Republican attorneys general from 23 states filed a petition for rulemaking with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) demanding the agency weaken regulations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, attacking one of the country’s most important environmental justice tools. Title VI prohibits federal fund recipients from discriminating based on race, color, or national origin. Residents can petition the EPA to enforce Title VI against state agencies that intentionally discriminate or allow disparate impacts on legally protected communities and seek relief from harm.

The petition was filed on April 16, and comes some three months after the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana issued a preliminary injunction restricting the EPA’s and the Department of Justice, from imposing or enforcing disparate impacted requirements under Title VI against Louisiana and its agencies.

“Everyone should be alarmed by these outrageous efforts from states like Florida, Texas, and Louisiana, and their attempts to eviscerate civil rights protections just to make it easier for industrial polluters to continue with business as usual,” said Andre Segura, vice president of litigation at Earthjustice. “The fact is, many of the states that have signed the petition have historically allowed these harmful facilities to be placed in predominantly Black and brown communities, without regard for the health and safety of residents. These decades-old Title VI regulations are critical tools for the federal government to use to ensure that funding is not used to perpetuate this toxic legacy, and the EPA should swiftly reject this petition.”

There are more than 50 pending Title VI cases, and hundreds have been filed over the years. However, certain states are challenging their Title VI obligations to entrench their longstanding and deeply discriminatory environmental policies. Late last year, Michigan and the EPA entered a watered-down Title VI agreement while Flint’s Black residents face disproportionately high health harms due to industrial air pollution in the area. Similarly, Louisiana has been fighting Title VI allegations in Cancer Alley, and in January won a preliminary injunction restricting the EPA and the Department of Justice from imposing Title VI against Louisiana and its state agencies.