North Carolina HB 684: Environmental Justice in North Carolina.

Bill Text

GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 2025
H 1
HOUSE BILL 684

Short Title: Environmental Justice in North Carolina. (Public)
Sponsors: Representatives Crawford, Harrison, Alston, and T. Brown (Primary Sponsors).
For a complete list of sponsors, refer to the North Carolina General Assembly web site.
Referred to: Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House
April 3, 2025
*H684-v-1*
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1
AN ACT RELATING TO ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE IN NORTH CAROLINA. 2
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts: 3
SECTION 1. The General Assembly finds all of the following: 4
(1) According to American Journal of Public Health studies published in 2014 5
and 2018 and affirmed by decades of research, Black, Indigenous, and Persons 6
of Color (BIPOC) and individuals with low income are disproportionately 7
exposed to environmental hazards and unsafe housing, facing higher levels of 8
air and water pollution, mold, lead, and pests. 9
(2) The cumulative impacts of environmental harms disproportionately and 10
adversely impact the health of BIPOC and communities with low income, 11
with climate change functioning as a threat multiplier. These disproportionate 12
adverse impacts are exacerbated by lack of access to affordable energy, 13
healthy food, green spaces, and other environmental benefits. 14
(3) Since 1994, Executive Order 12898 has required federal agencies to make 15
achieving environmental justice part of their mission by identifying and 16
addressing disproportionately high and adverse human health or 17
environmental effects of its programs, policies, and activities on minority 18
populations and populations with low incomes in the United States. 19
(4) In 2018, the Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Environmental 20
Quality established the Secretary's Environmental Justice and Advisory 21
Board. 22
(5) Executive Order 14008 issued in 2021 created the White House 23
Environmental Justice Interagency Council within the Executive Office of the 24
President and the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council 25
within the Environmental Protection Agency. 26
(6) Following Executive Order 14008, the U.S. Department of the Interior enacted 27
Secretary Order 3399 to establish the Climate Task Force to address current 28
and historic environmental injustice. This order also made it the Department's 29
mission to consider environmental justice when conducting National 30
Environmental Protection Act analyses. 31
(7) Executive Order 14096 issued in 2023 established a goal that forty percent 32
(40%) of the overall benefits of certain federal climate, clean energy, 33
affordable and sustainable housing, and other investments flow to 34

General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2025
Page 2 House Bill 684-First Edition
disadvantaged communities that are marginalized by underinvestment and 1
overburdened by pollution. 2
(8) Governor Cooper issued Executive Order 246 in 2022 and Executive Order 3
292 in 2023 directing various actions to advance environmental justice in 4
North Carolina, including requirements that agencies consider environmental 5
justice when taking actions related to climate change, resilience, and clean 6
energy, and identify an environmental justice lead to serve as the point person 7
for agency environmental justice efforts. 8
(9) State agencies receiving federal funds are also subject to the 9
antidiscrimination requirements of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. 10
(10) In response to the documented inadequacy of state and federal environmental 11
and land use laws to protect vulnerable communities, increasing numbers of 12
states have adopted formal environmental justice laws and policies. 13
(11) The 1991 Principles of Environmental Justice adopted by The First National 14
People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit demand the right of all 15
individuals to participate as equal partners at every level of decision making, 16
including needs assessment, planning, implementation, enforcement, and 17
evaluation. 18
(12) Section 33 of Article I of the North Carolina Constitution establishes the 19
government as a vehicle for the common benefit, protection, and security of 20
the State's citizens and not for the particular emolument or advantage of any 21
single set of persons who are only a part of that community. This principle, 22
coupled with Section 1 of Article I of the North Carolina Constitution's 23
guarantee of equal rights to enjoying life, liberty, and enjoyment of the fruits 24
of their own labor, and the assurance of timely and equitable justice for all set 25
forth in Article I. Sections 18 and 19 of the North Carolina Constitution 26
encourage political officials to identify how particular communities may be 27
unequally burdened or receive unequal protection under the law due to race, 28
income, or geographic location. 29
(13) Lack of a clear environmental justice policy has resulted in a piecemeal 30
approach to understanding and addressing env