Highlight: Biden Administration Announces Environmental Justice Advisory Council Members

On a day of much climate action, the White House announced Monday the members of its brand-new Environmental Justice Advisory Council. This announcement is a win for climate activists and minority communities, as environmental justice has only recently gained national attention.

President Biden signed executive orders related to climate change yesterday in the State Dining Room at the White House (Anna Moneymaker/Picture Alliance/Consolidated News Photos/Newscom)

The White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council (WHEJAC) was founded in President Biden's Executive Order on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad and it is funded and administrated by the EPA. The WHEJAC will advise the Council on Environmental Quality on how to address both current and historic environmental injustices.

The members of the WHEJAC will be voluntary but the council is official. Its first meeting will be held Tuesday, March 30. Though the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council has been meeting since 1993, the WHEJAC will complement its work.

These are the members of the WHEJAC, as listed by the White House Briefing Room:

• LaTricea Adams, Michigan

• Susana Almanza, Texas

• Jade Begay, South Dakota

• Maria Belen-Power, Massachusetts

• Dr. Robert Bullard, Texas

• Tom Cormons, Virginia

• Andrea Delgado, Washington, D.C.

• Catherine Flowers, Alabama

• Jerome Foster, New York

• Kim Havey, Minnesota

• Angelo Logan, California

• Maria Lopez-Nunez, New Jersey

• Harold Mitchell, South Carolina

• Richard Moore, New Mexico

• Rachel Morello-Frosch, California

• Juan Parras, Texas

• Michele Roberts, Washington, D.C.

• Ruth Santiago, Puerto Rico

• Nicky Sheats, New Jersey

• Peggy Shepard, New York

• Carletta Tilousi, Arizona

• Vi Waghiyi, Alaska

• Kyle Whyte, Michigan

• Beverly Wright, Louisiana

• Hli Xyooj, Minnesota

• Miya Yoshitani, California

Sources

“White House Announces Environmental Justice Advisory Council Members.” The White House, March 29, 2021. The White House. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/03/29/white-house-announces-environmental-justice-advisory-council-members/.

Pres. Biden. Executive Order 14008. "Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad." The White House Briefing Room (27 January 2021). https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/27/executive-order-on-tackling-the-climate-crisis-at-home-and-abroad/.