Pruitt supports majorly downsizing the agency, and has filed suits for years to minimise the EPA’s ability to regulate pollutants and sue penalising companies.
Ali helped to found the Office on Environmental Justice, then called the Office on Environmental Equity, in 1992.
The OEJ works both within the EPA, making sure regulations and environmental protections help the vulnerable communities, and outside the agency, distributing grant money for cleaning up polluted sites, setting up clean energy sources in poor neighbourhoods, and training vulnerable communities to detect air and water pollution.
"Climate justice came into being because when folks first started talking about climate [change], they weren’t talking about people, especially those who were going to be disproportionately impacted," Ali told Gizmodo.
"They will have have to make the decision — are they going to be champions for these issues or are they going to be the ones who placed these communities at a distinct disadvantage and played a role in additional public health burdens?"
"The impacts go beyond just the asthma attack," Ali said.
And air pollution is only one issue.
Not only the neurological issues, but the [toxic effects] make it make difficult in school, which translates into making it more difficult for you to get a job and you may make some other decisions… that may not be the best choices, that if you were never impacted by lead, you would never make."
McCabe explained that, in addition to guiding policies, the OEJ also took the lead in making sure vulnerable communities were informed about environmental policy decisions.
Pruitt, both in name and in impact, is trying to replace Environmental Justice with nothing.