Budget pressures may lead to the elimination of an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) program for low-income people and minorities. From the Seattle Post-Intelligencer: A federal program to safeguard poor and racially diverse communities from pollution and other environmental harm is at risk of being dissolved, activists say. The Environmental Protection Agency's Northwest regional office has proposed reassigning members of its environmental-justice program to new divisions and eliminating its director's position, according to government officials. That could affect Northwest environmental-justice issues, including the exposure of minority and low-income communities to polluting businesses and toxic cleanup sites in South Seattle, the higher use of pesticides by minority and migrant workers in agricultural areas, and Native American exposure to pollution created by mining activities and former military sites.