Biden prioritizes environmental justice with executive order.

President Joe Biden signed an executive order creating the White House Office of Environmental Justice, which aims to ensure that poverty, race, and ethnic status do not lead to worse exposure to pollution and environmental harm. The order requires executive agencies to use data and scientific research to understand how pollution hurts people's health and inform nearby communities if toxic substances were released from a federal facility. The announcement puts more pressure on federal agencies and the White House to deliver on promises made to clean up the environment in communities of color and poor communities and prepare them for the effects of climate change.