MADISON, WI (WSAU) — Governor Tony Evers signed an executive order on Friday creating a state Office of Environmental Justice.
The new department will work with the current Office of Sustainability and Clean Energy to promote environmentally just policies.
Evers included the office in his previous state budget, but Republicans removed it before the document made its way to Evers’ desk. Instead, he used an executive order to create the post.
The Governor made the announcement at a high school in the Milwaukee area on Earth Day.
The Wisconsin Conservation Voters group praised the move, saying “the Office of Environmental Justice is a vital step toward addressing the generations of harm done and to dismantling systems that threaten the wellbeing of these communities.”
