Social Justice Activism

has stated a more concrete priority to fulfill its mission of environmental justice in rural
areas.
2012 Environmental Justice Strategy
In compliance with the August 2011 Memorandum of Understanding on Environmental
Justice and Executive Order 12898 (MOU), USDA released a final Environmental
Justice Strategic Plan: 2012 to 2014 on February 7, 2012 (Strategic Plan), which
identifies new and updated goals and performance measures beyond what USDA
identified in a 1995 EJ strategy it adopted in response to E.O. 12898. In the same week,
it also released its first annual implementation progress report (Progress Report), as the
MOU also required. The Secretary's message accompanying the Strategic Plan
described two immediate tasks: 1) each agency within USDA is required to identify a
point of contact for EJ issues, at the Senior Executive Service (SES) level; and 2) each
agency must develop its own EJ strategy prior to April 15, 2012, and begin
implementing it as soon as possible. As of May 2012, it did not appear that such
strategies had been made public, although sub-agencies provided internal reports to the
USDA's EJ steering committee on April 9, 2012, according to Holmes. The Secretary's
message contained strong language that, "Given that USDA programs touch almost
every American every day, the Department is well positioned to help in [the
environmental justice] effort." USDA has determined that it can achieve the
requirements of the Executive Order by integrating EJ into its programs, rather than
implementing new and costly programs. The agency took this same approach in an EJ
strategy it adopted in 1995. In some areas, such as agricultural chemicals and effects to
migrant workers, USDA reviews its practices to identify potential disproportionate,
adverse impacts on EJ communities, according to Blake Velde, Senior Environmental
Scientist with the USDA Hazardous Materials Management Division.
Generally, USDA believes its existing technical and financial assistance programs
provide solutions to environmental inequity, such as its initiatives on education, food
deserts, and economic development in impacted communities, and ensuring access to
environmental benefits is the focus of USDA's EJ efforts.
Natural Resources and Environment (NRE) Under Secretary Harris Sherman is the
political appointee generally responsible for USDA's EJ strategy, with Patrick Holmes, a
senior staffer to the Under Secretary, playing a coordinating role. Although USDA has
no staff dedicated solely to EJ, its sub-agencies have many offices dedicated to civil
rights compliance, outreach and communication and environmental review whose
responsibilities incorporate EJ issues. The Strategic Plan was developed with the input
of an Environmental Justice Working Group, made up of staff and leadership
representing the USDA's seven mission areas and the SES-level contacts, which were
appointed in early 2012, serve as a steering committee for the agency's efforts. The
Strategic Plan is organized according to six goals, which were purposefully left broad,
and lists specific objectives and agency performance measures under each goal. The
details and specific implementation of many of these programs and the performance
measures are left to the departments and sub-agencies to develop. The six goals are to:
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