The Office of Environmental Justice (OEJ) engages Justice Department bureaus, components, and offices in the collective pursuit of environmental justice. The mission of OEJ is to protect overburdened and underserved communities from the harm caused by environmental crimes, pollution, and climate change. The Office:

Serves as the central hub to implement the Department of Justice’s Comprehensive Environmental Justice Enforcement Strategy;
Builds partnerships with community advocates; and
Promotes fair and equal treatment and meaningful involvement of all people in environmental decision-making process.

OEJ was established within the Environment and Natural Resources Division on May 5, 2022. Visit the Environment and Natural Resources Division.

Meet the Director

Leadership

Cynthia M. Ferguson
Director

Contact
Email the Office

Draft Department of Justice Environmental Justice Strategic Plan

The Office of Environmental Justice is leading the development of incorporating the efforts from the Comprehensive Environmental Justice Enforcement Strategy into an Environmental Justice Strategic Plan, as directed by the President’s Executive Order “Revitalizing Our Nation’s Commitment to Environmental Justice for All.” The new strategic plan will further address environmental justice and help develop and capture the Justice Department’s vision, goals, priority actions, and metrics to address and advance environmental justice. Visit Draft Environmental Justice Strategic Plan Information for more details.

Comprehensive Environmental Justice Enforcement Strategy

In October 2023, the Office of Environmental Justice released its first-ever Comprehensive Environmental Justice Enforcement Strategy Annual Report, highlighting the department’s recent accomplishments in cases with environmental justice concerns and outlining the department’s strategy for engaging with and delivering results to communities long overburdened by pollution. The Strategy was signed in 2022 and provides a roadmap for using the Justice Department’s civil and criminal enforcement authorities and tools to advance environmental justice in underserved communities that have been historically marginalized, including low-income communities, communities of color, and Tribal and Indigenous communities.

The Strategy is grounded in four core principles, which direct Department attorneys to:

prioritize cases that will reduce public health and environmental harms to overburdened and underserved communities;
make strategic use of all available tools to address environmental justice concerns;
meaningfully engage with impacted communities; and
be transparent about environmental justice efforts, as well as the results of those efforts.

As we work to advance environmental justice, the Justice Department through the Office of Environmental Justice will look to strengthen our partnerships with community advocates and other stakeholders. We look forward to your input and engagement, to make this Strategy a living document that guides DOJ’s enforcement efforts.