NAACP and Other Civil Rights Groups Demand Department of Energy Withdraw Rule Rolling Back Civil Rights Protections

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 16, 2025

Contact: Chyna Fields, cfields@naacpnet.org 

WASHINGTON — Today, the NAACP, along with a coalition of allied organizations and legal experts, filed formal comments urging the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to immediately withdraw a dangerous rule that dismantles long-standing civil rights protections in federally funded energy programs. 

The rule, issued without meaningful public input, would eliminate long-standing rules to identify and address discrimination and roll back critical language access and disability protections, all while fast-tracking polluting energy projects that disproportionately harm Black and historically excluded communities.

The move comes as part of the Trump Administration's implementation of Executive Order 14281 that seeks to unravel fundamental safeguards for environmental justice, health equity, and civil rights.

"This is an attempt to override clear processes that our government has created to ensure community participation and our voices are heard," said Abre' Conner, Director of the NAACP Center for Environmental and Climate Justice. "Rolling back civil rights protections is an egregious act. It sends a chilling message to Black, Brown, disabled, immigrant, and working-class communities across this country that their lives and voices do not matter. That their health is disposable. That the government will side with polluters over people once again."

The DOE's Direct Final Rule, issued May 16, 2025, strips away the regulatory backbone that communities have long relied on to challenge discrimination in federally funded energy projects. It also sidesteps the legally mandated notice-and-comment process required under the Administrative Procedure Act — a move the NAACP calls an "end-run around democracy."

"Communities already overburdened by multiple pollution sources are now being robbed of long standing legal protections. Without the disparate impact standard, the field of civil rights protection for so many people shrinks to a pinprick: covering only those harms that can be proven by demonstrating an intent to discriminate, and leaving a vast area of injury experienced, but left unaddressed." said Chandra Taylor-Sawyer, Senior Attorney, SELC.

This filing makes clear that the DOE must withdraw the rule in light of significant adverse public comments. Under federal law, a direct final rule cannot move forward when substantial opposition has been voiced.

"The rule is clawing back a standard for identifying discrimination that has been in place since the passage of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act was passed.  But this standard, the "disparate impact" standard, is not just a legal term, it's a lifeline," said Lourdes M. Rosado, President and General Counsel, LatinoJustice PRLDEF. "It's what keeps a toxic facility from being built next to a school, in our backyards. It's what helps ensure children with asthma have a chance to grow up breathing clean air. These are not abstract rights, they are protections our communities bled for. And we will fight to keep them." 

The NAACP was joined by Alternatives for Community & Environment (ACE), Environmental Justice Initiative, NYU School of Law, Harvard Environmental & Energy Law Program, Latino Justice PRLDEF, and Southern Environmental Law Center in calling on the Department of Energy to honor its obligation to civil rights and environmental justice by immediately rescinding the rule and engaging with impacted communities in a full and fair public rulemaking process.

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About NAACP

The NAACP advocates, agitates, and litigates for the civil rights due to Black America. Our legacy is built on the foundation of grassroots activism by the biggest civil rights pioneers of the 20th century and is sustained by 21st century activists. From classrooms and courtrooms to city halls and Congress, our network of members across the country works to secure the social and political power that will end race-based discrimination. That work is rooted in racial equity, civic engagement, and supportive policies and institutions for all marginalized people. We are committed to a world without racism where Black people enjoy equitable opportunities in thriving communities.

NOTE: The Legal Defense Fund – also referred to as the NAACP-LDF - was founded in 1940 as a part of the NAACP, but now operates as a completely separate entity.