A pioneer in the quest to confront pollution’s inequitable toll has retired from EPA.

“My nearly five decades, including more than two at EPA, of working on environmental justice have been a truly remarkable and rewarding journey,” Charles Lee wrote in a LinkedIn post that listed March 31 as his last day at the agency.

During an EPA career dating back to 1999, Lee at one point headed the EJ office and most recently served as senior policy adviser at what is now the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights, his LinkedIn profile shows.

Before then, he was director of environmental justice for the United Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice, where he was lead author of the 1987 report “Toxic Wastes and Race in the United States,” often described as a seminal work in documenting the disproportionate pollution exposure facing Black and Latino communities.

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