Environmental justice has the White House's attention, building on 40 years of struggle – but California suggests new funding won't immediately solve deeply entrenched problems

Smokestacks in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Wilmington. Citizen of the Planet/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

A new office within the Environmental Protection Agency is bringing increased attention to a once-obscure concept: environmental justice.

The Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights will distribute funds designated to help communities that are systematically overexposed to air pollution, contaminated water and other environmental harms. The money – between US$45 billion and $60 billion, depending on whom you ask – was authorized as part of the Inflation Reduction Act enacted in August 2022.