The Biden-Harris administration announced on Wednesday that it is establishing a taxpayer-funded “environmental justice” jobs training program.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in conjunction with AmeriCorps, is creating the “Environmental Justice Climate Corps,” a $25 million program designed to “open doors” for people seeking careers in “environmental justice,” which is essentially the combination of left-wing social justice ideology and environmentalism. The initiative announced Wednesday is part of the administration’s American Climate Corps program, which the White House established via executive action after it failed to make it into what eventually became the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), President Joe Biden’s signature climate law.
The Environmental Justice Climate Corps “will put more than 250 American Climate Corps members to work over the next three years providing technical assistance to community-based organizations in environmental justice communities – helping them access resources to carry out locally driven projects that reduce pollution, increase community climate resilience, improve public health and safety, and build community capacity to address environmental and climate justice challenges,” according to the White House. Participants will receive an allowance that equates to a wage of roughly $25 per hour, and they will also be reimbursed for some living expenses.
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“Environmental Justice Climate Corps members will receive on-the-ground training on environmental justice issues, federal funding opportunities, and federal funding processes to support communities that have historically been overburdened by pollution,” an EPA spokesperson said in a statement shared with the Daily Caller News Foundation. “For example, Environmental Justice Climate Corps members could host workshops with community-based nonprofits in their communities to explain potential federal funding sources for community-driven clean energy projects. They could also assist communities that have received federal funding for projects to help them understand and comply with reporting requirements related to grants.”
“Our partnership is a first-of-its-kind effort within the federal government to expand pathways into environmental justice careers,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said of the new program. “This program will create opportunities for young people through President Biden’s American Climate Corps that will help folks in overburdened communities access and benefit from historic funding secured under the President’s Investing in America agenda.”
Regan and AmeriCorps CEO Michael Smith will talk about the new program during an upcoming panel discussion at Climate Week New York City, a week-long summit attended by numerous other political and business elites, according to the White House.
An earlier iteration of the American Climate Corps did not make it into what became the IRA, largely because Republicans opposed it over concerns about its price tag, according to The Associated Press. Some House Democrats requested $132 billion for the program in the IRA before its removal from the legislation, and Biden’s initial plan budgeted $10 billion for the initiative.
Despite the program’s omission from the IRA, several Democrats, including New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey, called on Biden to set up the American Climate Corps via executive action, according to the AP.
The EPA and AmeriCorps did not respond immediately to requests for comment.
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