Biden establishes Office of Environmental Justice, blasts GOP attempts to roll back IRA

President Biden on Friday swiped at Republican calls to end clean energy tax cuts as part of a debt limit increase as he signed an executive order creating a new White House Office of Environmental Justice.

The order, which Biden signed in a Rose Garden ceremony Friday, will create the office within the White House Council on Environmental Quality to coordinate environmental justice initiatives across federal agencies.

Biden’s order also instructed federal agencies to take steps to mitigate adverse climate effects on communities and requires them to notify the affected community in case of any release of toxic substances from a federal building.

The president, noting the timing in proximity to Earth Day, added “we have to do a great deal more than just reflect, we have to commit ourselves to action.”