video by Senator Markey Senator Markey Hosts Press Conference on Trump and Musk’s Funding Cut-Off

Even the old timers at EPA can't recall a senator protesting outside the building. Proud to stand with @markey.senate.gov, @repstansbury.bsky.social, @repyassansari.bsky.social, and other members of congress and colleagues defending our brave EPA EJ staff! www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTFb...

4/4

3/4

2/4

So much happening right now in our country and government. As the former longtime leader of EPA's EJ program, I want to make sure folks understand what the job of the EJ civil servant is. So this is long but...I had things to say.

Not the hottest idea in environmentalism. This is generations of effort - people's lives, passions, energies - to make our country and democracy and society better. To finally move us past racism and bigotry and sacrificing whole communities. This is more than the environment.

This is a loss for all of us. It is a loss for our society to be better. It is a loss for our democracy to be better. It is a loss for our country to finally be one of equality and fairness. It is a loss we cannot afford to accept.

This is a loss for all of us. It is a loss for our society to be better. It is a loss for our democracy to be better. It is a loss for our country to finally be one of equality and fairness. It is a loss we cannot afford to accept.

Trump moves to shutter environmental offices across the government The administration plans to close the Environmental Protection Agency’s environmental justice office and remake the Justice Department’s environmental division.

Donald Trump promised to deliver ‘the cleanest air and water on the planet,’ but instead he and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin are implementing Project 2025’s plan to shut down the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights, 1/5: www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...

Thousands of EPA projects across the country have been frozen out of their bank accounts for over a week – that means they are furloughing staff and stopping work to support clean air, clean water, and environmental cleanup. Follow along for some examples of the #FundingFreeze…

Up to $50 billion in EPA funds are currently frozen across programs including:
+Brownfields
+Clean School Bus
+Clean Water and Drinking Water SRFs
+Climate Pollution Reduction Grants
+EJ Community Change
+Solar4All
+Superfund
I.e., every program in this report: www.epa.gov/system/files...
🔌💡 10/X

The illegal funding freeze still in effect is an incredible waste of taxpayer dollars. Across the country, projects are pausing construction and laying off staff. This will slow work to replace lead pipes, install clean energy, recover from storms, and clean up contaminated land.
🔌💡 9/X

In response, newyorkstateag.bsky.social led 22 states in suing Donald Trump and the federal agencies to reinstate the legal flow of funds. As of Friday afternoon, I expect the judge to issue such an order compelling EPA and others to turn funding back on.
www.courtlistener.com/docket/69585...
🔌💡 8/X

The judge’s order stayed implementation of the OMB memo but not the Executive Order itself. OMB withdrew the memo but EPA and other agencies continued to block all funds by pointing to the authority of the EO. The WH Press Secretary made clear that the freeze was still in effect.
🔌💡 7/X

Judge pauses Trump's federal funding freeze as confusion and frustration spread A federal judge has paused a sweeping new plan from the Trump administration to halt categories of federal spending.

On Jan. 28, several lawsuits were filed to stop the funding freeze from taking effect. U.S. District Judge AliKhan issued such an order, which led to widespread reporting that the freeze was over. This was NOT TRUE - funds were still frozen across the government.
www.npr.org/2025/01/28/n...
🔌💡 6/X

On Jan. 27, OMB issued M-25-13. This memo directed agencies to “pause” all activities related to “assistance for...DEI, woke gender ideology, and the green new deal” by 5pm on Tuesday. EPA's CFO then issued an internal memo immediately freezing all BIL & IRA funds.
dcg.usc.edu/wp-content/u...
🔌💡 5/X