House Advances Environmental Justice For All Act

The House Natural Resources Committee voted recently on Rep. Grijalva’s Environmental Justice For All Act, a bill that would make policy changes to protect communities most affected by pollution and other environmental hazards. The bill overhauls how America’s bedrock environmental laws, including the Clean Air Act and NEPA, address equity, inequality, and racism.

Research has shown that communities of color, low-income communities, and Tribal communities are disproportionately affected by pollution. More than 1 in 3 Americans live in a frontline or fenceline community that faces much higher risk from pollution (source).

The Environmental Justice For All Act was developed after many years of collaboration from environmental justice leaders and local communities, ensuring that the bill addresses the concerns of these communities directly.

Several sections of the bill address outdoor recreation access and equity, incorporating policy recommendations that would benefit all Americans. They include:

Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership—Creating a dedicated funding source for the Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership (ORLP), a grant program that would improve access to outdoor recreation in underserved communities.

Transit to Trails—Creating a grant program to connect underserved communities to green spaces, through bus and rail, bike paths, and other public transportation. These programs benefit everyone who wants to get outside, but focus in particular on connecting communities that don’t have enough access to green space to existing parks and public lands.

Every Kid Outdoors—Every Kid Outdoors provides free access to National Parks and other public lands to every fourth grader. The program will expire in 2026, and the bill would expand it so that Every Kid Outdoors is permanent.

NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) Protections—NEPA is a key environmental law that requires the federal government to consider environmental impacts and helps to ensure public comment periods and public input on environmental decisions. The Environmental Justice For All Act would require government agencies to consider specifically how their actions might affect environmental justice communities, including through access to parks, outdoor spaces, and outdoor recreation, and would also improve early comment periods and bolster Tribal representation in the NEPA process.

You can read our full letter of support to the committee here. Outdoor Alliance strongly supports the bill, which would benefit all Americans’ ability to access quality outdoor recreation, in particular improving access for underserved communities. Now that the bill has passed through committee, you can help by asking your lawmakers to give the bill time on the floor. We’ve made it easy to send a message below: