Plan EJ 2014: Fact or Fiction? A Critique of the Obama Administration’s Efforts on Environmental Justice

As President Obama’s tenure in office draws to a close, environmental injustices continue to proliferate in communities across this country. During the Obama Administration, there has been a strong government voice on combating these injustices, yet under their watch we see travesties like Flint, Michigan. Flint is the latest example of how our laws and government processes are not only inadequate in protecting overburdened communities, but also how they are complicit in perpetuating harm. This Article aims to answer how that happens, first, by cataloging the environmental justice efforts under the Obama Administration, most notably through Plan EJ 2014, then by taking an in-depth look at these efforts, identifying its successes and failures, and, finally, by proffering additional steps that the Obama Administration can and should take in its final hours to assure actual impacts on this issue