Panel mulls lack of diversity in environmental movement

February 09, 2022

House Natural Resources Chair Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) warned yesterday that the environmental movement could see its impacts lessened without a dedicated effort to improve diversity among its ranks, including both advocates and the foundations that fund their work.

During a more than three-hour hearing yesterday, the panel heard ideas on how to increase participation in environmental activism. Witnesses talked about dispensing with "jargon" and paring down the federal grant application process.

"Since the inception of America's mainstream environmental movement, it has generally been dominated by male, while, affluent leadership," Grijalva said in his opening remarks. "Early conservation efforts in this country were rooted in a troubling ideology of racism and colonialism, a legacy that weighs down efforts to address the most pressing environmental issues that we face as a country."

At the outset of the hearing, Grijalva recalled being challenged for his desire to serve on the Natural Resources panel following his arrival on Capitol Hill in 2003, and facing questions about why he wouldn't rather focus on "health care, civil rights, education."

"These preconceptions and stereotypes about people of color — whether they are members of Congress or not — have prevented policymakers from achieving better environmental and public health outcomes," Grijalva said.

He later warned that: "It is clear that mainstream environmental movement's traditional strategy risks losing relevance and impact as our nation becomes more diverse and our communities are increasingly challenged and ravaged by climate change."

During the hearing, U.S. Climate Action Net Executive Director Keya Chatterjee urged changes to both federal grant-making processes and private institutions that issue grants.

"Nonprofits without resources are at a significant disadvantage" under the current structure, Chatterjee said, pointing to time-consuming application processes.

She also urged grant-issuers to consider instituting a "JEDI checklist" — the term refers to justice, equity, diversity and inclusion — for all operations, as well as setting budget caps to ensure smaller organizations can remain competitive.

Chatterjee also urged federal and private grant-issuers to identify projects "that result in systemic remedies and don't just address an immediate issue."

"For example, don't just address flooding, address the root cause of why communities of color were pushed onto vulnerable flooding lands; address how the climate crisis is playing out in communities that are repeatedly flooding," she said.

Republican lawmakers pushed back against the hearing's basis, attempting to focus the session instead on energy production on public lands.

"The Biden administration, with the support of environmental groups, is so focused on environmental justice [and] constantly attacking the oil and gas industry and threatening our nation's domestic supply of energy, ultimately driving up energy cost," said Arkansas Rep. Bruce Westerman, the panel's top Republican.

Westerman went on to criticize the Biden administration for what he called a failure to engage Navajo Nation members before declaring a pause on new oil and gas leases near Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico earlier this year (Greenwire, Jan. 5).

"The Biden administration's decision surely did not account for any diversity of thought," Westerman said. "If we are serious about achieving more diverse and inclusive environmental policies we must ensure that the communities impacted by those decisions are given a seat at the table."

California Rep. Tom McClintock (R) also took issue with the hearing, arguing that grants that benefit environmental projects amount to "gigantic slush funds," although he did not provide specific examples.

"Let's stop throwing money at whatever group happens to be in political favor and start being as frugal with it as the families that actually earn that money are," McClintock said.

California Rep. Jared Huffman (D) pushed back, asserting: "Let us hope that this newfound concern is sincere and not just a pretext to advance the usual agenda of the fossil fuel and mining industries."


By:  Jennifer Yachnin
Source: E&E Daily