Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan talks about air pollution enforcement in Louisiana during a press conference in LaPlace on Thursday, April 6, 2023. On Thursday, August 22, federal Judge James Cain Jr. banned EPA from using "disparate impact" to implement more strict emissions rules in minority and low income communities in Louisiana than rules in other areas.
(Photo by Brett Duke, | The Times-Picayune) The cannot force Louisiana industries to reduce toxic pollutants in minority and low-income areas to lower levels than in majority White areas to make up for past pollution, a federal judge in Lake Charles has ruled. The rules are part of EPA’s efforts to apply portions of the federal Civil Rights Act to pollution since the law prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color and national origin. In Louisiana, the rules were aimed at addressing long-standing allegations that state agencies meant to enforce EPA regulations were not adequately addressing pollution problems in low-income and minority communities.
Thursday's ruling by Judge of the Western District of Louisiana was in response to a challenge of EPA’s enforcement of the rules in May 2023 by when he was state attorney general. The ruling made permanent an earlier by Cain, who was appointed to the bench by President Donald Trump. Louisiana successfully argued the rules were unconstitutional because of their use of race to direct regulatory actions, and in violation of the federal Cle.