The Trump administration intends to eliminate Environmental Protection Agency offices responsible for addressing the disproportionately high levels of pollution facing poor communities, according to a memo from Lee Zeldin, the agency administrator.

In the internal memo, viewed by The New York Times, Zeldin informed agency leaders that he was directing “the reorganization and elimination” of the offices of environmental justice at all 10 EPA regional offices as well as the one in Washington.

Zeldin’s move effectively ends three decades of work at the EPA to try to ease the pollution that burdens poor and minority communities, which are frequently located near highways, power plants, industrial plants and other polluting facilities. Studies have shown that people who live in those communities have higher rates of asthma, heart disease and other health problems, compared with the national average.

“If anybody needed a clearer sign that this administration gives not a single damn for the people of the United States, this is it,” said Matthew Tejada, a former EPA official who is now a senior vice president for environmental health at the Natural Resources Defense Fund, a nonprofit organization.

Molly Vaseliou, an EPA spokesperson, described the moves as “organizational improvements” that align with Trump’s orders to end wasteful spending and diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

Related Story: Trump Is Dismantling the Education Department. Here’s What It Does

Mandate to End Forced Discrimination Programs, Says Zeldin

In a statement, Zeldin suggested that environmental justice — which the agency defined in 2013 as “the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income” with respect to environmental laws — was tantamount to discrimination.

“President Trump was elected with a mandate from the American people,” Zeldin said. “Part of this mandate includes the elimination of forced discrimination programs.”

The decision comes after Zeldin canceled hundreds of grants this week, many of them designated for environmental justice.

Last month, Zeldin placed 168 employees who work on environmental justice on leave, but this week a federal judge forced him to rehire dozens of them after finding that the action had no legal basis. Several EPA employees said they were bracing for many of those people to again be eliminated, as the agency and others prepared for widespread reductions in force.

DOJ Drops Lawsuit Against Petrochemical Plant

Last week, the EPA and the Justice Department dropped a lawsuit against a petrochemical plant by the Biden administration, which had argued that the plant increased the cancer risk in a predominantly Black community in Louisiana.

The lawsuit was one of President Joe Biden’s most visible efforts to try to improve conditions in an area that is known as “Cancer Alley” because of its history with toxic pollution.

The EPA withdrew its referral of the case for prosecution “to align with Administrator Lee Zeldin’s pledge to end the use of ‘environmental justice’ as a tool for advancing ideological priorities,” the Justice Department said in a news release.

As president, Biden emphasized the need to address the unequal burden that people of color carry from exposure to environmental hazards. He created the White House Office of Environmental Justice and directed federal agencies to deliver 40% of the benefits of environmental programs to marginalized communities that face a disproportionate amount of pollution. The EPA’s Office of Environmental Justice, which was created by the Clinton administration, significantly expanded under Biden.

The Trump administration has now erased all of that.

“This doesn’t make America healthier or greater,” Tejada said. “It make us sicker, smaller and uglier than we have been in at least a generation.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.