I agree with you, what seem to change in 09 is they begin to partner with many other depts including Justice to really put the screws to conservative donors.
Just a coincidence /s
It didn’t “seem to change.”
The EPA was directed by the Administration to take up the Environmental Justice cause. http://www.epa.gov/environmentaljustice/
This branch of the agency has not always existed. If you go to the linked page do some ‘clicking’ around. You will notice under the awards tab, awards did not go out until 2008. Your comment is about how things changed in ‘09. Look at the awards and who received them. You will notice a peculiar trend. This branch of the agency was signed into existence by Clinton through an executive order: http://www.epa.gov/environmentaljustice/resources/policy/ej_strategy_1995.pdf
You can find the interagency working groups there too.
This is a branch of the agency specifically created to meet the Progressive agenda. This is one of 0bama’s “transformational” pegs for the nation. He didn’t need to create the peg, Clinton did that, 0bama just uses it to its fullest capacity. http://www.theblaze.com/blog/2011/04/18/obama-epa-puts-green-spin-on-social-justice/