Environmental Justice Champion Leaves EPA Ahead of Cuts

In the early '90s, Mustafa Ali helped found the EPA’s Environmental Justice Office. This month, rather than stay on to unravel two decades of work, the longtime advocate announced his resignation.

His departure was motivated by the White House's plan to slash the agency's overall budget by more than a quarter, reports The Washington Post.

[The budget] also listed the environmental justice program as among several dozen slated to lose all funding. The document stated that the new administration supports the idea of environmental justice but would eliminate that EPA office and “assumes any future EJ specific policy work can be transferred to the Office of Policy.”

As senior advisor and assistant associate administrator for environmental justice under both Republican and Democratic administrations, Ali's career has focused on protections for communities—largely low-income and people of color—who bear the brunt of pollution nationwide.

"I can't be a part of anything that would hurt those communities," Ali said in an interview. "I just couldn't sign off on those types of things."

He is now senior vice president at the Hip Hop Caucus, a non-profit that encourages youth activism through music and culture.