The Infrastructure Bill Is a Trillion-Dollar Test for Environmental Justice
A new federal framework for ensuring racial equity will guide the implementation of the bipartisan infrastructure plan, says EPA Administrator Michael Regan.
Michael Regan, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, at a news conference in June.
Photographer: Sarah Silbiger/UPIOn Tuesday, the U.S. Senate passed a $1 trillion infrastructure plan, with $550 billion in new spending. Along with the usual investments in roads and bridges, the bill calls for upgrading electric power grids, expanding rail and public transit, improving broadband networks, replacing lead pipes and boosting traffic safety. It also provides funding for the construction and improvement of decentralized wastewater systems, to help low-income households in mostly rural areas.
These are environmental justice issues, and questions abound about how to ensure that this new funding — if it passes through Congress whole — and the jobs created from it will be vested in communities that have historically been marginalized in large-scale government projects.