Environmental Justice Milestones Content in Question

19642014 Environmental Justice Timeline and Milestones
of persistent chemicals to northern Indigenous peoples and a call for

the phase of these chemicals as a necessary measure to protect health
and cultural survival: Persistent Organic Pollutants in the Arctic: A
Report for the Delegates of the 4th Conference of the Parties Stockholm
Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (www.akaction.org).
In May, the National Academy of Public Administrators published an

independent evaluation of the Community Action for a Renewed
Environment (CARE) demonstration program. The CARE model
provides a solid and tested framework for engaging communities and
other stakeholders. The CARE model involves decades of thought and
effort by EPAs career staff, especially those working in environmentally
overburdened and economically disadvantaged communities.
In May 2009, several environmental justice organizations in Detroit filed a
lawsuit challenging the Federal Highway Administrations (FHWA) record
of decision (ROD) concerning the proposed construction of a new
On May 2, 2009, GreenLaw

and Georgia Appleseed, with
the help of Liberty County
resident Meredith Devendorf,
organized a legal seminar to
address the complex issues
facing African-American
heirs to property in coastal
Georgia. Dubbed a Peoples
Law School, this seminar
familiarized landowners
with basic property law and
addressed pressing concerns
such as estate planning, title,
heirs property, community
preservation, zoning, and
legal protection from nuisances
including facility-siting and
neighboring polluters.
66 Environmental Justice
international bridge known as the Detroit River International Crossing,

connecting Detroit, Michigan with Windsor, Ontario. The lawsuit
alleged that the ROD violated NEPA by not properly accounting for
environmental justice because the community where the bridge was
to be located was an economically depressed and minority community.
Latin Americans for Social and Economic Development v. Federal
Highway Administration, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 48452 (E.D. Mich. April
5, 2012).
In May, President Barack Obama proposed allotting $1.25 billion in the
fical year 2010 budget to settle discrimination lawsuits by thousands
of black farmers against the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Nearly $1
billion in damages were paid out on almost 16,000 claims, but nearly
75,000 additional black farmers filed their claims after the deadline.
On May 2, 2009, GreenLaw and Georgia Appleseed, with the help of Liberty
County resident Meredith Devendorf, organized a legal seminar to address
the complex issues facing African-American heirs to property in coastal
Georgia. Dubbed a Peoples Law School, this seminar familiarized
landowners with basic property law and addressed pressing concerns
such as estate planning, title, heirs property, community preservation,
zoning, and legal protection from nuisances including facility-siting and
neighboring polluters. Knowing their rights and responsibilities will
enable the descendants of slaves who were granted land by General
Shermans 1865 Field Order, to defend their property in the face of the
19642014 Environmental Justice Timeline and Milestones
justice, air pollution and asthma, and skills related to fundraising and
communications.
Governor Lincoln Chafee signs into law legislation banning the siting of
schools in Rhode Island on contaminated sites where there is an ongoing

potential for toxic vapors to enter into school buildings, and establishing
a public review process for using other contaminated sites formerly
used for industrial or landfill purposes. The law was developed by a
court-ordered stakeholder group arising out of the Hartford Park Tenant
Association v. Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management
lawsuit decided in the plaintiffs favor in 2005.
On February 27, 2012, the Obama Administration announces that federal
agencies are finalizing strategies for incorporating environmental justice into

their operations (i.e., Federal Transit Administration, Labor Department,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).

USDA releases its environmental justice strategic plan and provides an overall
April 18, 2012, EPAs Office

of Environmental Justice
launched its Environmental
Justice in Action blog. The
blog is a resource for
educating, communicating and
engaging with government
employees, external
stakeholders and the broader
public about the actions and
ideas that stakeholders are
using to advance the mission
of environmental justice.
direction for continued integration of environmental justice at the

department in February 2012.The goals were developed with the input
of the USDA Environmental Justice Working Group, comprised of key
staff and leadership from each of the departments mission areas.
Two nonprofit environmental groups filed a complaint in intervention
in United States v. City of Baton Rouge, 01-CV-978 (M.D. Tenn.), alleging
that EPA has failed to prosecute the lawsuit diligently and otherwise
failed to enforce a consent decree entered into by the parties in 2002
concerning Clean Water Act violations at a wastewater treatment plant
in Baton Rouge.
On March 20, 2012, GreenLaw informs the Georgia Public Service
Commission that Georgia Power is not going far enough by retiring two
aging coal-fired units at Plant Branch near Milledgeville. Based on Georgia
Powers own analysis, additional pollution controls that are required to
meet public health standards would render the operation of these units
uneconomical.
April 2012, Maryland Legislature passes HB 644, authorizing Maryland
Department of the Environment to administer the EPA Renovate, Repair
and Paint rule and require lead dust testing after renovations on pre1978 homes.
On April 4, 2012, the Southern California Association of Governments
The Law of Environmental Justice (Detail Updates)
9/29/14, 6:39 PM
motion for interlocutory appeal. Padres Hacia Una Vida Mejor v. Jackson, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 49047
(E.D. Cal. April 6, 2012).
District Court Held that Government Agency Must Take Steps to

Ensure Complete Administrative Record in Case Concerning Bridge
Located in EJ Community
1
Several environmental justice organizations in Detroit filed a lawsuit in May 2009 challenging the Federal
Highway Administrations (FHWA) record of decision (ROD) concerning the proposed construction of a new
international bridge known as the Detroit River International Crossing, connecting Detroit, Michigan with
Windsor, Ontario. The lawsuit alleged that the ROD violated NEPA by not properly accounting for
environmental justice because the community where the bridge was to be located was an economically
depressed and minority community. After filing the action, the plaintiffs filed a motion seeking discovery to
determine whether the administrative record was complete. In an April 5, 2012 decision, the district court
held that it was unable to evaluate the adequacy of the FHWA administrative record, and ordered FHWA to
take additional steps in order to enable the court to assess the completeness of the record. Latin Americans
for Social and Economic Development v. Federal Highway Administration, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 48452
(E.D. Mich. April 5, 2012).
2
Environmental Groups Seek to Intervene in Lawsuit, Alleging that

EPA Failed to Enforce Consent Order at Wastewater Treatment
Plant
On March 4, 2012, two nonprofit environmental groups filed a complaint in intervention in United States v.
City of Baton Rouge, 01-CV-978 (M.D. Tenn.), alleging that EPA has failed to prosecute the lawsuit diligently
and otherwise failed to enforce a consent decree entered into by the parties in 2002 concerning Clean Water
Act violations at a wastewater treatment plant in Baton Rouge. According to the complaint, the plants
continued violations under the CWA impose offensive odors, sewer flies, and unsanitary conditions on nearby
minority residents, violating those residents human rights and creating an environmental injustice. The
groups are being represented by the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic. The complaint in intervention is
available at http://www.tulane.edu/~telc/assets/pdfs/3-4-12_BR_POTW_.5th_Cir.pdf.
Obama Administration Announced that Federal Agencies are

Finalizing Strategies for Incorporating Environmental Justice into
their Operations
On February 27, 2012, the Obama Administration announced that federal agencies are finalizing strategies
for incorporating environmental justice into their operations. For example, the announcement mentioned
that the Federal Transit Administration will help grant recipients determine if minority or low-income areas
will be affected by transit projects, and the Labor Department is translating educational materials into
Spanish, Chinese, and Vietnamese, so workers can avoid environmental hazards. The Veterans Affairs
http://www.americanbar.org/groups/environment_energy_resources/publications/books_related_products/ejupdates/ejweb.html
Page 2 of 103
HB 2018, Reduced Truck Idling Rule, is

passed to limit the amount of time that a truck
or commercial vehicle can idle. This helps
reduce the amount of emissions produced by
commercial vehicles. The limitation on idle
time is five minutes in a 60-minute period.
EPA releases School Siting Guidelines which recommend HB 2018, Reduced Truck Idling Rule, is passed to limit
best practices for sponsors of school projects to use the amount of time that a truck or commercial vehicle
This link points to
when siting schools relative to a range of man-made can idle. This helps reduce the amount of emissions
an
EPA doc.
environmental hazards. Significantly, the Guidelines
produced by commercial vehicles. The limitation on idle
However,time
some
of minutes in a 60-minute period.
recommend that school sponsors conduct rigorous
is five
thesiting
words come
environmental reviews of candidate sites, and that
Rita Harris is awarded the Sierra Clubs Virginia Ferguson Award
from
the ABA
decisions and environmental reviews be developed
with
1 advisory committees. for her work to diversify the organization.
the participation of local school siting
The Cochabamba World Peoples Conference On Global
Warming and Rights Of Mother Earth was held in 2011.
Farmworkers and environmental health organizations file
methyl iodide lawsuit.

HUD awards first grant to the Little Sisters of theAssumption Family
Health Service, Inc. to improve health hazards for asthmatic
children living in public or assisted multifamily housing.
Senator Warren of Ann Arbor introduces the Safe Childrens
Product Act to provide families with information about
toxic chemicals in childrens products sold in Michigan.
2012
On January 3, 2012, 50 Alabama residents living near a
landfill that took coal-combustion ash from a Tennessee Valley
Authority (TVA) plant and filed an administrative complaint
with EPA, alleging that the Alabama Department of
Environmental Management should not have renewed

the permit for the landfill and did so in violation of Title
VI of the Civil Rights Act. In re Alabama Department of
Environmental Management Permitting of Arrowhead
Landfill in Perry County, Alabama (EPA, filed Jan. 3,
2012).
The link points to a

GAO Dirty
doc, the
Womens Voices for Earth releases,
Secrets: Whats
words
are
from
Hiding in Your Cleaning Products, revealing the the
hidden
toxic chemicals in top brand name
ABAcleaners.
On January 6, 2012, Marshall Shepherd, professor of

geography in the University of Georgia Franklin College
of Arts and Sciences, was voted president-elect of the
American Meteorological Society. He is only the second
African American to hold this office.
Warning letters and hazard alerts are issued on the

use of formaldehyde-containing Brazilian Blowout hair
straightening treatments.
On January 18, 2012, EPA released a draft guidance

document entitled Recommendations for Developing a
On November 7, 2011, the Governmental Accountability

Office (GAO) released a report finding that EPA has
not defined key environmental justice terms, such as
minority and low-income communities, which could
hamper the agencys ability to identify communities with
environmental justice concerns.
On December 16, 2011, the Department of Transportation
(DOT) released a guidance document advising Federal
Highway Administration (HFWA) offices on the process
to address environmental justice issues during the NEPA
process.
Model Civil Rights Program at the Environmental Protection

Agency.
2
Approximately 175 people attend the New England

Environmental Justice Forums
first Region-wide
Environmental Justice Summit at Clark University in
Worcester. This was the first time that environmental
justice activists and advocates, as well as academics
and government officials met face to face to discuss
environmental justice issues on a regional basis. All six
New England states were represented. Issues discussed
at the summit included connecting urban and rural
environmental justice issues, food justice, transportation
Milestones and Accomplishments 75
9/29/14, 6:39 PM
Alleging Violations of the Civil Rights Act Concerning Landfill that

1
Accepted Coal-Combustion Ash
On January 3, 2012, 50 Alabama residents living near a landfill that took coal-combustion ash from a
Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) plant filed an administrative complaint with EPA, alleging that the
Alabama Department of Environmental Management should not have renewed the permit for the landfill and
did so in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. According to the complaint, TVA, working with
federal and state regulators, sent 414 train shipments of coal ash to the landfill from a 2008 coal-sludge spill
in Roane County, Tennessee. The complaint alleges that foul odor from the landfill is affecting the health of
the landfills neighbors, most of whom are African American, and dust from the dump is polluting their
property. In re Alabama Department of Environmental Management Permitting of Arrowhead Landfill in
Perry County, Alabama (EPA, filed Jan. 3, 2012).
Department of Transportation Released Guidance Document on

Process to Address EJ Issues During NEPA Process
On December 16, 2011, the Department of Transportation (DOT) released a guidance document advising
Federal Highway Administration (HFWA) offices on the process to address EJ issues during the NEPA
process. Among other things, the guidance document states that EJ evaluations should describe the following
information: identify existing minority and low income populations; explain coordination, access to
information and participation; identify disproportionately high and adverse effects; and evaluate proceeding
when there are disproportionately high and adverse effects on EJ populations. This guidance document is
available at http://environment.fhwa.dot.gov/projdev/guidance_ej_nepa.asp.
2
GAO Released Report Criticizing Several Aspects of EPAs

Environmental Justice Policies
On November 7, 2011, the Governmental Accountability Office (GAO) released a report finding that EPA has
not defined key environmental justice terms, such as minority and low-income communities, which
could hamper the agencys ability to identify communities with environmental justice concerns. According to
the report, without definitions, the agency could have a difficult time identifying communities that have
environmental justice concerns and showing that its efforts are helping communities with disproportionate
environmental impacts. In addition, the report found that the agency has not identified the resources,
including the staffing, that it needs to implement environmental justice plans, and that it has not articulated
the roles of states in the initiative or developed performance measures. The report found that states will have
a significant role in implementing environmental justice plans through permitting, monitoring, and
enforcement, GAO said, but their specific roles so far are unclear. The GAO analysis was conducted from
May 2010 to September 2011. The report also found positive aspects of EPAs implementation of
environmental justice plans, namely that it has made progress on defining its mission and goals related to
environmental justice, ensuring leadership involvement and accountability, and coordinating with other
agencies. The report is available at http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d1277.pdf.
Environmental Justice Interagency Working Group Released

Page 4 of 103
On May 9, 2012, protesters of the 99

Percent Power Coalition rallied outside of
Bank of America in Charlotte, NC against the
financing of coal mining in the United States.
1
This link points to
passed a landmark Sustainable Communities Strategy plan, NAACP had intervened in an

theEPA
litigation
doc. to defend the
potentially reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the law, passed in 2007, because large landfills are often sited
However, the
region by 8% by 2020.
in low-income, minority communities. The NAACP had
words come from a
pushed the General Assembly to consider environmental
bylandfills.
the
In April 2012, EPA released a draft Plan EJ 2014 Supplement. justice when dealing withdoc
new
The decision
According to the agency, the supplement sets forth from the Court of AppealsAmerican
expresslyBar
recognized the
goals, strategies, and activities that will assist the agency environmental justice protections
Association
provided by the
in building a robust Title VI civil rights program. In challenged statutes.
particular, the strategies outlined in the supplement
include establishing a robust Title VI pre-award and May 2, 2012, The Fulton County Board of Commissioners
post-award compliance program; strengthening Title passed a resolution urging the Georgia Environmental
VI in EPAs National Program Management guidance, Protection Division to take swift action to develop,
performance partnership agreements and performance implement, and enforce regulations and policies to
partnership grants; partner with other federal agencies to promote environmental justice for the citizens of Fulton
improve and strengthen compliance with Title VI.
County and the entire State of Georgia. The resolution,
sponsored by Commissioner Emma J. Darnell, was drafted
On April 6, 2012, a California federal district court rejects after the release of The Patterns of Pollution report by
EPAs bid to dismiss a lawsuit involving a 15-year-old
GreenLaw.
administrative complaint filed over the permitting of
hazardous waste dumps in low-income, rural, and Latino On May 9, 2012, protesters of the 99 Percent Power
communities.
Coalition rallied outside of Bank of America in Charlotte,
April 18, 2012, EPAs Office of Environmental Justice NC against the financing of coal mining in the United
launched its Environmental Justice in Action blog. The blog States.
is a resource for educating, communicating and engaging
with government employees, external stakeholders
and the broader public about the actions and ideas
that stakeholders are using to advance the mission of
environmental justice.
In May 2012, GreenLaw is working with Atlantas Tire
Commission, Mayor Kasim Reed, and The City of Atlanta to
combat pollution from tire dumps. Dumped tires in the
Atlanta metropolitan area contribute to blight and can

form large tire piles that breed diseases such as West Nile
virus.
On May 1, 2012, a three-judge panel on the North
Carolina Court of Appeals unanimously affirmed a trial
court decision in Waste Industries v. NC upholding the
constitutionality of a state law that limits the size and
location of new large landfills built in the state. The
Rogers-Eubanks Neighborhood Association and the NC
June 2012, the Coalition to End Childhood Lead Poisoning

committed to scaling its Green & Healthy Homes
Initiative (GHHI) to 25 new cities in the next three years
through Clinton Global Initiative. This commitment will
create 25,000 Green & Healthy Homes and 1,550 green
construction jobs.
On July 2012, the New York State Department of
Environmental Conservation (DEC) proposed regulations that
would require electricity generating facilities in New
York to evaluate potential environmental justice impacts
in siting decisions.
In July 19, 2012, the Department of Justice (DOJ), EPA and
a New Jersey municipal sewer utility entered into a Clean
Water Act consent decree between the parties whereby the
utility agreed to improve sewer collection infrastructure
for low-income housing. The decree requires the Jersey
City Municipal Utilities Authority to invest $550,000
9/29/14, 6:39 PM
http://www.americanbar.org/groups/environment_energy_resources/
publications/books_related_products/ejupdates/ejweb.html
The Law of Environmental Justice: Update Service

Updated on: June 20, 2012
2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 or Earlier
2012:
American Bar Association: http://www.americanbar.org/aba.html
EPA Released Draft Plan EJ 2014 Supplement

In April 2012, EPA released a draft Plan EJ 2014 Supplement. According to the agency, the supplement sets
forth goals, strategies, and activities that will assist the agency in building a robust Title VI civil rights
program. In particular, the strategies outlined in the supplement include establishing a robust Title VI preaward and post-award compliance program; strengthening Title VI in EPAs National Program Management
guidance, performance partnership agreements and performance partnership grants; partner with other federal
agencies to improve and strengthen compliance with Title VI; and advance EJ goals through Limited English
Proficiency initiatives. Comments on the draft supplement are being accepted until June 19, 2012. The draft
supplement is available at http://www.epa.gov/environmentaljustice/plan-ej/civil-rights.html.
EPA Launched Environmental Justice in Action Blog

On April 18, 2012, EPAs Office of Environmental Justice launched its Environmental Justice in Action blog.
According to the agency, the blog is a resource for educating, communicating and engaging with government
employees, external stakeholders and the broader public about the actions and ideas that stakeholders are
using to advance the mission of environmental justice. The blog is available at http://blog.epa.gov/ej.
Federal Court Refused to Dismiss Lawsuit Concerning Permitting of

Hazardous Waste Dumps in Low-Income and Latino Communities
On April 6, 2012, a California federal district court rejected EPAs bid to dismiss a lawsuit involving a 15year-old administrative complaint filed over the permitting of hazardous waste dumps in low-income, rural,
and Latino communities. In particular, the court dismissed EPAs motions contending the plaintiffs had
waited too long to bring the claim under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). At issue was whether the
lawsuit is barred by the six-year statute of limitations that applies to APA claims, or if each day of EPAs
failure to address the civil rights claim over the last 15 years represents a separate violation of its duty under
the statute. The court held that the lawsuit was timely because it seeks relief for the agency failure to meet
its on-going duty. Plaintiffs filed the lawsuit in June 2011 and alleged that EPA had failed to issue
preliminary findings in an administrative complaint accusing the California Department of Toxic Substances
Control of violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by permitting hazardous waste dumps in poor
Latino communities. Although the court rejected EPAs arguments, it did acknowledge that agency attorneys
raised significant and substantial issues of controlling law. As a result, the court held that it would consider a
Page 1 of 103
The 2013 Environmental Justice

Implementation Progress Report is released
by HHS in February 2013 and describes the
vision for environmental justice as a nation
that equitably promotes healthy community
environments and protects the health of
all people.
2013
In January, Greenaction succeeds obtaining a voluntary
agreement to reduce diesel truck idling in Kettleman City
1
and Avenal.
EPA releases for public comment two draft policy papers
intended to improve the agencys enforcement of Title
VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. One draft policy paper
proposes to change the way EPA assesses adversity by
having the agency refrain from applying a rebuttable
presumption in certain Title VI investigations. The
rebuttable presumption, announced in the Select Steel
case establishes a presumption that compliance with
environmental standards means there is no adversity for
purposes of establishing a violation of the agencys Title
VI disparate impact regulations. The second draft paper
discusses EPAs thinking about how to expand the roles
of complainants and recipients in the Title VI complaints
process. Both papers were developed in response to a
series of meetings with EPA Administrator Jackson and
environmental justice activists and attorneys in 2012.
The National Park Service publishes the final report on the

proposed national recreation area in the San Gabriel
watershed and mountains, which is a best practice
example for park agencies to improve environmental
justice, environmental quality, and public health, in
response to public comments from diverse allies.
On February 7, 2013, the Los Angeles Times reports that
This was the first time the three organizations convened

a group of this kind to discuss energy and environmental
health disparities in minority communities.
Robert D. Bullard, Dean Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland
School of Public Affairs at Texas Southern University
presents Environmental Justice: Building Healthy and
Sustainable Communities in the Gulf Coast. EPAs Gulf
of Mexico Program to Hold Environmental Justice
Conference in Biloxi, MS. February 22, 2013.
The 2013 Environmental Justice Implementation Progress

Report is released by HHS in February 2013 and describes
the vision for environmental justice as a nation that
equitably promotes healthy community environments
and protects the health of all people.
Early in 2013, Southern Coalition for Social Justice (SCSJ)
filed on behalf of the Southernside Neighborhoods in
Action and two individuals a complaint under Title VI of
the Civil Rights Act of 1964 against the South Carolina
Department of Transportation. In the complaint, they
alleged that residents of the Southernside neighborhood,
an economically disadvantaged community of color,
were excluded from the decision-making process behind
demolition of a pedestrian bridge that connected the
community to the adjacent town.
Civil rights and environmental justice activist Dolores
Huerta was inducted into the California Hall of Fame,
receiving the Spirit of California medal on March 20, 2013.
California leads the nation in advanced bio fuel companies
The historic genocide and human rights trial in Guatemala

of the former president Efrain Rios Montt begins March
2
President Obama adds a climate adaption to sustainability 19, 2013. This is the first time anywhere in the world
planning in order to integrate sustainable strategies, that a former head of state is being tried for genocide
to protect infrastructure from climate change and to by a national tribunal. The United States overthrew the
improve water-use efficiency.
democratically elected government of Guatemala in 1954
4
and installed a military dictatorship. This led over the
On February 12, 2013, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy next 42 years to the murder, torture, and disappearance
(SACE), the Atlanta Black Nurses Association (ABNA) and the
West Atlanta Watershed Alliance (WAWA) kicked off Black of 200,000 Guatemalan people. The governments
History Month with a symposium focused on disproportionately scorched earth policy led to the destruction of entire
environmental impacts and how the production and Mayan villages and the massacre of women, children,
consumption of energy affects communities of color.
being named the clean tech hub of the country.
Title VI Policy | Civil Rights | US EPA
Civil Rights
10/12/14, 12:56 PM
http://www.epa.gov/civilrights/title6policy.htm
Last updated on December 13, 2013
You are here: EPA Home
Civil Rights
Basic Information
Title VI Policy
Background
Scheduled Teleconference Calls
Listserv
Background
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has made improving its
civil rights program a priority and recognizes that its enforcement of Title
VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VI) is an important tool in its
efforts to protect against discrimination and ensure that recipients of EPA
financial assistance do not discriminate in implementing programs and
activities. On January 29, 2013, EPA released two draft policy papers via
its website for public comment. The first paper, Adversity and
Compliance With Environmental Health-Based Thresholds (PDF) (5pp,
216K, About PDF), proposes to change the way EPA assesses
adversity by having the Agency refrain from applying a rebuttable
presumption in certain Title VI investigations. The second paper, Roles
of Complainants and Recipients in the Title VI Complaints and Resolution
Process (PDF)(4pp, 52K, About PDF), discusses EPAs clarification of the
roles of complainants and recipients in the Title VI complaint process.
Consistent with its goal to promote transparency, EPA initially posted
these documents on its website and sent notification of the posting to
stakeholders who previously had expressed an interest in agency
activities. On April 26, 2013, EPA will publish these documents in the
Federal Register with a 30-day comment period in an effort to further
expand the potential audience who may see these documents. Also, EPA
will host two outreach sessions via teleconference with interested
stakeholders concerning these two draft policies.
http://www.epa.gov/civilrights/title6policy.htm
Page 1 of 2
National Park Service Recommends Designation of San Gabriel andnal Recreation Area | Green Justice | Departures Columns | KCET
10/12/14, 1:11 PM
Area (http://www.kcet.org/socal/departures/columns/green-justice/nps-studyrecommends-designation-of-san-gabriel-and-santa-monica-national-recreationarea.html)
By Robert Garcia |
April 10, 2013
RELATED TOPICS
Activism
Social Justice
The National Park Service (NPS) has released the Final Study Recommendations for the San
Gabriel Watershed and Mountains Special Resource Study. NPS seeks to "work in a
coordinated fashion, on a regional basis, to address equitable access to open space, protection
of significant resources, and interpretation and education about significant resources. Existing
NPS assistance programs are currently insufficient to address these needs in the study area,"
according to the study. "I am pleased to recommend to Congress the designation of a San
Gabriel unit of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area," said Secretary of the
Interior Kenneth Salazar.
2
Diverse allies submitted public comments to diversify access to and support for a new
recreation area in the San Gabriel watershed and mountains and the expansion of the Santa
Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. The final study is a best practice example for
park agencies to improve environmental justice, environmental quality, and public health. The
proposed expansion would go a long way to ensure access to green space and better health for
park poor, income poor communities.
Story Continues Below
Support KCET
As NPS emphasizes, "Many communities in the region ... lack appropriate access to park and
recreational resources ... NPS and partner agencies would seek to improve recreational access
and opportunities in urban areas that are deficient in recreation and park lands by offering
http://www.kcet.org/socal/departures/columns/green-justice/nps-studation-of-san-gabriel-and-santa-monica-national-recreation-area.html
Page 2 of 9
Southern Coalition for Social Justice | Southernside Environmental Justice Case Progress
10/12/14, 1:23 PM
[http://www.southerncoalition.org/wpcontent/uploads/2013/09/chain-link-fence-view-offormer-bridge.jpg]
The demolished pedestrian bridge
Earlier this year, SCSJ led on behalf of the

Southernside Neighborhoods in Action
and two individuals a complaint under
Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
against the South Carolina Department of
Transportation. In the complaint, we
alleged that residents of the Southernside
neighborhood, an economically
disadvantaged community of color, were
excluded from the decision-making
process behind demolition of a pedestrian
bridge that connected the community to
the adjacent town. The Hampton Avenue
Bridge allowed easier access to a grocery
store and pharmacy, among many other
http://www.southerncoalition.org/southernside-environmental-justice-case-progress/
Page 2 of 10
The City Project Blog Blog Archive Guatemala Genocide Humaeginning March 19, 2013, Live Web Cast, Commentaries, Updates
10/12/14, 1:34 PM
The historic genocide trial in Guatemala of the former president Efrain Rios Montt is
scheduled to begin March 19, 2013, at 8:30 am. This is the first time anywhere in
the world that a former head of state is being tried for genocide by a national
tribunal.
The trial will be webcast live. The sound is better at El Periodico at
http://www.elperiodico.com.gt/es/20130319/pais/226109/, and the visuals are close
up and better at Coordinacion Genocidio Nunca Mas,
www.paraqueseconozca.blogspot.com.
The trial is also being covered with summaries and commentary at www.riosmontttrial.org, a project of the Open Society Justice Initiative. Para noticias del juicio en
espaol, haz click aqu.*
http://www.cityprojectca.org/blog/archives/19030
Page 2 of 6
The City Project Blog Blog Archive Guatemala Genocide Humaeginning March 19, 2013, Live Web Cast, Commentaries, Updates
10/12/14, 1:34 PM
Coverage on Democracy Now is avialable here

http://www.democracynow.org/topics/guatemala.
The United States and CIA overthrew the democratically elected government of
Jacobo Arbenz in 1954 and installed a military dictatorship. The overthrew led over
the next 48 years to the murder, torture, and disappearance of 200,000 Guatemalan
people. The governments scorched earth policy led to the destruction of entire
Mayan villages and the massacre of all their inhabitants, including women, children,
babies and elderly people. Estimates of displaced persons vary from 500,000 to 1.5
million people in the most intense period from 1981 to 1983, according to the United
Nations Commission for Historical Clarification.
The genocide and human rights violations were documented after the signing of the
Peace Accord in 1996 by the Catholic Church and the United Nations Truth
Commission. Guatemalan Bishop Juan Gerardi was bludgeoned to death for
publishing the report of the Catholic Church called Guatemala: Never Again!
(Guatemala: Nunca Mas!) in 1998. The work of Bishop Gerardi and the Catholic
Church is recognized as a best practice of liberation theology at work. If you want
peace, work for justice. The United Nations Commission for Historical Clarification
Commission (Comisin para el Esclarecimiento Histrico, or Truth Commission)
published the report Guatemala: Memory of Silence (Guatemala: Memoria del
Silencio) in 1999. Both reports include the stories of the victims in the victims own
words.
According to the UN report, the state of Guatemala is morally, ethically, and legally
responsible for genocide and human rights violations. The president of the republic,
as commander in chief of the army and minister of defense, should be subject to the
same criteria of responsibility, given that national objectives were prepared at the
http://www.cityprojectca.org/blog/archives/19030
Page 3 of 6
On April 12, 2013, Texas Southern

University enters into a significant agreement
with the EPA Region 6 focused on the training
of qualified professionals in environmental
policy, economics, and several areas of
science, business and technology.
Labor Occupational Health Program submits findings on

efforts to improve refinery safety following the explosion
at the Richmond Chevron refinery to the California
Governors Interagency Task Force on Refinery Safety.
The Board of Directors of the National Environmental

Justice Conference, Inc. held the 2013 National
Environmental Justice Conference and Training
Program in Washington, DC, April 3-5, 2013.
Federal judge rules in favor of parents suing New York City
The NAACP and Green for All join forces to demand

protection against coal plant pollution.
to expedite removal of toxic polychlorinated biphenyls

(PCBs) from public schools.
The Safe Chemicals Act of 2013 was introduced by
Montanas Senators Baucus and Tester to provide fixes to
the nations chemical policies and limit the use of unsafe
chemicals.
The White House has selected 12 Champions of Change,
including the Asian Pacific Environmental Networks Lip
Chanthanasak, who display leadership in working to
prepare their communities for the consequences of
climate change.
2
Sustainable South Bronx is featured in an upcoming
documentary, Water Blues-Green Solution.
President and CEO of Joint Center for Political and Economic

Studies met with other prominent African American
leaders at the White House to meet with President Obama

about strengthening the middle class and providing
opportunities for poverty stricken African American and
other minority communities.
1
A federal judge ruled that the Obama Administration
violated the law when it issued oil leases in Monterey
County, CA without considering the environmental
impacts of hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking.
The ruling came in response to a suit brought by the Center
for Biological Diversity and the Sierra Club.
http://content.sierraclub.org/press-releases/2013/04/court-victory-opponents-frackingcalifornia
The EPA wins an important legal victory in a long-brewing
Staying Green and Growing Jobs: Infrastructure

Operations and Maintenance as Career Pathway
Stepping Stones, a green infrastructure report, is released
by Green for All and American Rivers.
Freedom Farms sponsored its Environmental Food Justice
Conference during the last week of February 2013.The event
was held at the Guild Theater and included participation
from a number of stakeholders including local farmers and
representatives from government agencies.
battle over a West Virginia coal mining project that

includes a controversial practice of blasting the tops off
mountains and dumping the waste into streams.
Asa Needle, 17 of Worcester, MA won the Brower Youth Award,
which goes to a young adult who is making outstanding

contributions to the cause of environmental justice.
On April 12, 2013, Texas Southern University enters into a

significant agreement with the EPA- Region 6, focused on
the training of qualified professionals in environmental
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agencys (EPA) Gulf policy, economics, and several areas of science, business
of Mexico Program hosted an Environmental Justice and technology. The Memorandum of Understanding
Conference, Environmental Justice: Systems, Symptoms, (MOU) will focus on bringing innovative strategies to
the forefront to assure an adequate supply of highly
and Solutions on March 1-2, 2013 in Biloxi, Mississippi.
trained and skilled personnel for the accomplishment of
Deep South Center for Environmental Justice at Dillard environmental research, policy and program development.
University hosts the 1st Annual HBCU Student Climate
Change Conference, Bridging The Gap Between Climate Robert D. Bullard spoke at the Second International
Change Theory and Experience.April 4-6, 2013.
Congress on Civil and State Liability, Benjamin Herrera
Judge rules administration overlooked fracking risks in California mineral leases | Reuters
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Lufkin for nearly $3 billion
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vote to ban fracking
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Insight: Russia's Bazhenov a long, slow shale oil
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energy resources.
The decision, made public on Monday, effectively bars for the
time being any drilling on two tracts of land comprising 2,500
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Department's Bureau of Land Management in Monterey County.
Exxon cleans up Arkansas
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/09/us-usa-fracking-california-idUSBRE93803720130409
Page 1 of 5
EPA Wins Important Legal Victory in Spruce 1 Coal Mine Fight - WSJ.com
10/6/14, 5:41 PM
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Tuesday, April 23, 2013 As of 11:58 AM EDT
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April 23, 2013, 11:58 a.m. ET
EPA Wins Important Legal Victory in Spruce 1 Coal Mine Fight

By Tennille Tracy
WASHINGTON--The Environmental Protection Agency won an important legal victory Tuesday in a long-brewing battle with Arch Coal Inc. (ACI) over a coal
mining project in West Virginia known as Spruce No. 1.
The case tests whether the EPA can revoke a permit for the controversial practice known as mountaintop mining after another federal agency, the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers, has already approved it.
For the coal industry, which faces an uncertain future in the U.S., the fight over Spruce No. 1 has come to symbolize what it believes is an unjust power grab by
the EPA. The industry is already locked in debates with the environmental agency over air pollution rules that seek to limit emissions from power plants that
burn coal to generate electricity.
Environmental groups, which have petitioned Congress to ban mountaintop mining altogether, say the EPA made the right move in stopping a dangerous
practice that poses risks to both human health and the environment.
The fight over Spruce No. 1 goes back to 2007, when the George W. Bush administration granted Arch Coal a permit to dump mining material into three
streams.
In mountaintop removal mining, coal companies use dynamite to blow off the tops of mountains and reveal coal seams lying below the surface. As part of the
process, the mining companies obtain permits under the Clean Water Act to dispose of mountain waste --excess rock and dirt--into nearby streams.
Arch Coal is one of the largest coal mining companies operating in the U.S.
In 2011, four years later after the Corps granted the permit, the Obama administration overturned that permit, citing concerns about water quality.
Arch Coal challenged the EPA's decision and won in a district court, which said EPA has overstepped its bounds. On Tuesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the
D.C. Circuit overturned the lower court's ruling and remanded the case for further proceedings.
Neither Arch Coal nor the EPA were available for immediate comment.
Write to Tennille Tracy at tennille.tracy@dowjones.com
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20130423-710759.html?mod=googlenews_wsj#printMode
Page 1 of 1
Environmental Food Justice Conference Hosted in Oak Park
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March 5, 2013 by Genoa Barrow
This Weeks Sacramento Observer

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OAK PARK Theyve planted the seeds,

but arent satisfied with simply sitting back
and watching them grow. The local
organization, Freedom Farms is seeking to
cultivate a movement, one that will lead to
a healthier community.
Freedom Farms sponsored its
Environmental Food Justice Conference
last week. The event was held at the Guild
Theater and included participation from a
number of stakeholders including local farmers and representatives from government agencies.
The vision for the first annual Environment and Food Justice Conference was to provide a safe
environment for people of color to represent their perspectives and issues relating to
environmental/food justice, said Freedom Farms Program Manager Kory Clift, also known as
Running Bear Stean-Mann.
The goal, he continued, was also to have academics, professionals and community activists that
present solutions to make system change.
Freedom Farms seeks to create a local, healthy, and sustainable food supply and a strong local
farm economy. Members want children who know where their food comes from and how to grow
and cook healthy food. In an effort to promote self-sufficiency, Freedom Farms has operated
successful community gardens in Oak Park and South Sacramento and trains at-risk youth for
green related jobs.
The African American/ Black community is in tune with issues around Food Justice but we dont
view it in such terminology, Clift said.
In the past four years the income gap between White and Black people has tripled. Food access
will be a very important cultural tool for survival. We have men and women who have agricultural
knowledge, we have professionals in position that could gather the many food-based community
organizations to form a collective of urban farmers and we have youth with very few options and
plenty of energy. It can be done, but the right people have to be in charge of the resources,
planning and organizing using a intergenerational approach. Freedom Farms is creating such a
http://sacobserver.com/2013/03/environmental-food-justice-conference-hosted-in-oak-park/
Page 1 of 3
May 4, 2013, Jekyll Island-65/35 Defining

Marsh Law is needed because if marsh were
defined as land in Jekylls case, the Coastal
Marshlands Protection Act (CMPA)s right to
delineate Georgias tidal marshes could be
promised. The states marshes cant be fully
protected unless theres a clear definition of
marsh and where it meets land.
Sierra Club of Puerto Rico is honored by the EPA with the
2013 U.S. EPA Environmental Quality Award for efforts to

create an innovative recycling program.
protected unless theres a clear definition of marsh and

where it meets land.
In a formal petition for rulemaking, 19 Appalachian local,

On April 24, 2013, citizens in Appalachia celebrated a huge regional, and national groups are petitioning the EPA
victory in their fight to protect their families and communities to set a numeric water quality standard under the Clean
from harmful mountaintop removal mining. In a sharp 15- Water Act to protect streams in Kentucky, West Virginia,
page ruling, a panel of three Republican-appointed Virginia,Tennessee, Ohio, and Pennsylvania from pollution
judges in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit caused by mountaintop removal mining. This petition
unanimously upheld the Environment Protection is backed by robust scientific studies that demonstrate
Agencys veto of the permit for the Spruce No. 1 mine, that the dumping of mountaintop removal mining waste
the largest proposed mountaintop removal mine in West leads to harmful levels of conductivity the ability of
Virginia. Earthjustice, along with Appalachian Mountain a waterway to conduct an electric current. Elevated
Advocates, represented a handful of community and conductivity is toxic to aquatic life, and studies show it
citizen groups in this case. This court decision comes is having an extreme ecological effect on Appalachian
after 15 years of court challenges by community groups waters and streams.
4
whose members were in the fallout zone of the proposed
mine. Its a precedent-setting decision and historic The May 13, 2013, East Oakland Gains an Environmental Justice
Spruce Mine permit is the first mountaintop removal Victory. City Council unanimously passed a 180-day
extension for the emergency ordinance that requires
mining permit ever challenged in courts.
any new crematoriums in Oakland to first, obtain a
On April 25, 2013, the Healthier Hospitals Initiative Major Conditional Use Permit. Without this emergency
launched initiatives to reduce carbon footprint, improve ordinance, the city would allow human cremation to
the health of patients in hospitals and possibly lower be classified as a General Manufacturing activity, and
health costs. In this process, the participating hospitals therefore not require a permit with public participation
were able to collect and report quantified data showing and environmental review. Cremation is not a
the success of the initiative. It has since then been manufacturing activity and the community has a right to
reported that more than 50 million tons of waste has know!
been recycled with more than 61.5 million pounds of
construction and demolition waste kept out of landfills On May 28, 2013, The Washington, D.C. Circuit Court
dismissed an appeal by Sunflower Electric of a ruling requiring
through reuse and recycling.
environmental review of Sunflowers proposed new coal plant
Dead
link
Robert
D. Bullard
is a featured speaker at the Tufts in Holcomb, Kansas.The decision lets stand a district court
University Spring 2013 Colloquium at 40th Anniversary
of UEP Celebration, Medford, MA, Saturday (evening),
April 27, 2013.
May 4, 2013, Jekyll Island-65/35 Defining Marsh Law is

needed because if marsh were defined as land in
Jekylls case, the Coastal Marshlands Protection Act
(CMPA)s right to delineate Georgias tidal marshes
could be promised. The states marshes cant be fully
ruling that the United States government violated the

law by allowing Sunflower to proceed with the polluting
and financially risky plant without first examining its
environmental effects and alternative actions.
Riverkeeper, Inc., Waterkeeper Alliance, Inc., Citizens
5 Inc., Sierra Club Atlantic
Campaign for the Environment,
Chapter, Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper, Inc. Lower
Susquehanna Riverkeeper, Inc., and Theodore Gordon
Victory: Court Upholds EPA Authority to Protect Appalachia | Earthjustice
10/12/14, 2:15 PM
By Liz Judge | Wednesday, April

24, 2013
public
awareness
and sharing
Earthjustice
victories with
journalists.
Learn more
about Liz.
Spruce No. 1 mine. The community

of Pigeon Roost Hollow is on the
right.
Friday
Finds:
Seafood
PHOTO BY VIVIAN STOCKMAN;

FLYOVER COURTESY OF SOUTHWINGS
S.O.S.
Next Blog
Post
Yesterday, citizens in
Appalachia celebrated a huge
Previous
Blog Post
victory in their fight to protect
Arctic
their families and
Athabaskans
communities from harmful
Urge Black
http://earthjustice.org/blog/2013-april/victory-court-upholds-epa-authority-to-protect-appalachia
Carbon
Page 2 of 16
Victory: Court Upholds EPA Authority to Protect Appalachia | Earthjustice
mountaintop removal mining.

In a sharp 15-page ruling, a
panel of three Republican-
10/12/14, 2:15 PM
Reductions
to Protect
Homelands
appointed judges in the U.S.

Court of Appeals for the D.C.
Circuit unanimously upheld
the Environment Protection
Agencys veto of the permit for
the Spruce No. 1 mine, the
largest proposed mountaintop
removal mine in West Virginia.
Earthjustice, along with
Appalachian Mountain
Advocates, represented a
handful of community and
Legal
Case
STOPPING
A
MASSIVE
MOUNTAINTOP
REMOVAL
COAL
MINE
citizen groups in this case.

This court decision comes
after 15 years of court
challenges by community
groups whose members were
in fallout zone of the proposed
http://earthjustice.org/blog/2013-april/victory-court-upholds-epa-authority-to-protect-appalachia
RELATED
POSTS
Page 3 of 16
Paraphrasing
For Release: April 25, 2013, 9:00 a.m. EDT
Contact: Sheri Singer, sheri.singer@verizon.net, 703-346-7111, @sherisinger
Robin Buckley, robin@buckleykaldenbach.com, 703-201-3524
FIRST-EVER Healthier Hospitals Initiative's 2012 Milestone Report

Data from U.S. Hospitals Shows Decreased Environmental Impacts and Costs
In the first-ever Healthier Hospitals Initiative 2012 Milestone Report released today, 370 HHImember hospitals indicate that they have reduced their environmental footprint, lowered costs
and improved patient health by incorporating sustainability initiatives into their business models.
This is the first time hospitals have quantified sustainability efforts by collecting and reporting
data to show movement.
Launched in April 2012, HHI is a national campaign to improve health of patients, staff, and the
community; reduce environmental impact by the sector; and experience considerable fiscal
savings that reduce the overall national health care costs through better public health.
The data in the report was collected from HHI-member hospitals in six key Challenge" areas:
Engaged Leadership, Healthier Food, Leaner Energy, Less Waste, Safer Chemicals, and
Smarter Purchasing.
"HHI is a multi-year campaign and our first Milestone Report shows movement toward delivering
a more sustainable hospital environment," said Gary Cohen, president, Health Care Without
Harm (HCWH) and founder of Healthier Hospitals Initiative. "This report is a baseline from which
we can move forward and continue to measure our future successes by encouraging hospitals
to purchase more environmentally-preferable supplies, serve healthier foods, use less energy,
reduce waste and more."
Led by 13 sponsoring health systems that represent more than 500 hospitals with more than
$20 billion in purchasing power, and in conjunction with three nonprofit organizationsHCWH,
The Center for Health Design and Practice GreenhealthHHI aims to advocate for
environmentally responsible health practices by spurring sustainable change across the health
care industry.
Each HHI member has committed to improve the health and safety of patients, staff and
communities by implementing at least one of the Challenges; The 2012 HHI Milestone Report
summarizes the Initiatives first year of progress, with 370 HHI enrollees of all sizes and types
contributing their experiences to the data. Some of the reports key findings include:
More than 50 million pounds of materials recycled, plus an additional 61.5 million pounds
of construction and demolition waste kept out of landfills through reuse and recycling.
About $32 million in savings resulting from single-use medical device reprocessing.
Groups Petition U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for Water Quunities from Mountaintop Removal Mining Pollution | Earthjustice
coalition of Appalachian and national groups
Earthjustice,
pressed the Environmental Protection
(202) 797-5237
10/12/14, 2:46 PM
Agency for stronger protection for their

waters from the most extreme form of coal3
mining, mountaintop removal.
In a formal petition for rulemaking, 19
Appalachian local, regional, and national
Legal Case
groups are petitioning the EPA to set a
MOUNTAINTOP
REMOVAL IN
WEST
VIRGINIA
numeric water quality standard under the

Clean Water Act to protect streams in
Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee,
Ohio, and Pennsylvania from pollution
caused by mountaintop removal mining. This
petition is backed by robust scientific studies
that demonstrate that the dumping of
mountaintop removal mining waste leads to
harmful levels of conductivity the ability of
a waterway to conduct an electric current.
Elevated conductivity is toxic to aquatic life,
and studies show it is having an extreme
ecological effect on Appalachian waters and
streams.
This petition comes during the eighth annual
End Mountaintop Removal Week in
Washington, as citizens from all over
Appalachia gather in the nations capital to
demand protections for their communities
and an end to mountaintop removal.
http://earthjustice.org/news/press/2013/groups-petition-u-s-environagency-for-water-quality-standard-in-appalachia-to-protect-communit
Page 2 of 10
1904FranklinSt,Suite600|Oakland,CA94612
Phone:5103020430|Fax:5103020437|www.cbecal.org
Dear East Oakland COMMUNITY & MEMBERS
May 13, 2013
On Tuesday night, Oakland City Council unanimously passed a 180-day extension for the Emergency
Ordinance that requires any new crematoriums in Oakland to first, obtain a Major Conditional Use Permit.
This is what Oakland residents wanted! East Oakland residents, Allen Temple Baptist Church,
Communities for a Better Environment, Alameda County Public Health Department, and local businesses
believe that everyone deserves the freedom to breathe!
Without this emergency ordinance, the City would allow human cremation to be classified as a General
Manufacturing activity, and therefore not require a permit with public participation and environmental
review. Cremation is not a manufacturing activity and the community has a right to know!
We want to thank the hundreds of Oakland residents that signed our petition, Reverend Buford and Allen
Temple Baptist Church, Allen Temple Arms, Alameda Public Health Department, Hope Collaborative, and
CBE members for your support. Over 57 residents signed up to speak on this issue.
We had fiery public testimony of over twenty-five Oakland residents who are still outraged by a proposed
Walmart-scale crematorium with the capacity to burn over 3000 bodies per year in East Oakland. More
mercury would come out of this proposed facility in East Oakland than the Richmond Chevron refinery
reports it is putting out in the air.
East Oakland is already overburdened by pollution. Because of that, we have high asthma rates and lower
life expectancy than people in other parts of the Bay area. We also have worse impacts of economic
depression, blight, and violence.
We need to build a healthier Oakland, and not allow more pollution in our air. We need policies that will
improve the quality of life of ALL Oakland residents.
Because of your support, we won this round but our work is not complete. City staff will have 180 days to
make this ordinance permanent so that any new crematorium wanting to come to Oakland knows it will need
to get a Conditional Use Permit. Making the law clear is important.
Thank you for all your support! We give a special thanks to the leadership of Vice Mayor, Councilmember
Reid and his Chief of Staff Iris Merriouns!
In Solidarity and Justice,
Communities for a Better Environment (CBE)
Oakland Team
1904 Franklin, Suite 600 Oakland, CA 94612 Ph: (510) 302-0430 // Legal fax (510) 302-0437
In Southern California: 6326 Pacific Blvd, Suite 300 Huntington Park, CA 90255 Ph: (323) 826-9771
Plans for Proposed Kansas Coal-Fired Power Plant Halted Pending Further Environmental Review | Earthjustice
10/12/14, 3:09 PM
Kansas power company appeal, leaving

environmental review requirements in
place
May 28, 2013
Washington, D.C. The D.C.

Circuit Court today dismissed
an appeal by Sunflower
Electric of a ruling requiring
environmental review of
Sunflowers proposed new
coal plant in Holcomb, Kansas.
The decision lets stand a
district court ruling that the
U.S. government violated the
law by allowing Sunflower to
CONTACTS
Amanda
Goodin,
Earthjustice,
(206)
3437340,
ext.1020
Emily
Rosenwasser,
Sierra
Club,
(312)
proceed with the polluting and
251-
financially risky plant without
1680,
first examining its
ext. 119
http://earthjustice.org/news/press/2013/plans-for-proposed-kansas-coal-fired-power-plant-halted-pending-further-environmental-review
Page 2 of 10
CHAPTER 5
Selected
Bibliography
REPORTS
Government Reports
Paraphrasing
1999
National Environmental Justice Advisory Council, Environmental

Justice in the Permitting Process: A Report From the Public Meeting on
Environmental Permitting Convened by the National Environmental
Justice Advisory Council, Arlington, VirginiaNovember 30
December 2, 1999 (Washington, DC: U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency, 1999).
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agencys (EPAs) 1997 Strategic

Plan commits the Agency to ensure that all Americans are protected
from significant risk to human health and the environment where
they live, learn, and work. Requirements for the siting of solid waste
incinerators must minimize, on a site-specific basis, to the maximum
extent practicable, potential risks to public health or the environment.
2000
National Environmental Justice Advisory Council, Guide on Consultation
and Collaboration With Indian Tribal Governments and the Public
Participation of Indigenous Groups and Tribal Members in Environmental
Decision Making (Washington, DC: U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency, 2000).
The Guide responds to testimony before the National Environmental
Justice Advisory Council (NEJAC) that, in some instances, existing public
participation processes have provided inadequate opportunities for tribal
communities and tribal members to have meaningful involvement in
environmental and public health decision-making processes. As citizens
of the United States, tribal members (as individuals or representatives
of indigenous organizations) have a right to environmental and public
health protection under federal law comparable to that afforded to
other citizens.
2001
Governor Paris N. Glendening and Lieutenant Governor Kathleen
Kennedy Townsend. The Maryland Commission on Environmental Justice
and Sustainable Communities Report (Baltimore: State of Maryland,
Department of Environment, December 2001).
NATIONAL
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
ADVISORY COUNCIL
August 3, 2000
Administrator Carol M. Browner
U. S. Environmental Protection Agency
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20460
Dear Administrator Browner:

Please find attached a copy of the report entitled Environmental Justice in the Permitting Process: A
Report on the Public Meeting Convened by the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council, November
30-December 2, 1999.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), through its Office of Environmental Justice, asked
the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council (NEJAC) to provide advice and recommendations on the
following question:
In order to secure protection from environmental degradation for all citizens, what factors should be
considered by a federal permitting authority, as well as state or local agencies with delegated permitting
responsibilities, in the decision-making process prior to allowing a new pollution-generating facility to
operate in a minority and/or low income community that may already have a number of such facilities?
Clearly, this is a question that the Agency has wrestled with for some time. To address this question,
NEJAC scheduled a three day public meeting of industry, government (federal, tribal, state, and local), academic,
and community stakeholders to explore whether and how the issue of environmental justice could be integrated
into the permitting process.
This report sets forth approximately eighty (80) policy proposals that were presented by representatives
from various stakeholder groups. The breath of the discussions were exemplified by individuals and/or
organizations that either provided comments, suggestions or recommendations on what EPA could and/or should
consider in the permit review application process. The NEJAC has considered these policy proposals and has
formulated the following recommendations. Consequently, NEJAC recommends that the Administrator undertake
the following actions:
Paraphrasing
Request the Office of General Counsel to clarify legal authority and provide guidance on, the
extent to which, permit writers (including delegated state, tribal, and local governments) have
a mandatory and/or discretionary authority to deny an environmental permit, condition a permit,
or require additional permit procedures on environmental justice grounds.
As delineated in EPAs 1997 Strategic Plan to ensure that all people, regardless of race, income
or national origin, are protected from significant risk to human health and the environment
where they live, learn, and work," the NEJAC urges the Administrator to assert leadership in
the quest to better understand the following: (1) cumulative impacts; (2) degree of risk; (3)
community demographics; and (4) disproportionality of risk, and how these can be integrated
into the permit review process, as appropriate.
2
Section 112(r)(7) also authorizes the EPA Administrator to consider
location and response capabilities in establishing requirements to prevent
accidental releases of hazardous air pollutants. 42 U.S.C. 7412(r)(7).
Requirements for the siting of solid waste incinerators must "minimize,
on a site specific basis, to the maximum extent practicable, potential risks
to public health or the environment." Section 129(a)(3), 42 U.S.C.
7429(a)(3)(emphasis added).
Penalties for noncompliance with applicable Clean Air Act provisions
must reflect "such other factors as justice may require," including,
presumably, the potentially greater need for deterrence in communities
which have historically lacked the resources to oversee facility
compliance. See section 113(e)(1), 42 U.S.C. 7413(e)(1)(emphasis
added).
EPA has broad discretion to impose whatever permit conditions "are
necessary to assure compliance." Section 504, 42 U.S.C. 7661c.
Conceivably, permit conditions could include provisions to enhance a
community's ability to oversee facility compliance.
Finally, state boards with responsibility for permitting and enforcement of
the Act must have "at least a majority of members who represent the
public interest." Section 128, 42 U.S.C. 7428(emphasis added). The
"public interest" standard may allow EPA to require that such boards
include representatives of environmental justice communities.
5. Does section 112(k) of the Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. 7412(k), require or authorize EPA (and
delegated permit authorities) to address environmental justice concerns about cumulative
burdens and their associated health risks in urban areas?
Section 112(k) addresses hazardous air pollutants from area sources (i.e., stationary
sources that are not major) that individually or collectively present significant risks to public
health in urban areas. The section directs EPA to monitor for a broad range of hazardous air
pollutants, analyze contributing sources, and assess the public health risks they pose. EPA
also must develop a comprehensive national emission control strategy, encourage and support
State and local emission control strategies, and report to Congress on specific metropolitan
areas that continue to experience high risks to public health from area source emissions. See
also section 112(c)(3), 42 U.S.C. 7412(c)(3) and Tr. I-294-295.
6. Does the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act ("RCRA") require or authorize EPA (and
delegated permit authorities) to address such environmental justice concerns as cumulative
risk, unique exposure pathways, and sensitive populations? Tr. I-238. Relevant provisions
cited in a law review article presented to NEJAC include:
Standards applicable to generators and transporters of hazardous waste as
well as hazardous waste treatment, storage, and disposal facilities must
incorporate such protective requirements "as may be necessary to protect
human health and the environment," language broad enough to
encompass consideration of cumulative impacts. See sections 3002(a),
3003(a), and 3004(a), 42 U.S.C. 6922(a), 6923(a), and 6924(a)(emphasis
added).
13
1
5
The Commission made several recommendations that

could result in the development of more sustainable
communities. The Commission recommended that state
agencies develop plans using Maryland Department of
Environments Strategic Environmental Justice Plan as
a guideline for developing a comparable approach in
achieving their own agency missions.
2002
Federal Interagency Working Group on Environmental

Justice. Status Report: Environmental Justice Collaborative
Model: A Framework to Ensure Local Problem-Solving
(Washington, DC: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,

2002).
This collaborative model is an effective method for
comprehensively and proactively addressing the
interrelated environmental, public health, economic, and
social concerns collectively known as environmental
justice issues.This report summarizes the lessons learned
from the ongoing projects, identifies the elements of
success, examines the emerging outline of a coherent
collaborative problem-solving model, and describes
efforts to evaluate the model and specific demonstration
projects.
2003
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Not in My Backyard:

Executive Order 12898 and Title VI as Tools for Achieving
Environmental Justice (Washington, DC: U.S. Commission
on Civil Rights, 2003).

This report, based on Commission hearings, interviews,
research, and a review of relevant literature, reveals
that while there has been some limited success in
implementing Executive Order 12898 and the principles
of environmental justice, significant problems and
shortcomings remain. The report recommends that
federal agencies coordinate and promulgate clear
regulations, guidelines, and procedures for investigating,
reviewing, and deciding without unnecessary delay of
Title VI claims, and that federal agencies implement
formal Title VI compliance review programs to ensure

nondiscrimination in programs and activities receiving
federal funding.
2004
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Evaluation

Report: EPA Needs to Consistently Implement the Intent
of the Executive Order on Environmental Justice, Report
No. 2004-P-00007 (Washington, DC: U.S. Environmental

7
Protection Agency, 2004).
The report recommends that the EPA establish specific
time frames for the development of definitions, goals, and
measurements. It also recommends that the EPA develop
and articulate a clear vision on the Agencys approach
to environmental justice. This report contains findings
that describe problems and corrective actions the Office
of Inspector General (OIG) recommends. This report
represents the opinion of the OIG, and the findings
in this report do not necessarily represent the final
EPA position.
2005
U.S. Government Accountability Office (GOA).

Environmental Justice: EPA Should Devote More Attention
to Environmental Justice When Developing Clean Air
Rules. Report to the Ranking Member, Subcommittee
on Environment and Hazardous Materials, Committee

on Energy and Commerce, House of Representatives,
GAO-05-289 (Washington, DC: U.S. Government
Accountability Office, 2005).
The GAO was asked to examine how the EPA considers
environmental justice during two phases of developing
clean air rules: (1) drafting the rule, including activities
of the work group that considered regulatory options,
the economic review of the rules costs, and making
the proposed rule available for public comment; and
(2) finalizing the rule, including addressing public
comments, and revising the economic review.
THE MARYLAND COMMISSION ON

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE AND
SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
ANNUAL REPORT
December 2001
Governor Parris N. Glendening

Lieutenant Governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Purpose
The Maryland Commission on Environmental Justice and Sustainable Communities has
completed its first annual report. At Marylands annual Environmental Legislative Summit on
January 21, 2002, Mr. Scot T. Spencer, the Commissions Chairman, presented an official report
to Marylands Governor, Parris Glendening for his review and consideration. The report contains
the Commissions findings and recommendations in accordance with an Executive Order issued
by the Governor on January 1, 2001.
Background
The Commission held its inaugural meeting on May 11, 2001. The Maryland Department
of the Environments Secretary, Jane Nishida, Assistant Secretary Denise Ferguson-Southard and
the Commissions Chair, Scot T. Spencer, presented the charge and goals to the Commission.
The Commission has had seven (7) meetings since its first meeting in addition to the first
community forum, which was held on December 21, 2001. The Commissions meetings have
identified several problematic areas of concern across the state of Maryland. There is significant
concern about the full integration of stakeholder-based/community involvement and planning
within the framework of the regulatory mandates, processes, and procedures. General concerns
articulated by Marylanders during the 2001 meetings include inequities in research practices
1
associated with lead paint studies, power plant siting, landfill siting, the provision
of wastewater
and sewer infrastructure, permitting, hearing processes, public outreach, and involvement, and
protection of public health.
The Commission has made several recommendations that could result in the development
of more sustainable communities. One concept that is intriguing to the Commission is the
development of a comprehensive framework to respond to environmental inequities in targeted
communities. This concept builds on the foundations of Marylands Smart Growth paradigm and
those created by the visions adopted as State policy in the 1992 Growth Act.
This concept embodies the development of policies with the use of State resources that
support communities and influence the location of specific development. It will attempt to use
the authority of state government in communities designated by counties and local government
as environmentally challenged or higher risk communities. These designated communities would
receive priority attention that could manifest in several forms: additional compliance and
enforcement activities, additional state funding and tax benefits, and special analyses of potential
developmental benefits and impacts, with the idea of steering away environmentally detrimental
activities while encouraging environmentally and economically beneficial ones.
The Commission is looking at mechanisms to identify high-risk communities so that state
agencies can focus their limited resources on the highest priority areas. To facilitate this
identification, the Commission has started to develop criteria to better define high risk or
environmentally challenged communities.
1
Recommendations
This initial Commission report recognizes the unique challenges faced by many
Maryland communities and is recommending the integration of an environmental justice and
sustainable communities ethic within all state agencies. In this context, the Commission is
recommending that state agencies develop plans using MDEs Strategic Environmental Justice
Plan as a guideline for developing a comparable approach in achieving their own agency
missions.
The Commission recommends the use of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) as a
response mechanism to community-based environmental disputes. We are striving to develop
innovative practices and approaches that can better lead to resolving environmental disputes
before executive branch agencies in Maryland.
The Commission also recommends continued education of state agencies on
environmental justice and sustainable communities, with special attention given to marginalized
and disenfranchised communities; the creation of state-wide community forums to discuss these
issues; the development of environmental justice related guidance for state agencies; focused
effort to improve public participation before agencies; and, the building and strengthening
government infrastructure at local levels to support marginalized communities.
Finally, the Commission applauds Governor Glendening for his vision and foresight to
innovate in this area. The members have recognized the enormity of the Commissions tasks.
They do not see these tasks as challenges, but as opportunities to build upon and strengthen all of
Maryland communities, consistent with the states legacy of inclusion and sustainable
communities.
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
STATUS REPORT
COLLABORATIVE MODEL: A Framework to
Ensure Local Problem-Solving
Developed by
Federal Interagency Working Group
On Environmental Justice
Preface
In May, 2000, the 11 federal agencies comprising the Federal Interagency Working Group on
Environmental Justice (IWG) developed and issued an Interagency Environmental Justice Action
Agenda (Action Agenda). The goals of the Action Agenda are as follows:
(1) to promote greater coordination and cooperation among federal agencies;
(2) to make government more accessible and responsive to communities;
(3) to initiate environmental justice demonstration projects to develop integrated place-based
models for addressing community quality-of-life issues; and
2
(4) to ensure integration of environmental justice in policies, programs and activities of
federal agencies.
The underlying premise of the Action Agenda is that a collaborative model is an effective method for
comprehensively and proactively addressing the interrelated environmental, public health, economic,
and social concerns collectively known as environmental justice issues. The IWG, in partnership with
various stakeholders (i.e., state, tribal, and local government agencies; community organizations;
industry representatives; and others) established 15 demonstration projects to test this underlying
premise.
This interim status report presents a work-in-progress as it:

(1) summarizes the lessons learned from the ongoing projects;
(2) identifies the elements of success;
(3) examines the emerging outline of a coherent collaborative problem-solving model; and
(4) describes efforts to evaluate the model and specific demonstration projects.
These activities are intended to lay the groundwork for a second round of IWG demonstration
projects being identified for 2002.
IWG Status Report - February 2002

Environmental Justice Collaborative Model
iii
http://www.usccr.gov/pubs/envjust/ej0104.pdf
iii
Letter of Transmittal
The President
The President of the Senate
The Speaker of the House of Representatives
Sirs:
The United States Commission on Civil Rights transmits this report, Not in My Backyard: Executive
Order 12,898 and Title VI as Tools for Achieving Environmental Justice, pursuant to Public Law 103419. This report examines how well four federal agenciesthe Environmental Protection Agency, the
U.S. Department of the Interior, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the
U.S. Department of Transportationhave implemented Executive Order 12,898 and Title VI. Executive Order 12,898 requires federal agencies to collect data on the health and environmental impact of
their activities on communities of color and low-income populations, and develop policies incorporating the principles of environmental justice into their programs and activities. In this report the
Commission assesses the efforts of these agencies to adopt, promote, and execute policies ensuring
that environmental justice is incorporated into their core missions, whether affected communities are
provided meaningful participation in environmental decision-making processes, and to what extent
these communities have access to scientific data and effective Title VI enforcement procedures.
This report, based on Commission hearings, interviews, research, and a review of relevant literature,
reveals that while there has been some limited success in implementing Executive Order 12,898 and the
principles of environmental justice, significant problems and shortcomings remain. Federal agencies
still have neither fully incorporated environmental justice into their core missions nor established accountability and performance outcomes for programs and activities. Moreover, a commitment to environmental justice is often lacking in agency leadership, communities are not yet full participants in
environmental decision-making, and there is still inadequate scientific and technical literature on the
relationship between environmental pollutants and human health status. Although poor communities
and communities of color are becoming more skilled at using Title VI administrative processes to
seek recourse and remedies, agencies seldom, if ever, revoke a permit or withhold money from the
recipients of federal funding for violating Title VI. Strong administrative enforcement of Title VI is
required in light of court decisions limiting access to judicial recourse and remedies under Title VI.
Uncertainty about the use and effectiveness of Title VI in protecting
the poor and communities of
5
color is created by the absence of final investigative and recipient guidance by EPA. The agency was
moving toward finalizing its Title VI guidance at the time the Commission report was drafted, and
we look forward to its release. The other agencies, unlike EPA, lacked any comprehensive Title VI
investigation and recipient guidance.
As a result, the Commission report makes many recommendations; some of the recommendations are
directed toward federal agencies while others require congressional action. The report recommends,
for example, that federal agencies coordinate and promulgate clear regulations, guidelines, and procedures for investigating, reviewing, and deciding without unnecessary delay Title VI claims, and
that federal agencies implement formal Title VI compliance review programs to ensure nondiscrimination in programs and activities receiving federal funding. In addition, Congress should pass a Civil
Rights Restoration Act to provide for a private right of action for disparate impact claims under Title
VI, as well as 1983.
UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20460
OFFICE OF
INSPECTOR GENERAL
March 1, 2004
MEMORANDUM
SUBJECT:
Evaluation Report: EPA Needs to Consistently Implement the Intent of the

Executive Order on Environmental Justice
Report No. 2004-P-00007
FROM:
Kwai Chan /s/

Assistant Inspector General for Program Evaluation
TO:
Stephen L. Johnson
Acting Deputy Administrator
Attached is our final report regarding the Environmental Protection Agencys (EPAs)
implementation of Executive Order 12898 on Environmental Justice, its integration into the
mission of EPA, and associated actions to protect minority and low-income populations. This
report contains findings that describe problems and corrective actions the Office of Inspector
General (OIG) recommends. This report represents the opinion of the OIG, and the findings in
this report do not necessarily represent the final EPA position. Final determinations on matters
in the report will be made by EPA managers in accordance with established procedures.
Action Required
In accordance with EPA Manual 2750, as the action official, you are required to provide a
written response to the findings and recommendations presented in this final report within 90
days of the final report date. The response should address all recommendations. For corrective
actions planned but not completed by the response date, please describe the actions that are
ongoing and provide a timetable for completion. Where you disagree with a recommendation,
please provide alternative actions for addressing the findings reported.
If you or your staff have any questions regarding this report, please contact me
at (202) 566-0827 or Jeffrey Harris, Director for Program Evaluation, Cross-Media Issues, at
(202) 566-0831.
justice protocols used by three different regions would apply to the same city
showed a wide disparity in protected populations.
We believe the Agency is bound by the requirements of Executive Order 12898
and does not have the authority to reinterpret the order. The Acting Deputy
Administrator needs to reaffirm that the Executive Order 12898 applies
specifically to minority and low-income populations that are disproportionately
impacted. After 10 years, there is an urgent need for the Agency to standardize
environmental justice definitions, goals, and measurements for the consistent
implementation and integration of environmental justice at EPA.
6
Recommendations
We recommended that the Acting Deputy Administrator issue a memorandum

reaffirming that Executive Order 12898 is an Agency priority and that minority
and low-income populations disproportionately impacted will be the beneficiaries
of this Executive Order. Additionally, EPA should establish specific time frames
for the development of definitions, goals, and measurements. Furthermore, we
recommended that EPA develop and articulate a clear vision on the Agencys
approach to environmental justice. We also recommended that EPA develop a
comprehensive strategic plan, ensure appropriate training is provided, clearly
define the mission of the Office of Environmental Justice, determine if adequate
resources are being applied to environmental justice, and develop a systematic
approach to gathering information related to environmental justice.
7
Agency Comments and OIG Evaluation

In the response to our draft report, the Agency disagreed with the central premise
that Executive Order 12898 requires the Agency to identify and address the
environmental effects of its programs on minority and low-income populations.
The Agency believes the Executive Order instructs the Agency to identify and
address the disproportionately high and adverse human health or environmental
effects of it (sic) programs, policies, and activities. The Agency does not take
into account the inclusion of the minority and low-income populations, and
indicated it is attempting to provide environmental justice for everyone. While
providing adequate environmental justice to the entire population is
commendable, doing so had already been EPAs mission prior to implementation
of the Executive Order; we do not believe the intent of the Executive Order was
simply to reiterate that mission. We believe the Executive Order was specifically
issued to provide environmental justice to minority and/or low-income
populations due to concerns that those populations had been disproportionately
impacted by environmental risk.
A summary of the Agencys response and our evaluation is included at the end of
each chapter. The Agencys complete response and our evaluation of that
response are included in Appendices D and E, respectively.
ii
July 2005
Accountability Integrity Reliability
Highlights
Highlights of GAO-05-289, a report to the
Ranking Member, Subcommittee on
Environment and Hazardous Materials,
Committee on Energy and Commerce,
House of Representatives
Why GAO Did This Study

Executive Order 12898 made
achieving environmental justice
part of the mission of the
Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) and other federal agencies.
According to EPA, environmental
justice involves fair treatment of
people of all races, cultures, and
incomes. EPA developed guidance
for considering environmental
justice during the development of
rules under the Clean Air Act and
other activities.
GAO was asked to examine how
EPA considered environmental
justice during two phases of
developing clean air rules: (1)
drafting the rule, including
activities of the workgroup that
considered regulatory options, the
economic review of the rules
costs, and making the proposed
rule available for public comment,
and (2) finalizing the rule, including
addressing public comments and
revising the economic review.
GAO reviewed the three clean air
rules described in the next column.
What GAO Recommends

GAO recommends, among other
things, that EPA improve
workgroups ability to identify
environmental justice issues and
enhance the ability of its economic
reviews to analyze potential
environmental justice impacts.
EPA disagreed with the
recommendations because it
believes it pays appropriate
attention to environmental justice.
GAO believes the
recommendations are still valid.
EPA Should Devote More Attention to

Environmental Justice When Developing
Clean Air Rules
What GAO Found

When drafting the three clean air rules, EPA generally devoted little
attention to environmental justice. While EPA guidance on rulemaking
states that workgroups should consider environmental justice early in this
process, GAO found that a lack of guidance and training for workgroup
members on identifying environmental justice issues may have limited their
ability to identify such issues. In addition, while EPA officials stated that
economic reviews of proposed rules consider potential environmental
9 impacts, the gasoline and diesel rules did not provide decision
justice
makers with environmental justice analyses, and EPA has not identified all
the types of data necessary to analyze such impacts. Finally, in all three
rules, EPA mentioned environmental justice when they were published in
proposed form, but the discussion in the ozone implementation rule was
contradictory.
In finalizing the three clean air rules, EPA considered environmental justice
to varying degrees. Public commenters stated that all three rules, as
proposed, raised environmental justice issues. In responding to such
comments on the gasoline rule, EPA published its belief that the rule would
not create such issues, but did not publish the data and assumptions
supporting its belief. Specifically, EPA did not publish (1) its estimate that
potentially harmful air emissions would increase in 26 of the 86 counties
with refineries affected by the rule or (2) its assumption that this estimate
overstated the eventual increases in refinery emissions. For the diesel rule,
in response to refiners concerns that their permits could be delayed if
environmental justice issues were raised by citizens, EPA stated that the
permits would not be delayed by such issues. Moreover, after reviewing the
comments, EPA did not change its final economic reviews to discuss the
gasoline and diesel rules potential environmental justice impacts. Finally,
the portions of the ozone implementation rule that prompted the comments
about environmental justice were not included in the final rule. Overall,
EPA officials said that these rules, as published in final form, did not create
an environmental justice issue.
Three Clean Air Rules
www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-05-289.
To view the full product, including the scope
and methodology, click on the link above.
For more information, contact John B.
Stephenson at (202) 512-3841.
United States Government Accountability Office
Selected Bibliography
2006
National Environmental Justice Advisory Council. The 2005 Gulf Coast
Hurricanes and Vulnerable PopulationsRecommendations for Future
Disaster Preparedness/Response (Washington, DC: U.S. Environmental

NEJAC recommends that the EPA should work with appropriate agencies
to address issues such as mold, debris, and sediments, and assess whether
a health survey of Gulf Coast residents impacted by the hurricanes is
appropriate. It is everyones collective hope that, in the aftermath of
disasters such as Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, we as a nation not
only will be able to rebuild healthier, more sustainable communities, but
also will be better prepared both to respond to future such events and
to prevent their negative consequences.
2007
Jennifer Pike. Spending Federal Disaster Aid: Comparing the Process and
Priorities in Louisiana and Mississippi in the Wake of Hurricanes Katrina
and Rita (New York: Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government,
2007).
The report highlights some of the roadblocks Louisiana and Mississippi
have been grappling with as they steer these somewhat flexible funding
sources to the areas in need.The author emphasizes that what is at stake is
the hospital dispute on whether Louisiana should rebuild the centerpiece
of what many critics contend is a failed health care system, and many
proponents argue is the only way the poor can have access to adequate
health care.
2008
Staff Report Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight
by Committee on Science and Technology for U.S. House of
Representatives. Toxic TrailersToxic Lethargy: How the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention Has Failed to Protect the Public Health
(Washington, DC: Committee on Science and Technology, 2008).
The report provides a detailed examination of the Agency for Toxic

Substances and Disease Registrys (ATSDR) response to the Federal
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) trailer/formaldehyde issue and
the Agencys production, approval, and release of that health consultation.
ATSDR failed to translate its scientific findings and facts into appropriate
public health actions to properly inform and warn FEMA and the tens
of thousands of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita survivors

living in FEMA-provided trailers and mobile homes of
the potential health risks they faced from exposure to
formaldehyde.
2009
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Pacific Southwest
Region 9. Environmental Justice Resource Guide:
A Handbook for Communities and Decision-Makers
(Washington, DC: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,

2009).
This guide for community organizers and decisionmakers includes information on agency funding sources,
training opportunities, and technical and program
assistance for minority and low-income communities
disproportionately affected by environmental and public
health impacts. 7
Enforcement Tool (EJSEAT), in particular, and how such

approaches might better identify areas of concern. This
report also discusses the principles that should guide
the use of such screening approaches, those instances
where a nationally consistent screening approach might
be appropriate, and those instances where such an
approach might be inappropriate or misused.
United States Commission on Civil Rights. Civil Rights
Challenges of the 21st Century: A View from the States.
A Staff Report of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights
(Washington, D.C.: United States Commission on Civil

Rights).
National Environmental Justice Advisory Council.
This report will enable the Commission to obtain an

on-the-ground perspective in regions and states in
identifying top civil rights priorities. This perspective in
turn will help the Commission meet its strategic goal of
shaping a national conversation on current and future
civil rights issues that identifies civil rights priorities for
policy makers.
Strategies to Enhance School Air Toxics Monitoring in

Environmental Justice Communities (Washington, D.C.:
2011
2010
Environmental Protection Agency, 2010).

This report contains advice and recommendations about
how the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) can
most effectively promote strategies that would improve
EPAs long-term school and community outreach
approach in the future. The report includes nineteen
recommendations and the National Environmental Justice
Advisory Council (NEJAC) indicate that EPA should seek
the advice of the NEJAC (or its work group as delegated)
about designing and implementing the next phase of the
school air toxics monitoring project
Nationally Consistent Environmental Justice Screening
Approaches (Washington, D.C.: Environmental Protection
Agency, 2010).
Wrong link

Recommendations for Ensuring Long-Term Engagement
of Communities in Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration
(Washington, D.C.: Environmental Protection Agency,

2011).
This report contains advice and recommendations
about how the Agency can best engage minority, lowincome, and tribal/indigenous communities for input on
decisions about Gulf Coast restoration plans, particularly
with respect to the impacts of such plans on permitting
(such as wetlands restoration, equitable development,
revitalization, cleanups, and sustainable energy).
Enhancing Environmental Justice in EPA Permitting
Programs (Washington, D.C.: Environmental Protection
Agency, 2011).
This report discusses screening approaches through

the lens of the Agencys Environmental Justice Strategic
THE 2005 GULF COAST HURRICANES AND

VULNERABLE POPULATIONS
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE DISASTER
PREPAREDNESS/RESPONSE
August 2006
A Report
prepared by the
National Environmental Justice Advisory Council

a Federal Advisory Committee to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Establish a credible forum for dialogue with affected stakeholders about different ways to
improve risk communications, including the use of forums and expert panels;
Use neutral facilitators, when appropriate;
Provide technical assistance to communities to access and interpret data, and
1
Build partnerships to ensure community outreach and meaningful involvement for
populations which historically have had less access to environmental and public health
information and/or the decision-making process.
In addition, EPA should work with appropriate agencies to address issues such as mold, debris
and sediments, and assess whether a health survey of Gulf Coast residents impacted by the
hurricanes is appropriate.
With respect to environmentally sound redevelopment, we recommend that EPA work
with appropriate agencies to foster environmentally sustainable redevelopment and the
restoration of wetlands and barrier islands. In addition, EPA should work with appropriate
agencies to address issues such as Brownfields assessment and cleanup, worker protection, and
job training and creation.
In closing, we want to acknowledge the members of the Gulf Coast Hurricanes Work
Group for their contributions to this report. In particular, we wish to recognize the leadership,
hard work and dedication provided by Ms. Wilma Subra, Work Group Chair. We also want to
acknowledge the many EPA offices that worked with the NEJAC to develop meaningful
recommendations. These EPA offices include: Region 4; Region 6; Office of Solid Waste and
Emergency Response (Office of Emergency Management, Office of Brownfields Cleanup and
Redevelopment); Office of Water; Office of Policy, Economics, and Innovation; Office of
Radiation and Indoor Air; Office of Research and Development; and the Office of Enforcement
and Compliance Assurance (Office of Environmental Justice). We look forward to your
response to our advice and recommendations.
Sincerely,
Richard Moore /s/

Richard Moore
Chair
cc:
NEJAC Members
Granta Nakayama, Assistant Administrator, OECA
Thomas Dunne, Associate Administrator, Homeland Security
Susan Bodine, Assistant Administrator, OSWER
Catherine McCabe, Deputy Assistant Administrator, OECA
Stanly Meiburg, Deputy Regional Administrator, EPA Region 4
Lawrence Starfield, Deputy Regional Administrator, EPA Region 6
Barry E. Hill, Director, OEJ
Deborah Dietrich, Director, OEM
Charles Lee, Associate Director, OEJ and NEJAC Designated Federal Officer
Victoria Robinson, NEJAC Program Manager, OEJ
THE 2005 GULF COAST HURRICANES AND

VULNERABLE POPULATIONS RECOMMENDATIONS FOR
FUTURE DISASTER PREPAREDNESS/RESPONSE
INTRODUCTION
The National Environmental Justice Advisory Council (NEJAC) is a formal federal advisory
committee chartered pursuant to the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) to provide
advice and recommendations to the Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) on matters related to environmental justice. This report responds to EPAs request for
advice and recommendations on the following question:
How can EPA effectively address the vulnerabilities of all communities to public
health and environmental risks and harms, including minority and low-income
communities, in EPAs response and rebuilding, and preparedness and prevention
efforts, in the aftermath of natural disasters similar to Hurricanes Katrina and
Rita, pursuant to the National Response Plan and applicable statutory authorities
and their implementing regulations, as well as Executive Order 12898?
It is everyones collective hope that, in the aftermath of disasters such as Hurricanes Katrina and
Rita in 2005, we as a Nation not only will be able to rebuild healthier, more sustainable
communities, but also will be better prepared both to respond to future such events and to
prevent their negative consequences. Therefore, the NEJAC has worked earnestly to provide
advice and recommendations on the important question above. The EPA convened a multistakeholder group of individuals from the Gulf Coast region, in the form of the NEJAC Gulf
Coast Hurricanes Work Group (Work Group), to formulate a set of initial draft recommendations
for the NEJAC to deliberate and act upon. The Work Group met in person twice, in New
Orleans, Louisiana (February 1-2, 2006) and Biloxi, Mississippi (April 11-12, 2006). The Work
Group also conducted several conference calls. In addition, the NEJAC Executive Council
deliberated on the Work Groups draft recommendations, and received public comments
regarding them, at a NEJAC Public Meeting in Washington, DC (June 20-22, 2006).
NEJAC Work Group members, who themselves have been struggling to rebuild and renew their
lives and devastated communities, requested that the NEJAC express their appreciation to the
EPA Administrator for the selfless, and often heroic, efforts of EPA staff in responding to the
recent hurricanes. They recognized the monumental scope of the hurricanes impacts, and
commended EPAs rapid and extensive response efforts. In particular, they noted EPAs
sensitivity to the needs of disadvantaged communities. They urged the NEJAC to strongly
convey their communities sense of tremendous anguish and urgency regarding their current and
future challenges, as well as EPAs important role in addressing them. As Mayor Johnny Dupree
of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, a member of that Work Group, poignantly stated on April 12, 2006:
Because of EPAs past good work in environmental justice, communities in the Gulf Coast have
high expectations for EPA to provide leadership in addressing their concerns.
GulfGov Reports
Spending Federal Disaster Aid
Comparing the Process and Priorities in Louisiana and Mississippi
in the Wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita
Principal Author:
Jennifer Pike
Research Director,
Public Affairs Research
Council of Louisiana
Public Affairs Research
The Nelson A. Rockefeller
Council of Louisiana
Institute of Government
Financial support for the startup of this research program has been provided by the Ford Foundation.
We gratefully appreciate their support and assistance.
2007 by The Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government and

the Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana
All rights reserved.
The Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government
411 State Street
Albany, New York 12203-1003
www.rockinst.org
Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana
4664 Jamestown Avenue, Suite 300
Baton Rouge, LA 70808-4776
www.la-par.org
iv
Executive Summary
mong the many types of federal disaster aid that have been sent to the Gulf Coast region in the wake of
hurricanes Katrina and Rita, two major grant programs stand out both for the amount of money being
funneled through them and for the flexibility they offer state and local governments trying to rebuild their
communities. Specifically, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Public Assistance (PA)
and the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) programs are being used to help the affected cities,
counties, parishes, and states. In some instances that means replacing severely damaged or destroyed
buildings and infrastructure. In others, it means providing financial assistance for repairs to structures that
3
can be salvaged. For officials in the devastated communities, the money is essential to their rebuilding
processes. Yet the slow pace at which the FEMA PA grants and CDBG awards are being disbursed has
proved frustrating to local governments at best and debilitating to their recovery efforts at worst.
This report highlights some of the roadblocks Louisiana and Mississippi have been grappling with as
they steer these somewhat flexible funding sources to the areas in need. Although Texas and Alabama
also have received FEMA PA money and CDBG funding to help repair hurricane damage, neither state
suffered the level of damage that Louisiana and Mississippi did. Consequently, they received
considerably less federal money than the billions of dollars that have been set aside to help Louisiana
and Mississippi. For that reason, the decision was made to exclude them from this study.
Both the FEMA PA and CDBG programs give state and local officials discretion in spending
decisions while at the same time requiring compliance with federal guidelines. This report shows that
variations in the process each state has used to set spending priorities have had an impact on the
timeliness with which the money is being disbursed. The goal for state and local officials has been to
strike a balance between expediency the need to distribute the money as quickly as possible and
accountability the need to make sure the money is used as it was intended. But this has proved to be a
challenging and, at times, elusive goal.
Among the findings of the report:
1. The amount of federal aid provided to Mississippi and Louisiana is not proportional to the amount
of damage each state suffered.
2. The sluggishness of aid distribution continues to be the primary concern of state and local officials
in both states.
GulfGov Reports
15
allocated for economic development in Louisiana. The bulk of the Mississippi funding, $340 million, is for
grants and loans for job creation. The bulk of Louisianas funding, $235 million, is set aside for bridge and
long-term recovery loan and grant programs for private businesses. Other programs provide funding for
tourism marketing and research support at higher education institutions.
Issues Between States and HUD

A primary goal of the CDBG program at the federal level is to provide assistance for citizens at the lowto moderate-income levels. In normal operating environments, grant recipients are challenged to document
carefully the income levels of the clients served by their programs. The low- to moderate-income
requirement was expected to hinder development of the disaster programs. Upon initial appropriation of the
funding, Congress authorized a general waiver allowing the requirement to be lowered from 70 percent of
funding to 50 percent of funding for the amount that must be spent on low- to moderate-income recipients.
This adjustment was sufficient for Louisiana, where the affected population was of significantly lower
income levels than in Mississippi. Mississippi, on the other hand, has had to seek waivers for many of its
programs that will not serve a sufficient number of low- to moderate-income recipients. Mississippi officials
said HUD has been cooperative in granting the additional waivers.
Officials in both states said cooperation between community development officials and HUD has been
reasonably good until the criticism of Louisianas housing program began in the spring of 2007. To that
point, HUD had not requested any major alterations to the spending plans developed by the states.
A separate controversy was settled when Louisiana withdrew its request for $300 million in CDBG
money to rebuild the charity hospital in New Orleans. Legislative involvement in the development of the
spending plan for the project led to an increase in the allocation from $74 million to $300 million, prompting
calls from private stakeholders and some state officials for HUD as final gatekeeper for the funds to
reject the plan at least until a business plan for operation of the facility was developed. Unhappy at the
negative reaction the request drew from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Louisiana
ultimately decided to use its own money to begin the hospital project.
4
The charity hospital decision may have set an important precedent as the intergovernmental roles in
setting rebuilding priorities and policies are established for future disasters. The question is whether
rebuilding funds can or should be used to promote policy reforms and whether federal officials should
intervene in the development of those reforms. At stake in the hospital dispute is whether Louisiana should
rebuild the centerpiece of what many critics contend is a failed health care system and many proponents
argue is the only way the poor can have access to adequate health care.
Issues Between States and Recipient Entities

(Governments, Businesses, Individuals)
The sluggishness of aid distribution is the primary concern of the states and the intended funding
recipients. Small business owners in the devastated areas of Louisiana have been calling for quick infusions
of cash to keep their operations afloat until their populations return but the programs were slow to get off
GulfGov Reports
BART GORDON, TENNESSEE

RALPH M. HALL, TEXAS
CHAIRMAN
RANKING MEMBER
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

SUITE 2320 RAYBURN HOUSE OFFICE BUILDING
WASHINGTON, DC 20515-6301
(202) 225-6375
TTY: (202) 226-4410
http://science.house.gov
MEMORANDUM
September 22, 2008
TO:
Rep. Brad Miller, Chairman

Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight
FROM:
Majority Staff
RE:
Attached is a staff report titled: "Toxic Trailers - Toxic Lethargy: How the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Has Failed to Protect the Public
Health." On April 1, 2008, the Subcommittee held a hearing on the Agency for
Toxic Substances and Disease Registry's (ATSDR) production of its February
2007 health consultation for the Federal Emergency Management Agency
(FEMA) on formaldehyde levels in travel trailers provided to survivors of
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The attached report provides a detailed
examinatiOIl. of ATSDR's production, approval and release of that health
consultation and the agency's response to the FEMA/formaldehyde issue. It
includes information provided to the Subcommittee after the April 1st hearing.
Cc:
F. James Sensenbrenner Jr.

Ranking Member
Bart Gordon
Chairman
------ ---------- --- -------Committeeon-Science-andTechnology --------- -
Nick Lampson
Chairman
Subcommittee on Energy and Environment
Executive Summary
Created in 1980 by Congress, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease
Registry (ATSDR), based in Atlanta, Georgia, is a federal public health agency of the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services. As part of its mandate to protect the public
from harmful environmental chemicals the agency performs "public health assessments of
waste sites, health consultations concerning specific hazardous substances, health
surveillance and registries, response to emergency releases of hazardous substances,
applied research in support of public health assessments, information development and
dissemination, and education and training concerning hazardous substances."l
The mission of ATSDR, a sister agency of the Centers for Disease Control and.
Prevention (CDC), "is to serve the public by using the best science, taking responsive
public health actions, and providing trusted health information to prevent harmful
exposures and disease related to toxic substances.,,2 Unfortunately, the agency failed to
meet any of those objectives when it produced a "health consultation" on formaldehyde
levels in travel trailers provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
to survivors of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in February 2007. 3 In almost every respect
ATSDR failed to fulfill its mission to protect the public from exposure to formaldehyde at
levels known to cause negative health effects. The agency's incomplete and inadequate
handling of their public health assessment, the failure to quickly and effectively correct
their scientific mistakes and their reluctance to take appropriate corrective actions was all
5 notable inattention and inaction on the part of ATSDR's senior leadership. As a
marked by
result, tens of thousands of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita families living in trailers with
elevated levels of formaldehyde were kept in harm's way for at least one year longer than
necessary. ,
ATSDR failed to translate its scientific findings and facts into appropriate public
health actions to properly inform and warn FEMA and the tens of thousands of Hurricanes
Katrina and Rita survivors living in FEMA-provided trailers and mobile homes of the
potential health risks they faced from exposure to formaldehyde. Instead, ATSDR's
reaction was marred by scientific flaws, ineffective leadership, a sluggish response to
inform trailer residents of the potential risks they faced, and a lack of urgency to actually
remove them from harm's way. Most disturbingly, there was a concerted and continuing
effort by the agency's leadership to both mask their own involvement in the formaldehyde
-study,- and to pushthe-blame1ortheir-flmibl1ngofthis-c:ritlcafpublichealthls-sue-cioWii-the

line to others.
The health consultation itself, conducted at the request ofFEMA's Office of
General Counsel because of expected litigation concerns, was scientifically flawed and
"About ATSDR," from agency's web-site, available here: http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/about.html

Statement of Mission, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), available here:
www.atsdr.cdc.gov/mission.html
3 "Health Consultation: Formaldehyde Sampling at FEMA Temporary Housing Units, Baton Rouge,
Louisiana," Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, February 1,2007.
http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/HAC/PHA/fema housing formaldehyde/formaldehyde report 0507.pdf
1
- 1
NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE ADVISORY

COUNCIL
March 31, 2010

Members:
Richard Moore, Chair
Don Aragon
Sue Briggum
Chuck Barlow
M. Kathryn Brown
Peter Captain, Sr.
Jolene Catron
Wynecta Fisher
William Harper
Jodena Henneke
Christian Holmes
Hilton Kelley
Langdon Marsh
Greg Melanson
Paul Mohai
Shankar Prasad
John Ridgway
John Rosenthal
Patricia Salkin
Omega Wilson
ElizabethYeampierre
Lisa P. Jackson
Administrator
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW (MC1101A)
Washington, D.C. 20460
6
Dear Administrator Jackson:
The National Environmental Justice Advisory Council (NEJAC) is pleased to
submit the report, Strategies to Enhance School Air Toxics Monitoring in
Environmental Justice Communities (April 2010), for the Agencys review.
This report contains advice and recommendations about how EPA can most
effectively promote strategies that would improve EPAs long-term school and
community outreach approach in the future.
With the 19 recommendations outlined in this report, the Council seeks to
Identify ways in which EPA can work with its partners and stakeholders at
the national, state, tribal, and local levels to enhance the Agencys
engagement with all school communities, but especially with low-income
and people of color communities.
Convey a sense of urgency toward taking action for reducing childrens
exposure to toxic air contaminants
Provide a clear focus about the need to aggressively protect children where
they live, learn, and play
Key recommendations include:
Fully employ the strength of EPAs regulatory clout as needed to mitigate

pollution sources around schools
Develop community involvement and outreach plans, supported by
adequate funding
Promote and ensure Federal interagency coordination and effective
national strategies to address school environmental health
Coordinate with EPAs Childrens Health Protection Advisory Committee,
particularly as monitoring results relate to the siting of schools.
Expand the research agenda to support the establishment of child safe
exposure standards
A Federal Advisory Committee to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Strategies to Enhance School Air Toxics Monitoring in EJ Communities

A NEJAC Report of Recommendations
Page 11
to mitigate identified air quality problems. A full range of options, including permit modification or
revocation, should be on the table.
4.0
CONCLUSION
As part of the next steps for EPAs School Air Toxics Monitoring Program, the following recommendation
is offered:
19. EPA should seek the advice of the NEJAC (or its work group as delegated) about designing
and implementing the next phase of the school air toxics monitoring project. The Agency
should engage the NEJAC in more than just community outreach and communications issues related
to this program. For all the aforementioned reasons, we believe that EPAs Charge to the NEJAC
needs to be revised and expanded to incorporate areas other than effective communications
strategies for engaging with the public about EPAs School Air Toxics Monitoring project.
Additionally, a revised charge from the NEJAC to the Work Group, should delineate the role of that
body in interpreting and analyzing air monitoring data that is distinct from that of a formally
established Peer Review Committee, yet allows the Work Group to substantively address these areas
in a way that is not considered to be going beyond its chartered responsibilities and those of the
NEJAC itself. The development of protocols that address all aspects of the monitoring project would
allow the Work Group to provide expert advice relevant to two key phases of the project, i.e., data
collection design and interpretation of findings, both critical to the usefulness and credibility of the
program.
REPORT OF THE
NATIONALLY CONSISTENT ENVIRONMENT JUSTICE SCREENING
APPROACHES WORK GROUP
TO THE
NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE ADVISORY COUNCIL
January 11, 2010
DRAFT: DO NOT CITE OR DISTRIBUTE WITHOUT PRIOR PERMISSION

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I.
INTRODUCTION
The Environmental Justice Strategic Enforcement Screening Tool (EJSEAT) was created by
EPAs Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) to serve as a consistent
methodology that would enable OECA to identify communities or areas experiencing
disproportionate environmental and public health burdens for the purposes of enhancing and
focusing OECAs enforcement and compliance activities in those areas. 1 OECAs desire to
improve consistency in EPAs environmental justice program is commendable. For some
regulatory functions, there should be consistent logic in approaching environmental justice (EJ)
concerns. For example, it is important to have a way of tracking progress in allocating resources
to environmental justice areas in order to demonstrate the effectiveness of a national EJ program.
In addition it is helpful to clearly articulate the critical factors to be included when screening for
areas of concern so that communities know the standards under which they can seek agency 8
support and assistance. However, it is equally important to recognize that for some purposes, a
consistent national methodology strictly applied is not appropriate and screening factors must be
supplemented by local information. This report to the National Environmental Justice Advisory
Council (NEJAC) from the Work Group discusses screening approaches through the lens of
EJSEAT, in particular, and how such approaches might better identify areas of concern. This
report also discusses the principles that should guide the use of a screening approach, those
instances where a nationally consistent screening approach might be appropriate, and those
instances where such an approach might be inappropriate or misused.
II.
CHARGE TO THE WORK GROUP
The Work Group initially was charged to gain a basic understanding of EJSEAT and to identify
policy-level issues, concerns, potential benefits and uses of EJSEAT. This identification process
would take place in the context of briefings on EPAs developing programmatic approaches to
environmental justice. On December 14, 2007, the NEJAC forwarded to the Assistant
Administrator of OECA a letter describing its approach to evaluating EJSEAT, and providing
quick feedback on issues and concerns flagged at the outset. The letter was forwarded as well to
EPAs staff who were at the time working on EJSEAT for their consideration as they continued
to refine the approach. Then Assistant Administrator of OECA. Granta Nakayama requested
advice and recommendations from the NEJAC to improve EJSEATs comprehensiveness,
efficacy and accuracy. 2 On the basis of these initially identified issues and the request of the
Assistant Administrator, the NEJAC established a Work Group to assess the nature of EJSEAT
and its potential uses, and to develop a list of initial principles that should shape development of
such a tool.
The Work Group sought to gain a deeper understanding of how EJSEAT worked and how it
appeared to be operating in early field testing by EPA Regions. We received briefings from EPA
staff. The OECA in particular answered follow-up questions from Work Group members and
provided EJSEAT data elements, definitions and sources. The Work Group also requested
reports from several Regions performing this testing. We received an informal briefing from one
1
2
EPA, Work Plan for the NEJAC Work Group on Nationally Consistent EJ Screening Approaches
Letter from Granta Y. Nakayama to Richard Moore, Chair of the NEJAC, dated February 4, 2008.

COUNCIL
Members:
ElizabethYeampierre, Chair
John Ridgway, Vice Chair
Teri Blanton
Sue Briggum
Peter Captain, Sr.
Jolene Catron
Wynecta Fisher
Stephanie Hall
Jodena Henneke
Savanala 'Savi' Horne
Langdon Marsh
Margaret May
Vernice Miller-Travis
Paul Mohai
Vien T. Nguyen
Edith Pestana
Nia Robinson
Patricia Salkin
Nicholas Targ
Kimberly Wasserman
July 23, 2011
Lisa P. Jackson
Administrator

The National Environmental Justice Advisory Council (NEJAC) is pleased to submit
the report, Recommendations for Ensuring Long-Term Community Engagement in
Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration, for the Agencys review. This report contains
advice and recommendations about how the Agency can best engage minority, lowincome, and tribal/indigenous communities for input on decisions about Gulf Coast
restoration plans, particularly with respect to the impacts of such plans on permitting
(such as wetlands restoration, equitable development, revitalization, cleanups, and
sustainable energy).
As noted by President Obama, the plan for ecosystem restoration had to come from
the people of the Gulf Coast. Specifically, input from communities affected by the
disaster and ensuing restoration requires consultation with community-based
organizations and community members. Given EPAs lead role on the Gulf Coast
Ecosystem Restoration Task Force, the Council was instructed to take a broad
view, and not to limit its recommendations to areas only under EPAs statutory
authority, but rather, to explore community engagement at multiple levels (federal,
state, tribal, and local) relevant to the restoration of the Gulf Coast ecosystem. The
Councils charge is appended to the end of this report as Appendix A.
The following is a list of key recommendations proposed by the NEJAC:
Coordinate multi-stakeholder efforts to avoid confusion and make it easier for
people to participate. Specifically, designate an entity to be responsible for
overseeing and coordinating centralized, interagency community engagement
efforts within federal initiatives.
Create a broad based citizen advisory group to advise governments, including
any new Council or regional bodies, about policies, funding allocations,
megaprojects, and other broad decisions.
Work with both Federally Recognized and Non-Recognized Tribes
Define the scope and focus of ecosystem restoration efforts, recognizing that
people and communities are part of the ecosystem, and ensuring the diversity of
input and opinions.
This report contains advice and recommendations about how the

Agency can most effectively enhance environmental justice throughout
its permitting programs.The advice is to be considered both in terms of
the environmental permits that EPA issues and those permits issued by
the states and tribes under delegation of authority or federal oversight of
state and tribal programs. Although EPAs charge to the Council focused
on types of permits, the Councils response respectfully shifts the
focus to a broader context: cumulative impacts from multiple permits
and environmental conditions. Prioritizing environmental justice
opportunities by traditional permit type is too narrow to properly
address the charge.Thus, this report addresses a broader approach.
U.S. Government Accountability Office. Environmental Justice: EPA
Needs to Take Additional Actions to Help Ensure Effective Implementation
(Washington, D.C. Government Accountability Office, 2011).

This report responds to the request that we review EPAs environmental
justice efforts. Their objectives were to examine (1) how EPA is
implementing its environmental justice efforts and (2) the extent
to which EPA is following leading strategic planning practices in
establishing a framework for integrating environmental justice in its
programs, policies, and activities.
United States Environmental Protection Agency. Environmental Justice
Federal Interagency Directory. Working Together Towards Collaborative and

Innovative Solutions (Washington, D.C.: United States Environmental
Protection Agency).
The Environmental Justice Directory will serve as a resource for the
public with a goal of increasing communication and collaboration among
stakeholders, federal, state, and local agencies, and tribal governments to
address environmental justice issues. Most importantly, this Directory
will assist community stakeholders with obtaining better access to
federal agencies in order to more effectively address environmental
justice issues within their local communities.
Federal Interagency Working Group on Environmental Justice.
Community-Based Federal Environmental Justice Resource Guide
(Washington, D.C.: Federal Interagency Working Group on

Environmental Justice, 2011).

COUNCIL
Members:
Don Aragon
Chuck Barlow
Teri Blanton
Sue Briggum
M. Kathryn Brown
Peter Captain, Sr.
Jolene Catron
Wynecta Fisher
Stephanie Hall
Jodena Henneke
Savanala 'Savi'
Horne
Hilton Kelley
Langdon Marsh
Margaret May
Paul Mohai
Vien T. Nguyen
Edith Pestana
Shankar Prasad
John Ridgway
Nia Robinson
Patricia Salkin
Nicholas Targ
Kimberly
Wasserman
Eli b hY
i
April 30, 2011

Lisa P. Jackson
Administrator

The National Environmental Justice Advisory Council (NEJAC) is pleased to submit the
report, Enhancing Environmental Justice in EPA Permitting Programs, for the Agencys
review. This report contains advice and recommendations about how the Agency can most
effectively enhance environmental justice throughout its permitting programs. The advice is
to be considered both in terms of the environmental permits that EPA issues and those
permits issued by the states and tribes under delegation of authority or federal oversight of
state and tribal programs. Although EPAs charge to the Council focused on types of
permits, the Councils response respectfully shifts the focus to a broader context:
cumulative impacts from multiple permits and environmental conditions. Prioritizing
environmental justice opportunities by traditional permit type is too narrow to properly
address the charge. Thus, this report addresses a broader approach.
The following is the list of key recommendations proposed by the NEJAC:
Cumulative environmental impacts, permitted or not, must be addressed and mitigated
within existing and new permits, regardless of permit type.
Permitting covers a broad range of regulatory work, including renewals, modifications,
enforcement actions, and settlements. All of these permit-related processes have important
elements for environmental justice engagement. This is not just about new facilities and
their permit applications.
Formal agreements between EPA regions and their respective delegated or authorized
states, tribes, and/or other jurisdictions need to have environmental justice addressed more
both in general and with specific actions and noted responsibilities. Multiple ideas and
examples are provided.
More recent permit issues related to hydraulic fracturing and mountain top mining need
immediate review from an environmental justice perspective. Acknowledging several prior
Council reports to EPA related to permitting over the past 15 years (cited in footnotes), this
report draws attention to newer permit related challenges in need of environmental justice
attention and action by EPA and others.

October 6, 2011
The Honorable Donna F. Edwards
Ranking Member
Committee on Science, Space, and Technology
House of Representatives
Dear Ms. Edwards:
The concept of environmental justice is based on the belief that
communities with large numbers of minority or low-income residents
frequently shoulder a disproportionate share of environmental and
health risks. Many of these communities are located in areas within
close proximity to sources of pollutants that can adversely affect both
the environment and human health. For more than 15 years, the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been responsible for
leading the federal governments approach to environmental justice
that is, the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people
regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the
development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws,
regulations, and policies. Specifically, an executive order signed in
1994, 1 calls for all federal agencies to incorporate environmental justice
into their programs, policies, and activities to the greatest extent
practicable and permitted by law. It also calls on EPA to take the lead in
chairing an interagency workgroup created to help federal agencies
make environmental justice part of their missions. However, over the
years, EPAs efforts in integrating environmental justice have come
under criticism, both from within and outside the agency. For example,
in 2004 and 2006, 2 EPAs Inspector General (IG) made a number of
recommendations to improve EPAs environmental justice efforts. In
Exec. Order No. 12898, Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in Minority
Populations and Low-Income Populations, 59 Fed. Reg. 7629 (Feb. 11, 1994).
2
EPA Office of Inspector General, Evaluation Report: EPA Needs to Consistently

Implement The Intent of The Executive Order on Environmental Justice, Report No. 2004P-00007, March 1, 2004. And, EPA Office of Inspector General, Evaluation Report: EPA
Needs to Conduct Environmental Justice Reviews of Its Programs, Policies, and Activities,
Report No. 2006-P-00034, September 18, 2006.
Page 1
GAO-12-77 Environmental Justice
addition, in 2005, 3 we recommended that EPA take steps to incorporate

environmental justice into its rulemaking processes for clean air
regulations and, in 2007, 4 testified that EPAs efforts in doing so were
incomplete. EPA subsequently took actions to address many of these
recommendations, but some actions are still needed.
In a January 2010 memo to EPA staff, the EPA Administrator cited

environmental justice as one of the agencys top priorities. To communicate
this priority within the agency and externally, EPA identified environmental
justice as a cross-cutting strategy in its fiscal year 2011-2015 agencywide
strategic plan. Additionally, in July 2010, EPA issued its draft Plan EJ
2014the agencys road map for integrating environmental justice into its
programs. This plan was released in final form in September 2011. 5 Plan
EJ 2014 identifies three key goals: (1) to protect the environment and
health in communities overburdened by pollution; (2) to empower
communities to take action to improve their health and environment; and
(3) to establish partnerships with local, state, tribal, and federal
governments and organizations to achieve healthy and sustainable
communities. In addition, in December 2010, the Administration hosted the
first White House Forum on Environmental Justice. This event brought
together environmental justice community leaders; state, local, and tribal
government officials; cabinet members; and other senior federal officials for
a discussion on creating a healthy and sustainable environment for all. In
light of this renewed interest in environmental justice, you asked us to
examine EPAs environmental justice efforts.
This report responds to your request that we review EPAs environmental
justice efforts. Our objectives were to examine (1) how EPA is implementing
GAO, Environmental Justice: EPA Should Devote More Attention to Environmental Justice
When Developing Clean Air Rules, GAO-05-289 (Washington, D.C.: July 22, 2005).
GAO, Environmental Justice: Measurable Benchmarks Needed to Gauge EPA Progress

in Correcting Past Problems, GAO-07-1140T (Washington, D.C.: July 25, 2007).
Because EPAs Plan EJ 2014 and associated implementation plans were not finalized
until September 2011 as we were preparing to issue our report, our analysis is based on
our review of draft versions of these documents. However, after EPAs plans were publicly
released, we reviewed these final documents and determined that they did not
substantively differ from the draft versions on which our conclusions and
recommendations are based. Therefore, throughout this report, except where necessary
to ensure clarity, we do not distinguish between draft and final versions of EPAs Plan
EJ 2014 and its implementation plans.
Page 2
2
its environmental justice efforts and (2) the extent to which EPA is following
leading strategic planning practices in establishing a framework for
integrating environmental justice in its programs, policies, and activities.
To conduct this work, we reviewed the executive order, relevant EPA
guidance, and interviewed senior officials within individual program offices in
the agencys headquarters as well as senior officials in EPA regions. We
also interviewed other stakeholders, including selected members of EPAs
National Environmental Justice Advisory Council and a number of national
associations that represent state environmental agencies, including the
Environmental Council of States and the Association of State and Tribal
Solid Waste Management Officials. To determine how EPA is implementing
its environmental justice efforts, we identified key offices with environmental
justice responsibilities by reviewing and analyzing EPA documents as well as
interviewing officials from EPAs Office of Environmental Justice and Office
of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, among others. To determine
the extent to which EPA is following leading practices in developing a
framework for integrating environmental justice in its programs, policies, and
activities, we compared EPAs strategic planning efforts for environmental
justice to leading practices in federal strategic planning. These include (1)
practices required at the federal department/agency level under the
Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA), 6 which we have
previously reported also can serve as leading practices for planning at lower
levels within federal agencies such as individual programs or initiatives; 7 (2)
practices identified in Office of Management and Budget (OMB) guidance to
federal agencies for implementing GPRAs requirements; 8 and (3) related
leading practices that GAOs past work has identified.9
Pub. L., No. 103-62 (Aug. 3, 1993).
For example, see GAO, Foreign Aid Reform: Comprehensive Strategy, Interagency
Coordination, and Operational Improvements Would Bolster Current Efforts, GAO-09-192
(Washington, D.C.: Apr. 17, 2009), p. 31.
8
OMB, Circular A-11, Section 210: Preparing and Submitting an Agency Strategic Plan,
2010.
9
For example, see GAO, Executive Guide: Effectively Implementing the Government
Performance and Results Act, GAO/GGD-96-118 (Washington, D.C.: June 1, 1996); Tax
Administration: IRS Needs to Further Refine Its Tax Filing Season Performance
Measures, GAO-03-143 (Washington, D.C.: Nov. 22, 2002); and Managing for Results:
Strengthening Regulatory Agencies Performance Management Practices,
GAO-GGD-00-10 (Washington, D.C.: Oct. 28, 1999).
Page 3
Environmental Justice
Federal Interagency
Directory
August 2011
Working
together towards
collaborative
and innovative
solutions
Environmental Justice
Federal Interagency
Directory
August 2011
The Federal Interagency Working Group on Environmental Justice (IWG) was established
in 1994 under Executive Order (EO) 12898. The IWG is comprised of federal agencies and
several White House offices. Chaired by the Administrator of the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA), the IWGs focus is to integrate environmental justice into federal
agency programs, policies and activities. In August 2011 the federal family reaffirmed its
commitment to work for environmental justice and continue the collaborative work of the
IWG. The IWG works to share lessons-learned and ensure opportunities for collaboration
in ensure opportunities for collaboration in addressing environmental justice concerns.
The Environmental Justice Directory will serve as a resource for the public with a goal
of increasing communication and collaboration among stakeholders, federal, state, and
Working
local agencies, and tribal governments to address environmental justice issues. Most
importantly, this Directory will assist community stakeholders with obtaining better
access to federal agencies in order to more effectively address environmental justice
issues within their local communities.
together towards
collaborative
and innovative
solutions
Federal Interagency Working Group: Environmental Justice Directory
The IWG is pleased to provide this guide as a source of

information for individuals and organizations working in
communities overburdened by the adverse health impacts
of exposure to toxics where they live, work and play. The
programs included in this guide are focused on resources
that would assist communities with technical or financial
assistance to reduce exposure. Through this and other
efforts, federal agencies are recommitting to improving the
health and sustainability of communities across America.
2012
U.S. Department of the Interior. Environmental Justice

Implementation Progress Report (Washington, D.C.: Office
of Environmental Policy and Compliance, 2012).
This document serves as the Department of the Interior
(DOI)s Implementation Progress Report under Executive
Order 12898 and the Departments Environmental Justice
Strategic Plan 2011-2017 (EJSP) for the year 2012. This
report provides baseline data for the EJSP established
performance measures, as well as highlights several of
the programs, policies, activities, and collaborative efforts
that DOI has actively engaged in during 2012. These
programs, policies, and activities are not all inclusive of
the DOIs efforts to implement environmental justice
(EJ), but show their ongoing commitment and progress
toward the integration of EJ into all applicable programs,
policies, and activities.
3
Implementation Progress Report 2009-2011 (Washington,
D.C.: Office of Environmental Policy and Compliance,
2012).
This document serves as the Department of the Interiors
(Department) First Implementation Progress Report
in carrying out its Environmental Justice (EJ) Strategy
and Executive Order 12898 (E.O. 12898). Although
the Departments initial EJ Strategy was developed in
1995, this Report highlights several of the activities and
programs the Department has actively been engaged
in during the period from approximately January 2009
through February 2012.These activities and programs are

not all inclusive of the Departments efforts to implement
EJ, but show their ongoing progress towards integration.

Strategic Plan 2012-2017 (Washington, D.C.: Office of
Environmental Policy and Compliance, 2012).
The Department of Interiors 2012-2017 Environmental
Justice Strategic Plan (EJSP) sets forth five major goals
to guide the Department in its pursuit of environmental
justice. This EJSP should not be viewed as a mechanism
to provide direct solutions to EJ issues in a particular
community. Instead, the Environmental Justice Strategic
Plan is intended for the Department to assess different
environmental scenarios, identify challenges and
opportunities, explore practical application of strategies,
and develop recommendations to address environmental
justice issues.
U.S. Government Accountability Office. Environmental

Protection: EPA Should Develop a Strategic Plan for Its
New Compliance Initiative (Washington, D.C.: U.S.
Government Accountability Office, 2012).

GAO has previously reported that strategic planning
for activities below the agency-wide level is a leading
practice for successful agencies. EPA acknowledges the
need for an overall plan for Next Generation Compliance.
Developing a plan that incorporates selected leading
practices for federal strategic planning could help EPA
more effectively integrate Next Generation Compliance
into its enforcement and compliance program and
promote greater public transparency. Without a strategic
plan incorporating these leading practices, EPA may face
challenges in helping to ensure that its initiative will
achieve its long-term goals of improving compliance
and obtaining greater health and environmental benefits
from the agencys regulations.
6
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
IMPLEMENTATION PROGRESS REPORT
2012
Assistant Secretary- Policy Management and Budget

Office of Environmental Policy and Compliance
http://www.doi.gov
http://www.doi.gov/pmb/oepc/environmental-justice.cfm
Introduction
Executive Order 12898 of 1994 Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in
Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations. The Executive Order issued on February
11, 1994, states in part that Federal agencies shall make achieving environmental justice part of
its mission by identifying and addressing, as appropriate, disproportionately high and adverse
human health or environmental effects of its programs, policies, and activities on minority
populations and low-income populations in the United States and its territories and
possessions
Mission
Protecting Americas Great Outdoors and Powering Our Future. The U.S. Department of the
Interior protects Americas natural resources and heritage, honors our cultures and tribal
communities, and supplies the energy to power our future.
Environmental Justice Vision Statement

To provide outstanding management of the natural and cultural resources entrusted to us in a
manner that is sustainable, equitable, accessible, and inclusive of all populations.
This document serves as the Department of the Interiors (Department) Implementation Progress
Report under Executive Order 12898 and the Departments Environmental Justice Strategic Plan
2011-2017 (EJSP) for the year 2012. This report provides baseline data for the EJSP established
performance measures, as well as highlights several of the programs, policies, activities, and
collaborative efforts the Department has actively engaged in during 2012. These programs,
policies, and activities are not all inclusive of the Departments efforts to implement
environmental justice (EJ), but show our ongoing commitment and progress toward the
integration of EJ into all applicable programs, policies, and activities.
The past year has continued the momentum gained during the current administration in the
reinvigoration of EJ within this Department as well as other federal agencies. The Department
has been an active member in the Federal Interagency Working Group on Environmental Justice
(IWG) and has participated in its collaborative efforts.
2
As set forth in the EJSP, these principles should contribute not only to natural and cultural
resource management decisions, but also to mitigation of existing hazards, outreach,
partnerships, training, and other measures to support healthy and economically viable minority,
low-income, and tribal communities.
The Department is reporting on the specific goals, strategies, and performance measures
established in its EJSP. Although the Departments strategy outlines five goals, associated
strategies, and performance measures, our integration and implementation efforts are not limited
5
This complaint involves the Texas County Commission court's approval of a mining permit in
Austin, Texas which will interrupt the water table in a predominately Latino, African American,
and Spanish speaking only community. Also, that the Department of Transportation will be
hauling the gravel and sandstone for roads and building sites. The FWS and NPS will process
this complaint. The FWS will be the primary bureau in this case. This complaint was accepted
for review under the authority of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits
discrimination based on race, color and national origin in programs, activities, and services
receiving federal financial assistance. This case remains open.
Goal #5 Performance Measure #2 Percentage of civil rights compliance reviews where EJ is
a review factor.
The Department did not conduct a Civil Rights compliance review where EJ was a review factor.
Goal # 5 Performance Measure #3 Recipients of federal financial assistance receiving
technical guidance on EJ as linked to Title VI.
The Department is currently reviewing this performance measure and will determine its
feasibility and report accordingly.
Environmental Justice Directory and Compendium of Resources

The Department has made several updates to its Directory of EJ Contacts. The EJ Directory
serves as a resource for the public with a goal of increasing communication and collaboration
among stakeholders including federal, state, local agencies, and tribal governments to address EJ
issues. The Directory is intended to assist stakeholders with obtaining better access to the
Departments staff in order to more effectively address EJ issues and concerns at the local level.
The compendium of resources remains available on the Departments EJ web site. The
compendium is a source of information for individuals and organizations working in
communities that may be overburdened by the adverse health impacts of exposure to toxins
where they live, work and play. The programs included in this guide are focused on resources
that may assist communities with technical or financial assistance to reduce exposure. Through
these and other efforts, the Department is recommitted to improving the health and sustainability
of communities across America.
Environmental Justice Conferences and Listening Sessions

Conferences
The Department participated in the 2012 National Environmental Justice Conference and
Training Program held in Washington, DC. The conference was sponsored by the U.S.
Department of Energy. Leaders from around the country gathered for three days to discuss
barriers and challenges to EJ, and ways to build capacity in communities. The program format
23
IMPLEMENTATION PROGRESS REPORT
2009-2011
Assistant Secretary- Policy Management and Budget

Office of Environmental Policy and Compliance
http://www.doi.gov/oepc/justice.html
Introduction
Executive Order 12898 of 1994 Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in

Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations. The Executive Order issued on February
11, 1994, states in part that Federal agencies shall make achieving environmental justice part of
its mission by identifying and addressing, as appropriate, disproportionately high and adverse
human health or environmental effects of its programs, policies, and activities on minority
populations and low-income populations in the United States and its territories and
possessions
This document serves as the Department of the Interiors (Department) First Implementation
Progress Report in carrying out its Environmental Justice (EJ) Strategy and Executive Order
12898 (EO 12898). Although the Departments initial EJ Strategy was developed in 1995, this
Report highlights several of the activities and programs the Department has actively been
engaged in during the period from approximately January 2009 through February 2012. These
activities and programs are not all inclusive of the Departments efforts to implement EJ, but
show our ongoing progress towards integration.
The past few years have seen a reinvigoration of EJ within this Department as well as other
Federal agencies. The Department has been an active member in the Federal Interagency
Working Group on Environmental Justice (EJ IWG) and has participated in its collaborative
reinvigoration efforts. The Department strives to incorporate EJ principles into its programs,
policies, and activities.
As set forth by the 2012-2017 Environmental Justice Strategic Plan (EJ SP), these principles
should contribute not only to resource management decisions, but also to mitigation of existing
hazards, outreach, partnerships, training, and other measures to support healthy and
economically viable minority, low-income, and tribal communities.
The Department anticipates reporting on the specific goals, strategies, and measures established
in its EJ SP in its upcoming 2013 Annual Implementation Progress Report (Report). Although
the Departments strategy currently outlines five goals, associated strategies, and measures, our
integration and implementation efforts are not limited to them, and we will report accordingly.
The Department will continue to increase its internal awareness and implementation efforts and
engage its stakeholders in the continuous effort to ensure that EJ is a part of our mission. The EJ
SP is a living document, and as we look at our annual accomplishments, we will adjust our
strategy as necessary to ensure that we have effectively integrated EJ into our programs,
activities, and mission.
This progress report highlights many of the Departments qualitative and quantitative
accomplishments and progress towards carrying out the provisions of EO 12898 beginning with
the appointment of senior level officials to its reinvigoration efforts, and several programs and
activities the Department and its bureaus have engaged in over the past few years.
STRATEGIC PLAN
2012 2017
ASSISTANT SECRETARY, POLICY MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET

OFFICE OF ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY AND COMPLIANCE
https://www.doi.gov/oepc/justice.html
4
The 1995 EJ Strategic Plan did not establish quantitative measures or reporting requirements.
Nevertheless, we recognize the value that such tools provide in achieving our goals. Therefore,
in order to build upon our past efforts we have included quantitative measures and reporting
requirements in this revised EJ SP.
The Departments 2012-2017 EJ SP sets forth five major goals to guide the Department in its
pursuit of EJ. In the coming years, we will employ an integrated strategy to:
Ensure responsible officials 2 are aware of the provisions of EO 12898 and are able to
identify and amend programs, policies, and activities under their purview that may have
disproportionately high and adverse human health or environmental effects on minority,
low-income, or tribal populations;
Ensure minority, low-income, and tribal populations are provided with the opportunity to
engage in meaningful involvement in the Departments decision making processes;
The Department will, on its own or in collaboration with partners, identify and address
environmental impacts that may result in disproportionately high and adverse human
health or environmental effects on minority, low-income, or tribal populations;
Use existing grant programs, training, and educational opportunities as available to aid
and empower minority, low-income, and tribal populations in their efforts to build and
sustain environmentally and economically sound communities; and
Integrate the Departments EJ Strategies with its Title VI of the Civil Rights Act
enforcement responsibilities to improve efficiencies while preserving the integrity of
Title VI and EJ activities.
II. How this Environmental Justice Strategic Plan was Developed

This strategy was developed under the direction of the AS-PMB using a template developed by
the EJ IWG. This EJ SP is based on input and review by our bureaus and several selected
offices. The draft of this EJ SP was made available on the OEPC web site
(http://www.doi.gov/oepc/justice.html) and was provided to the EPA for publication on the EJ
IWG web site (http://www.epa.gov/compliance/environmentaljustice/interagency/iwgcompendium.html) and for distribution to members on their EJ list serve. All public comments
were reviewed and considered to the extent practicable in the finalization of the Departments
2012-2017 EJ SP. The Department has made several revisions based upon public comments,
such as adding language to the Secretarys message regarding exclusion and discrimination,
expanding upon our strategies under goals 2, 4, and 5, and adding an explanation for EJ
Coordinator in our footnotes. The recommendations specifically related to civil rights have been
provided to the Departments Office of Civil Rights for further review. The recommendations
2
Responsible Official is the bureau employee who is delegated the authority to make and implement a decision on a proposed
action and is responsible for ensuring compliance with NEPA.
14
Bureaus/Office Reporting
Performance Measures
2017 Target
All
Percentage of Title VI EJ
complaints resolved or
adjudicated.
The Department will

determine the baseline in 2012
and subsequently establish
targets.
All
Percentage of civil rights

compliance reviews where EJ
is a review factor.
The Department will

targets.
All
Recipients of Federal financial

assistance receiving technical
guidance on EJ as linked to
Title VI.
The Department will

targets.
Examples of Department or bureau specific goals, programs, activities, or policies that currently
or potentially could be used to support this strategic goal:
The FWSs Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program provides Federal financial assistance to
state and wildlife agencies. The FWS plans to conduct annually at least nine civil rights
compliance reviews of these state fish and wildlife agencies. Compliance with EJ will be a
major component of those reviews. In particular, the FWS will monitor states activities in
working with minority and low-income communities on environmental assessments conducted.
The FWS will monitor the emission of toxins into the air, ground or water by these state
agencies. EJ Requirements will be considered on a project by project basis where Federal funds
are being spent.
5
Action 9 of the NPSs A Call to Action is Keep the Dream Alive. The NPS will foster civic
dialogue about the stories of the civil rights movement found within the parks. The NPS will
conduct a coordinated series of special events to commemorate significant 50th anniversaries of
the civil rights movement (Civil Rights Act passage, I Have a Dream speech, etc.).
About this Environmental Justice Strategic Plan:
This EJ SP should not be viewed as a mechanism to provide direct solutions to EJ issues in a
particular community. Instead, the EJ SP is intended for the Department to assess different
environmental scenarios, identify challenges and opportunities, explore practical application of
strategies, and develop recommendations to address EJ issues.
This EJ SP does not confer any legal right and is not a rule requiring notice and comment under
the Administrative Procedure Act (Public Law 89-554).
This EJ SP is intended only to improve the internal management of the U.S. Department
25
December 2012
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
EPA Should Develop a Strategic Plan for Its New
Compliance Initiative
Highlights of GAO-13-115 a report to the
Chairman, Committee on Environment and
Public Works, U.S. Senate
Why GAO Did This Study
What GAO Found
The Environmental Protection Agency

(EPA) oversees many environmental
programs that seek to protect public
health and the environment.
Substantial noncompliance with these
regulations and increasing budget
pressures, among other things, led
EPA to propose a new enforcement
and compliance initiative in fiscal year
2012. This new initiativeNext
Generation Complianceattempts to
capitalize on advances in emissions
and pollutants monitoring and
information technology. Among other
things, EPA expects Next Generation
Compliance to provide new and more
complete enforcement and compliance
information and promote greater public
transparency and accountability.
Since introducing its Next Generation Compliance initiative in fiscal year 2012,
EPA has taken four primary steps to increase transparency and accountability in
enforcement and compliance. According to EPA documents and officials, these
actions will provide greater access to data under EPA-regulated programs and
make regulated entities more accountable to the public. In this regard, EPA
GAO was asked to review (1) actions

EPA has undertaken in Next
Generation Compliance to increase
enforcement and compliance
transparency and accountability and
(2) the extent to which EPA is
developing a strategic plan to integrate
Next Generation Compliance into its
enforcement and compliance program.
To conduct this work, GAO reviewed
Next Generation Compliance
documents and interviewed selected
EPA officials.
What GAO Recommends

GAO recommends that EPA
(1) develop a schedule for completing
a strategic plan for its Next Generation
Compliance initiative in a timely
manner and (2) incorporate selected
leading practices in federal strategic
planning in the plan. EPA agreed with
GAOs recommendations.
formed an electronic reporting task force in December 2011 to provide

recommendations for converting from existing paper-based reporting
requirements to electronic reporting;
established a work group in April 2012 to identify advanced emissions and
pollutants monitoring technology and evaluate how the agency can better
use such technology;
formed a work group in September 2012 to advance the use of new
compliance tools in its enforcement activities, such as in settlement
agreements with entities that are found in noncompliance with regulations;
and
6
increased the public availability of the enforcement and compliance
information it currently has available by, among other actions, placing a tool
on its enforcement website that allows the public to obtain information about
pollutants that are released into local waterways.
EPA has not developed a strategic plan to integrate Next Generation Compliance
into its enforcement and compliance program. EPA has prepared some
documents on the initiative and its components, but these documents are general
in nature and provide little specificity regarding EPAs plans related to Next
Generation Compliance. GAO has previously reported that strategic planning for
activities below the agencywide level is a leading practice for successful
agencies. EPA acknowledges the need for an overall plan for Next Generation
Compliance. Developing a plan that incorporates selected leading practices for
federal strategic planning could help EPA more effectively integrate Next
Generation Compliance into its enforcement and compliance program and
promote greater public transparency. Without a strategic plan incorporating these
leading practices, EPA may face challenges in helping to ensure that its initiative
will achieve its long-term goals of improving compliance and obtaining greater
health and environmental benefits from the agencys regulations. Additionally,
without a strategic plan to direct its Next Generation Compliance initiative, EPA
could waste valuable resources, time, and effort. For example, without proper
planning, EPA may pursue emissions monitoring technologies that not all
regulated entitiesespecially the growing numbers of smaller facilitiescan fully
utilize, thereby requiring EPA to rely on costly individual facility inspections with
its limited resources.
View GAO-13-115. For more information,

contact David C. Trimble at (202) 512-3841or
trimbled@gao.gov.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Plan EJ 2014: Progress Report.

(Washington, D.C.: U.S. EPA, 2012).
This report details the accomplishments in implementing Plan EJ 2014 in
areas critical to advancing environmental justice, including rulemaking,
permitting, compliance and enforcement, community-based programs
and their work with other federal agencies. In addition, the enhancement
of the critical legal, scientific and information tools that aid the EPA in
meeting the needs of communities in decision making are discussed.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Presidents Task Force on

Environmental Health Risks and Safety Risks to Children: Coordinated
Federal Action Plan to Reduce Racial and Ethnic Asthma Disparities (U.S.
The report builds on the strengths and lessons learned from past and
existing federal asthma programs, combines efforts among federal
programs at the community level, and develops collaborative strategies to
fill knowledge gaps within existing resources.The Action Plan presents
a framework to maximize the use of our existing federal resources for
addressing this major public health challenge during the next three to
five years. The goal of the Action Plan is to reduce the burden caused
by asthma, especially among children in particular, minority children
and children with family incomes below the poverty level.The plan will
also promote synergy and alignment across numerous federal programs.
It emphasizes priority actions that demonstrate a high positive impact
on addressing preventable factors that lead to asthma disparities.
U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration.

Environmental Justice-2012 Implementation Report (Washington, D.C.: U.S.
Department of Transportation-Federal Highway Administration, 2012).
The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) updated the DOT

Environmental Justice Strategy in February 2012. In implementing this
strategy, DOT has focused on the goals of increasing transparency, public
engagement, and intermodal harmonization within the department. In
addition to ongoing work considering environmental justice as part of
the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) analyses for infrastructure
improvements, the department has also hosted or supported extensive
training opportunities on environmental justice, and has published
new and revised guidance and regulations to improve consistency
across the department. The department cooperates with other federal
Final Draft 01/14/13
Message from the Administrator

Dear Colleagues:
Expanding the conversation on environmentalism and
working for environmental justice have been among my top
priorities since I began serving as Administrator of the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency four years ago.
Agency Priorities
Taking action on climate change
Improving air quality
Assuring the safety of chemicals
Cleaning up our communities
Protecting Americas waters
Expanding the conversation on
environmentalism and working for
environmental justice
Building strong state and tribal partnerships
All too often, low-income, minority and tribal communities

endure disproportionate health impacts living in areas
overburdened by pollution and face greater obstacles to
economic growth because they cannot attract businesses
and new jobs.
President Bill Clinton in 1994 issued an executive order
directing all federal agencies to engage in a governmentwide effort and issue strategies to address environmental
justice issues. The EPA in 2011 updated its environmental
justice strategy and issued Plan EJ 2014, a roadmap to
fully integrate the principles of environmental justice
throughout the agency.
1
The Plan outlines how each national program and regional office can play a role as we strengthen our
mission to protect the health of all Americans. Through Plan EJ 2014, the EPA is also providing national
leadership on environmental justice issues through its actions and partnerships with other agencies, state
and local governments, and local communities.
This report details our accomplishments in implementing Plan EJ 2014. We have made significant
progress in areas critical to advancing environmental justice, including rulemaking, permitting,
compliance and enforcement, community-based programs and our work with other federal agencies. In
addition, we have enhanced the critical legal, scientific and information tools that help us meet the
needs of communities in our decision making.
I want to thank the many people, both inside and outside of the EPA, who worked tirelessly to bring
about these accomplishments. The success we have seen is a testament to the vision, creativity and
tenacity of many dedicated individuals. Our efforts will go a long way toward building a foundation
for integrating environmental justice in all EPA programs, policies and daily work.
Every American deserves clean air, water and land in the places where they live, work, play and
learn. Through our implementation of Plan EJ 2014, the EPA is leading by example to expand the
conversation on environmentalism and work for environmental justice now and into the future. I have
considered it a great privilege to contribute to this effort.
Sincerely,
Lisa P. Jackson
Administrator
i|Page
ASTHMA ACTION PLAN

Coordinated Federal Action Plan to Reduce Racial
and Ethnic Asthma Disparities
PARTNERSHIP FOR SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES

The Partnership for Sustainable Communities
(Partnership), consisting of the Department of
Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Department
of Transportation (DOT) and the EPA, helps
communities nationwide to improve access to
affordable housing, provide more transportation
options and lower transportation costs, while
protecting the environment in communities. EJ
principles are being integrated into the work of the
Partnership in collaboration with the IWG. The
Partnership has achieved important outcomes such
as:
(1) Engaging and training management and staff
within HUD, DOT and the EPA on sustainability
practices;
(2) Expanding community access to funding
opportunities (i.e., For HUDs 2011 Regional
Planning and Community Challenge grant,
recipients were required to incorporate
meaningful involvement in the decision-making
process for underrepresented populations;
devote a portion of their budgets to meaningful
involvement; and consider EJ principles in the
planning process for infrastructure,
transportation and housing); and
(3) Increasing transparency and meaningful
participation for overburdened communities in
the Partnerships activities.
RADON PARTNERSHIP
Healthy Homes Strategy and Federal Radon

Action Plan
In June 2011, senior leaders from the EPA and HUD
released the Federal Radon Action Plan. The Action
Plan is a call for federal action on radon as the
leading cause of lung cancer for nonsmokers in the
U.S. The interagency initiative is designed to
increase federal efforts to reduce radon exposure
in the homes and schools the federal government
owns, operates or finances. An Action Plan
Scorecard keeps the public informed about the
progress of activities from federal partners working
to implement the plan. The Federal Radon Action
Plan is an activity under the interagency Healthy
Homes Strategy.
Since the release of the Federal Radon Action Plan,
almost half of federal agency commitments have
been completed. A major commitment among the
EPA and federal agencies is the development of the
Advancing Healthy Housing: A Strategy for Action. A
Strategy for Action is an interagency plan which
outlines goals and priorities in federal healthy
housing programs for the next three to five years.
New radon requirements in the federal multi-family
housing program represent a concrete action in the
19 | P a g e
PLAN EJ 2014 PROGRESS REPORT: FOSTERING ADMINISTRATION-WIDE ACTION ON ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
(2) Issuing EJ strategies and implementation

progress reports;
(3) Establishing structures and procedures to ensure
that the IWG operates effectively and
efficiently; and
(4) Identifying four areas of focus to be included in
the agencies EJ efforts, (i.e., NEPA, goods
movement, climate change and Title VI of the
Civil Rights Act of 1964).
In May, 2012, the interagency Asthma Disparities

Working Group (co-chaired by the EPA, HHS, and
HUD) under the President's Task Force on
Environmental Health Risks and Safety Risks to
Children released the Coordinated Federal Action
Plan to Reduce Racial and Ethnic Asthma Disparities.
The goal of the Action Plan is to reduce the burden
caused by asthma among children, in particular,
minority children and children with family incomes
below the poverty level. The plan promotes synergy
and alignment across numerous federal programs
and emphasizes priority actions that demonstrate a
high positive impact on addressing preventable
factors that lead to asthma disparities. With the
EPAs leadership toward the development and
establishment of the Action Plan, the Agency is
working even more closely with other federal
agency partners in building the nation's capacity to
control asthma and manage exposure to indoor and
outdoor pollutants to improve the quality of life for
millions of Americans in communities across the
country.
Coordinated Federal Action Plan to Reduce

Racial and Ethnic Asthma Disparities
Approximately 7 million children aged 0 to 17 in the
United States have asthma, with poor and minority
children suffering a greater burden of the disease.1
Asthma persists into adulthood and the costs to society
are high: medical expenses associated with asthma
are estimated to be $50 billion annually.2 It is critical
that we promote synergy across the numerous federal
programs that affect asthma management in order to
reduce this burden and these disparities. The magnitude
of the problem of asthma disparities and the breadth
of stakeholder involvement required to address it will
necessitate enhancing the interagency coordination of
partnerships that many of our federal programs already
have with state and local health departments, nonprofit
organizations, community asthma coalitions and asthma
foundations. Preventable factors related to effective
asthma management are well established. Coordinating
our federal efforts will help us take appropriate actions
2
to better address these known preventable factors in
underserved populations.
yyCollaboration across federal agencies, other levels of

government, and community partners.
yyUtilizing existing federal resources and optimizing
their impact through synergies.
yyEmphasizing activities that address the preventable
factors that impact asthma disparities.
The Action Plan reflects a broad-based consensus of
federal agencies. It is an outcome of the collaborative
interagency Asthma Disparities Working Group (see
Appendix A), co-chaired by the U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services (HHS), the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the U.S.
Department of Housing and Urban Development
(HUD). The working group functions under the
auspices of the Presidents Task Force on Environmental
Health Risks and Safety Risks to Children, which
has the objectives to identify priority issues of
environmental health and safety risks to children that
could best be addressed through interagency efforts,
recommend and implement interagency actions,
and communicate to federal, state and local decision
makers information to protect children from risks.
Representatives of the Asthma Disparities Working
Group collected and synthesized recommendations
of previous task forces and expert panels, along with
input from members of the National Asthma Education
and Prevention Programs (NAEPP) Federal Liaison
Group on Asthma, extramural scientists, and leaders
from national, regional and local community asthma
3
programs. These
recommendations were distilled into
four overarching strategies, each of which is associated
with several priority actions. The strategies and priority
actions are described in detail below, starting on page 4.
In this plan, we propose to build on the strengths and

lessons learned from past and existing federal asthma
programs, combine efforts among federal programs at
the community level, and develop collaborative strategies
to fill knowledge gaps within existing resources. With
clear evidence of broad commitment to reducing health
disparities from federal, state, and local partners, the
timing is right for this Coordinated Federal Action Plan
to Reduce Racial and Ethnic Asthma Disparities (Action
Plan) to accelerate actions that will reduce asthma
disparities. The Action Plan presents a framework to
maximize the use of our existing federal resources for
addressing this major public health challenge during the
next three to five years.
The Action Plan aligns with federal initiatives, including

Healthy People 2020 (see Appendix B), the HHS
Action Plan to Reduce Racial and Ethnic Disparities,
The Action Plan is founded on the following principles,

which we believe offer the best foundation for effective
and feasible federal efforts to address asthma disparities:
Akinbami, L.J., Mooreman, J.E., Bailey, C., Zahran, H., King, M., Johnson, C., & Liu, X. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics.
(2012). Trends in asthma prevalence, health care use, and mortality in the United States, 2001-2010. Retrieved from http://www.cdc. gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db94.pdf
2
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2011, May). Asthma in the U.S. Vital Signs. Retrieved February 13, 2012, from http://cdc.gov/vitalsigns
1
2012 Implementation Report - EJ at DOT - Environmental Justice - Environment - FHWA
11/8/14, 3:12 PM
About Programs Resources Briefing Room Contact Search FHWA
Environmental Justice - 2012 Implementation Report

The US Department of Transportation (DOT) updated the DOT Environmental Justice Strategy in
February 2012; in implementing this Strategy, DOT has focused on the goals of increasing transparency,
public engagement, and intermodal harmonization within the Department. In addition to ongoing work
considering EJ as part of the NEPA analyses for infrastructure improvements, the Department has also
hosted or supported extensive training opportunities on EJ, and has published new and revised guidance
and regulations to improve consistency across the Department. The Department cooperates with other
Federal Agencies through the Interagency Working Group on Environmental Justice in order to integrate
Environmental Justice principles into Federal programs, policies, and activities. Further, DOT participates
in a subgroup on EJ through the Partnership for Sustainable Communities with the Environmental
Protection Agency, Department of Housing and Urban Development and other agencies, which promotes
Federal action to encourage sustainable communities with a variety of housing and transportation
choices. This report details some of the specific activities undertaken to support Environmental Justice at
DOT during 2012.
Department-wide Initiatives
Updates to the EJ Order, May 2012
The DOT EJ Strategy called for the Department to revisit the Departmental Order 5610.2 (Actions to
Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations) and to make any
necessary revisions and updates since its original publication in April 1997. On May 2, 2012, DOT
published a revised Order 5610.2(a), which continues to be a key component of the Department's
strategy to promote the principles of environmental justice in all Departmental programs, policies, and
activities.
DOT Order 5610.2(a) sets forth the DOT policy to consider environmental justice principles in all DOT
programs, policies, and activities. It describes how the objectives of environmental justice will be
integrated into planning and programming, rulemaking, and policy formulation. The Order sets forth
steps to prevent disproportionately high and adverse effects to minority or low-income populations
through Title VI analyses and environmental justice analyses conducted as part of Federal transportation
planning and NEPA provisions. It also describes the specific measures to be taken to address instances
of disproportionately high and adverse effects and sets forth relevant definitions.
In updating the Order, DOT reaffirms its commitment to environmental justice and clarifies certain
aspects of the original Order, including the definitions of "minority" populations in compliance with the
Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) Revisions to the Standards for the Classification of Federal
Data on Race and Ethnicity of October 30, 1997. The revisions clarify the distinction between a Title VI
analysis and an environmental justice analysis conducted as part of a NEPA review, and affirm the
importance of considering environmental justice principles as part of early planning activities in order to
avoid disproportionately high and adverse effects. The updated Order maintains the original Order's
general framework and procedures and DOT's commitment to promoting the principles of environmental
justice in all DOT programs, policies, and activities.
Environmental Justice Forum, July 2012
On July 17, 2012, DOT hosted a forum on Environmental Justice for transportation practitioners. This
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/environmental_justice/ej_at_dot/2012_implementation_report/
Page 1 of 10
agencies through the Interagency Working Group on

Environmental Justice in order to integrate environmental
justice principles into federal programs, policies, and
activities.
1
2013
Recommendations for Fostering Environmental Justice
for Tribes and Indigenous Peoples (Washington, D.C.:

This report contains advice and recommendations about
how EPA can improve the incorporation of environmental
justice into tribal environmental capacity-building and
federal implementation programs; collaborate with
federally-recognized tribal governments in addressing
environmental justice concerns; collaborate with tribal
community-based organizations and other indigenous
peoples; and coordinate with other federal agencies on
tribal and indigenous environmental justice issues.
National Environmental Justice Advisory Council. Model

Guidelines for Public Participation (Washington, D.C.:
NEJAC is pleased to transmit the following
recommendations that update the NEJAC Model Plan
for Public Participation, first issued in 1996. The Model
Plan outlined critical elements for conducting public
participation and identified core values and guiding
principles for the practice of public participation.
they can better meet the needs of low-income residents

as they promote development or redevelopment in
underserved communities.
4
Megan McConville. Creating Equitable, Healthy, and
Sustainable Communities: Strategies for Advancing Smart
Growth, Environmental Justice, and Equitable Development
(Washington, D.C.: United States Environmental
This report aims to build on past successes and offer
other low-income, minority, tribal and overburdened
communities approaches to shape development that
responds to their needs and reflects their values. It
identifies strategies that bring together smart growth,
environmental justice, and equitable development
principles and that community-based organizations,
local and regional decision-makers, developers, and
others can use to build healthy, sustainable, and inclusive
communities.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 2013

Environmental Justice Implementation Progress Report
(Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Health and

Human Services, 2013).
This Implementation Progress Report highlights the
departments advancement of the actions outlined in the
2012 HHS EJ Strategy.This progress report also addresses
HHSs efforts to uphold the strategys three guiding
principles.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. EPA Provides Tools
Non-Government Organization Reports
for Sustainable Communities/Smart Growth Policies Can

Help Achieve Environmental Justice Goals (Washington,
1999
D.C.: U.S. EPA, 2013).
Robert D. Bullard, Sprawl Atlanta: Social Equity

Dimensions of Uneven Growth and Development (Atlanta,
The report describes how low-income, minority, and

tribal communities can employ smart growth strategies to
clean up and reinvest in existing neighborhoods; provide
affordable housing and transportation; and improve
access to jobs, parks and stores. The report also provides
smart growth practitioners with concrete ideas on how
GA: Environmental Justice Resource Center, 1999).

The report includes an analysis of factors that contribute
to urban sprawl and their consequences. It also outlines
policy recommendations and an action agenda. An
extensive use of geographic information system analysis

COUNCIL
Members:
ElizabethYeampierre,
Chair
Margaret May.
Vice-Chair
Teri Blanton
Peter Captain, Sr.
Andrea Guajardo
Stephanie Hall
Monica Hedstrom
Effenus Henderson
Langdon Marsh
Paul Mohai
Edith Pestana
John Ridgway
Nia Robinson
Patricia Salkin
Deidre Sanders
Fatemeh Shafiei
Nicky Sheats
Paul Shoemaker
Kenneth Smith
Horace Strand
Nicholas Targ
Javier Francisco Torres
Kimberly Wasserman
January 15, 2013

Lisa P. Jackson
Administrator
Ariel Rios Building
1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW

The National Environmental Justice Advisory Council (NEJAC) is pleased to transmit
the following recommendations to you in response to your charge of October 5, 2011.
In that charge, you asked the NEJAC to provide advice and recommendations about
how the Agency can most effectively address the environmental justice issues in
Indian country, including in Alaska and Hawaii and those facing indigenous peoples
both on and off reservations. This report contains advice and recommendations about
how EPA can improve the incorporation of environmental justice into: tribal
environmental capacity-building and federal implementation programs; collaboration
with federally-recognized tribal governments in addressing environmental justice
concerns; collaboration with tribal community-based organizations and other
indigenous peoples; and coordination with other federal agencies on tribal and
indigenous environmental justice issues.
Key recommendations include:

EPA should seek input and the meaningful involvement and engagement of tribal
and indigenous communities, state-recognized tribes, and other indigenous
stakeholders in the Agencys decision-making processes, pertaining to policies,
projects and activities that may affect them and/or their traditionally used lands,
waters, air and territories.
EPA should comply with its long-standing Indian Policy principles, which has
established sufficient guidance (EPAs 1984 Indian Policy, and Executive Order
12898) for the Agency to work effectively with tribal governments regarding onreservation environmental justice issues.
EPA should continue to recognize and support tribal authority to set
environmental standards, make environmental policy decisions, and to manage
environmental programs, demonstrating respect for internal tribal governmental
affairs.
EPA should elevate the role of Regional Environmental Justice and Tribal
Coordinators/ Liaisons.
EPA should create a standing Indigenous Peoples Environmental Justice
Committee (or standing Subcommittee of the NEJAC) to help advise EPA to
address Environmental Justice concerns.

COUNCIL
Members:
ElizabethYeampierre,
Chair
Margaret May.
Vice-Chair
Teri Blanton
Peter Captain, Sr.
Andrea Guajardo
Stephanie Hall
Monica Hedstrom
Effenus Henderson
Langdon Marsh
Paul Mohai
Edith Pestana
John Ridgway
Nia Robinson
Patricia Salkin
Deidre Sanders
Fatemeh Shafiei
Nicky Sheats
Paul Shoemaker
Kenneth Smith
Horace Strand
Nicholas Targ
Javier Francisco Torres
Kimberly Wasserman
January 25, 2013

Lisa P. Jackson
Administrator
Ariel Rios Building
1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW

The National Environmental Justice Advisory Council (NEJAC) is pleased to transmit the
following recommendations that update the NEJAC Model Plan for Public Participation,
first issued in 1996. The Model Plan outlined critical elements for conducting public
participation and identified core values and guiding principles for the practice of
public participation.
In 2012, in light of how public participation has evolved over the years, the NEJAC
identified the need to update the 1996 Model Plan. Such revisions were considered
necessary to reflect current needs, concerns, and best practices, and in consideration
of your designation of expanding the conversation on environmentalism and working
for environmental justice as a priority. This update to the 1996 Model Plan, herein
called the Model Guidelines for Public Participation, should complement the
implementation of EPAs Plan EJ 2014, the roadmap intended to help EPA integrate
environmental justice into the Agencys programs, policies, and activities.
Once again, thank you for this opportunity to provide recommendations for enhancing
environmental justice in EPAs programs, particularly the tribal program and Agencys
work with indigenous stakeholders.
Sincerely,
Elizabeth C. Yeampierre
Chair
cc:
NEJAC Members
Robert Perciasepe, EPA Deputy Administrator
Cynthia Giles, EPA Assistant Administrator for Enforcement and Compliance Assurance
Lisa Garcia, EPA Associate Assistant Administrator for Environmental Justice
Heather Case, Acting Director, EPA Office of Environmental Justice (OEJ)
Victoria Robinson, NEJAC DFO, EPA OEJ
02/06/2013: EPA Provides Tools for Sustainable Communities / Smart growth policies can help achieve environmental justice goals
11/8/14, 4:08 PM
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Newsroom
News Releases By Date

EPA Provides Tools for Sustainable Communities / Smart growth
policies can help achieve environmental justice goals
Release Date: 02/06/2013
Contact Information: Latisha Petteway (News Media Only), petteway.latisha@epa.gov, 202-564-3191, 202-564-4355;
ESPAOL: Lina Younes, younes.lina@epa.gov, 202-564-9924, 202-564-4355
WASHINGTON The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today released a first-of-its kind report showing how
low-income, minority and tribal communities can apply smart growth land use and development strategies to create
healthy communities, spur economic growth and protect the environment.
The Creating Equitable, Healthy, and Sustainable Communities report describes how low-income, minority, and tribal
communities can employ smart growth strategies to clean up and reinvest in existing neighborhoods; provide affordable
housing and transportation; and improve access to jobs, parks and stores. The report also provides smart growth
practitioners with concrete ideas on how they can better meet the needs of low-income residents as they promote
development or redevelopment in underserved communities.
The way communities are designed and built has an important influence on public health, the quality of our air and water,
and economic vitality, said Michael Goo, associate administrator for EPAs Office of Policy. EPA hopes this report will help
smart growth and environmental justice advocates work together more effectively to achieve the best results possible for
communities."
Historically, environmental justice and smart growth have been viewed as separate interests, yet communities across the
U.S. are showing that they are actually complementary, said Lisa Garcia, associate assistant administrator for EPAs
Office of Environmental Justice. Combining these principles and focusing on equitable development can help communitybased organizations, local planners, and other stakeholders achieve healthy and sustainable communities for all
Americans, regardless of race, ethnicity, or economic status.
Search this collection of releases | or

search all news releases
Get news releases by email
View selected historical press releases
from 1970 to 1998 in the EPA History
website.
Recent additions
11/07/2014 EPA Region 7 to Participate
at National Association of
Farm Broadcasting Trade
Talk Event Nov. 13 in
Kansas City, Mo.
11/07/2014 EPA Grants Support Tribal
Environmental Programs in
the Pacific Northwest and
Alaska
11/06/2014 Subsidiaries of the Worlds
Largest Fertilizer Producer
to Reduce Harmful Air
Emissions at Four Florida
Plants
11/06/2014 Bradford, R.I. Rock Quarry
Agrees to Clean Air Act
Settlement
11/06/2014 Subsidiaries of the Worlds
Largest Fertilizer Producer
to Reduce Harmful Air
Emissions at Three North
Carolina Plants
The report also features case studies on seven communities across the country that have used the strategies described
in the report. These strategies include:
designing safe streets for all users
cleaning and reusing contaminated properties
reducing exposure to facilities with potential environmental concerns
fixing existing infrastructure before investing in new projects
preserving affordable housing
The Creating Equitable, Healthy, and Sustainable Communities report was developed by EPAs Office of Environmental
Justice and Office of Sustainable Communities.
More information about the report: http://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/equitable_development_report.htm
More information about the Office of Environmental Justice: http://www.epa.gov/environmentaljustice
More information about the Office of Sustainable Communities: http://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth
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Last updated on November 8, 2014
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Page 1 of 2
C R E AT I N G E Q U I TA B L E , H E A LT H Y, A N D S U S TA I N A B L E C O M M U N I T I E S
Executive Summary
Communities across the country are integrating
smart growth, environmental justice, and
equitable development approaches to design
and build healthy, sustainable, and inclusive
neighborhoods. Overburdened communities
are using smart growth strategies to address
longstanding environmental and health
challenges and create new opportunities
where they live. Regional and local planners
are engaging low-income, minority, and tribal
residents in decision-making and producing
more enduring development that is better for
people and the environment. Community groups,
government agencies, and private and
4 nonprofit
partners are cleaning up and investing in existing
neighborhoods, providing affordable housing and
transportation options, and improving access to
critical services and amenities.
This informational publication aims to build
on past successes and offer other low-income,
minority, tribal, and overburdened communities
approaches to shape development that responds
to their needs and reflects their values. It
identifies strategies that bring together smart
growth, environmental justice, and equitable
development principles and that communitybased organizations, local and regional decisionmakers, developers, and others can use to build
healthy, sustainable, and inclusive communities.
These are places that provide clean air, water,
and land; affordable and healthy homes; safe,
reliable, and economical transportation options;
and convenient access to jobs, schools, parks,
shopping, and other daily necessities.
The strategies are grouped under seven common
elements, or shared goals and principles that
connect environmental justice, smart growth,
and equitable development. The fundamental
overlap between these concepts is around how
to plan and build neighborhoods to address
environmental, health, and economic disparities
and provide opportunities for low-income,
A clean, green, healthy community is a

better place to buy a home and raise a
family; its more competitive in the race
to attract new businesses; and it has the
foundations it needs for prosperity.
Lisa P. Jackson
EPA Administrator
minority, tribal, and overburdened residents;
therefore, all the approaches described relate to
land use and community design. This document
provides a brief introduction to each strategy,
with a description of what it is, how it supports
equitable and environmentally sustainable
development, and examples of how it has been
used. Local governments and community-based
organizations can choose the approaches that
best suit their needs and goals. Each of the
seven common elements is illustrated by an indepth case study highlighting a communitys
experiences with these strategies.
The seven common elements, along with the
strategies that fit under each one, are summarized
on the following pages.
Strategies Linking Smart Growth,

Environmental Justice, and Equitable
Development
Common Element #1: Facilitate Meaningful
Community Engagement in Planning and Land
Use Decisions
Meaningful community participation in land
use planning and decision-making can produce
development that meets the needs of a diverse
group of residents, build broad support for
projects, and lead to more effective public
processes. Planners and community-based
organizations can use interactive, customizable
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
iv
2013 Environmental Justice Implementation Progress Report
Development of the 2013 Environmental Justice Implementation Progress Report

This Implementation Progress Report highlights the Departments advancement of the actions
outlined in the 2012 HHS EJ Strategy.
Throughout 2012, the HHS Environmental Justice Working Group (HHS EJ Working Group),
comprised of representatives from agencies and offices across HHS, provided primary oversight
of the implementation of the HHS EJ Strategy. It is led by staff from the Office of the Assistant
Secretary for Health (OASH).
The HHS EJ Working Group utilized multiple subgroups to lead implementation efforts. Four
subgroups organized by the strategic elements were responsible for actions specific to their
respective individual strategic elements. Additional groups were established to address HHS
actions that cut across the four strategic elements. These crosscutting groups were established
to address the following areas: (1) environmental justice award criteria; (2) vulnerability
assessment and climate change; (3) health in all policies; (4) HHS environmental justice website;
2013 Environmental Justice Implementation Progress Report

(5) community-based participatory research; (6) HHS employee environmental justice
education and training; and (7) stakeholder engagement.
The 2013 Implementation Progress Report also addresses HHSs efforts to uphold the Strategys
three guiding principles.
Create and Implement Meaningful Public Partnerships
To gain additional insights and to begin to build partnerships to help implement the Strategy,
the HHS EJ Working Group held the HHS Environmental Justice Stakeholders Implementation
meeting in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina on July 16-17, 2012. Environmental justice
stakeholders from non-profit advocacy groups, universities, and government agencies from
across the country engaged the HHS Working Group in a two-day dialogue. The HHS EJ Working
Group drew upon the comments made by participants to guide further implementation efforts.
As a result of stakeholder comments, HHS has worked to foster greater partnerships with its
stakeholders, including the occupational health community and Native American Tribes.
Ensure Interagency and Intra-agency Coordination
The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH) is responsible for coordinating and
implementing a wide array of interdisciplinary programs within HHS and ensures that HHS
works in concert with its Federal partners, including the Federal EJ IWG. OASH staff lead the
HHS EJ Working Group, and coordinate its subcommittees and groups. Bi-weekly meetings of
the Working Group provide time for sharing information and new approaches, identifying
opportunities for collaboration, and updating progress toward advancing the actions of the
Strategy. HHS EJ Working Group members are responsible for coordinating and reporting on
activities related to environmental justice within their agencies. The HHS EJ Leadership Advisory
Group, which includes senior leadership from throughout HHS, provides guidance to the overall
HHS environmental justice effort.
OASH staff also represent HHS on the Federal EJ IWG and coordinate appropriate
representation on EJ IWG activities, including monthly EJ IWG meetings, regional or local
stakeholder meetings and EJ IWG workgroups on goods movement, Title VI of the Civil Rights
Act of 1964, National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and other environmental justice topic
areas. An accounting of the Federal EJ IWG activities is discussed in a later section of this report.
Establish and Implement Accountability Measures
The 2013 Implementation Progress Report documents HHSs progress in implementing the EJ
Strategys actions in two ways. First, the body of the report highlights specific completed
actions that are related to the 2012 HHS Environmental Justice Strategy.
our communities, and tools to understand how citizen participation can

work to clean up Georgias neighborhoods.
UNICEF. Climate Change and Children (New York, NY: United Nations
Children Fund, 2007).
This report gives children a voice on climate change. In 2006, child
delegates to the 4th World Water Forum in Mexico City challenged
leaders and policymakers, saying, We, the children of the world, are
ready to work with you. Are you ready to work with us? The answer
must be a resounding yes because what are good for children such
as reducing pollution, safeguarding education and health, preserving
environmental diversity, protecting water supplies, increasing access to
proper sanitation are also good for the planet. Dead link
2008
David A. Bositis. Joint Center National Survey Results: African Americans
Respond to Global Warming (Washington, DC: Joint Center for Political
and Economic Studies, 2008).
The report concludes that while most African Americans do not believe
global warming is one of the most pressing national problems the
United States confronts, there is widespread recognition of the problem
of global warming among them, and a strong belief that the federal
government should take steps to deal with it.
Houston Department of Health and Human Services.
The City of Houston Health Disparities Data Report (Houston,Texas:
Houston Department of Health and Human Services, 2008).
This health disparities data report is not intended to be a definitive
explanation of how social inequities such as poverty or racism lead to
differences in health outcomes. However, it is meant to highlight some
factors related to the health of racial/ethnic groups and identify potential
underlying causes. This report is the first in a series designed to foster
concrete and actionable change.
J. Andrew Hoerner and Nia Robinson. A Climate of Change: African

Americans, Global Warming, and A Just Climate Policy for the U.S.
(Oakland, CA: Environmental Justice and Climate Change Initiative,
2008).
This report shows that there is a disproportionate burden on African

Americans from heat deaths; floods, fires, and other climate-related
Foreword
1
We call on all members of society to
join us in a global movement that will
help build a world t for children through
upholding our commitments to the
following principles and objectives
Protect the Earth for children. We must
safeguard our natural environment, with
its diversity of life, its beauty and its
resources, all of which enhance the quality
of life, for present and future generations.
We will give every assistance to protect
children and minimize the impact of
natural disasters and environmental
degradation on them.
A World Fit for Children, 2002,
para. 7, section 10, UN General Assembly
Special Session on Children, 2002
Young people today are aware of the need to protect

the environment. When they are asked to list the
issues that most concern them, one issue that features
highly on their agenda is climate change.
They are right to be concerned. While we still have
a lot to learn about the consequences of climate
change, economic and social development cannot be
sustainable unless we deal decisively with this issue.
It has the potential to add to the insecurity faced by
some of the most vulnerable people in some of the
most vulnerable countries.
New gures released earlier this year show solid
progress on child survival, including a decline in the
annual number of under-ve deaths. Global child
deaths have reached a record low, falling below
10 million per year to 9.7 million, down from almost
13 million in 1990.
But the loss of 9.7 million young lives each year is

unacceptable, and we need to continue and accelerate
this progress. This task must not be threatened or
undermined by short-sighted decisions that cause
permanent damage to the environment.
This publication gives children a voice on climate
change. In 2006, child delegates to the 4th World
Water Forum in Mexico City challenged leaders and
policymakers, saying, We, the children of the world,
are ready to work with you. Are you ready to work
with us? The answer must be a resounding yes
because what is good for children reducing pollution,
safeguarding education and health, preserving
environmental diversity, protecting water supplies,
increasing access to proper sanitation is also good
for the planet.
Millions of young lives have been saved by the

expansion of such basic services as primary health
care, nutrition programmes, and adequate water supply
and sanitation, showing that progress for children
is possible.
Ann M. Veneman
Executive Director, UNICEF
22
C I T Y O F H OUS TO N H EA LTH D I S P A R I T I E S D A TA R E P O R T
PAGE 1
Introduction and Highlights

The future health
of the nation will be
determined to a
large extent by how
effectively we work
with communities
to reduce and
eliminate health
disparities between
non-minority and
minority
populations
experiencing
disproportionate
burdens of disease,
disability, and
premature death.
Centers for
Disease Control
and Prevention,
Office of Minority
Health & Health
Disparities
Overview
Health disparities are differences in health conditions that exist between
specific population groups, resulting in one group having a disproportionate
burden of disease, disability, or premature death. These population groups
can be defined through different demographic measures, such as
geography, gender, age, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, or race/
ethnicity. Since evidence shows that health disparities among race/ethnic
groups correlate with differences in other socio-economic factors, in this
report, we will focus on health disparities based on race/ethnicity.
Since race is a social construct rather than a biological one, health
disparities are not the result of differences in genetic factors either. Instead,
racial disparities in health are the result of social factors that create
inequalities among different racial/ethnic groups. These factors include
poverty, unemployment, education, safe and affordable housing, health care
access, transportation, discrimination, and racism.
Health disparities affect everyone, not just populations which are
economically and socially disadvantaged. Not only are health disparities
unjust, they affect economic productivity and drive up the cost of health care
for everyone. Therefore, eliminating health disparities will help to create
healthy, productive, and economically viable communities. Moreover,
demographic trends show that racial/ethnic groups which experience poorer
health will continue to grow and make up a larger proportion of the total
Houston and U.S. population in the future. Thus, addressing health
disparities has become both a local and national priority, as the interconnection affects us all.
Purpose of this Report

This health disparities data report is not intended to
be a definitive explanation of how social inequities
such as poverty or racism lead to differences in
health outcomes. However, it is meant to highlight
some factors related to the health of racial/ethnic
groups and identify potential underlying causes.
To understand the health disparities which exist
among different racial/ethnic groups in Houston,
this report begins with a look at Houstons demographic makeup. Next, it examines differences in
some social factors that influence health outcomes,
otherwise known as health determinants, among
different racial/ethnic groups in Houston. Finally, a
health profile is given for each racial/ethnic group,
providing a closer look at some health burdens
which disproportionately affect these populations.
Addressing health disparities requires a shift in thinking: rather than focusing on changing individual behaviors, the focus will shift to altering conditions at
the community level that influence health. The elimination of health disparities requires multidisciplinary
action and partnerships to address social and environmental factors in order to create safe and healthy
neighborhoods in Houston.
The Houston Department of Health and Human Services (HDHHS) hopes this report can be used to
highlight and identify disparities which exist and also
serve as a useful planning tool. The idea is to help
guide the creation of public policies and efficient use
of resources to transform living conditions in order to
build healthier communities benefiting everyone.
Introduction
Climate Change at the

Intersection of Race and Class
African Americans are less responsible for global warming,
with average household emissions of greenhouse gases that
are nearly twenty percent lower than that of non-Hispanic
whites. At the same time, African American communities
are also more vulnerable to the consequences of shortsighted energy policies that are responsible for maintaining
the high dependence on fossil fuels (coal, oil, and natural
gas), particularly given racially motivated placement of
fossil fuel and petrochemical facilities. These policies cause
the U.S. to be one of the worlds worst global warming
polluters, and lead to health, economic, and environmental
impacts both from warming itself and from associated air
pollution. They also include a range of non-environmental
costs ranging from higher energy bills to unemployment
from recessions caused by global energy price shocks to
wars designed to protect oil company interests abroad. This
paper will demonstrate that, on average, African American
households are significantly more vulnerable to all of these
harms than non-Hispanic white households.
CONTENTS
6. African Americans Are Less Responsible for Global
Warming
7. Disparities at the Global Level
8. Vulnerability to Energy Price Increases
9. Notes
lobal warming has emerged, not only as one of

the most serious environmental threats facing
the world today, but also as a major threat to
people of color in America and around the world. It is
now essentially certain that warming is occurring, as
evidenced by the melting of glaciers and ice caps, the
rising temperature of the seas, and the predicted increase
in droughts and storms around the world.1 In 2008,
except for a few industry hired guns, there is unanimous
consensus among the worlds scientists that global
warming is real and that the worst is yet to come. African
Americans and people of color worldwide bear the brunt
of this climatic shift.
The final sections of this report describe the essential

elements of a just domestic climate policy. It finds, first,
that specific policies to promote racial and economic
justice are essential to achieving cuts in global warming
pollution that are rapid, efficient, fair, and equitable.
But global warming is not simply an environmental

issue. It is an issue of justice and human rights at the
intersection of race and class. Global warming will
affect transportation policy, energy policy, health policy,
labor policy, and even military policy: no area of public
life is unaffected. Because of the United States historic
legacy of slavery, Jim Crow, and institutional racism,
African American families and communities are highly
vulnerable to the whole range of problems caused by
global warming including the potential for climate
change policy that continues and extends this legacy.
3
Problems of scarce household resources and lack of
access to community services will be exacerbated as these
communities are increasingly affected.
FIGURE 1: U.S. Global Warming Pollution

7%
2%
Synthetic gases
8%
Nitrous oxide
5%
Methane
Other CO2
Burning fossil fuels
This report shows that there is a disproportionate burden

on African Americans from heat deaths; floods, fires,
and other climate-related disasters; tropical storms like
Katrina and Rita; and economic disruption of various
sorts.
Environmental Justice and Climate Change Initiative
78%
Source: EPA, Inventory of Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990-2006 (2008)
A Climate of Change
Dead link
disasters; tropical storms like Katrina and Rita; and
economic disruption of various sorts. The report also
describes the essential elements of a just domestic climate
policy. It finds, first, that specific policies to promote
racial and economic justice are essential to achieving
cuts in global warming pollution that are rapid, efficient,
fair, and equitable.
Serena W. Lin. Understanding Climate Change: An Equitable
Framework (Oakland, CA: PolicyLink, 2008).
Climate change ultimately affects all of us, and the most
vulnerable populationsnationally and globally, will bear
the brunt of this crisis if action is not taken. This paper
does not purport to explain climatology or provide an
link This report
in-depth description of climate Dead
chemistry.
contributes to a deeper understanding of the issues and
to encourage everyone to participate in the discussion
and to weigh in on proposed solutions.
status, race/ethnicity, and geography (rural and nonrural). The report serves as a reminder and a challenge
that much more needs to be done in order to address
public health issues in Virginia. Their ultimate success
is to reduce health inequities and achieve more
equitable access and outcomes that depend on strong,
action-oriented partnerships with individuals, families,
neighborhoods, organizations, cities, countries, and other
important stakeholders, throughout the Commonwealth.
2009
Steven Bonorris, ed., University of California Hastings

College of Law Public Law Research Institute.
Environmental Justice for All: A Fifty State Survey of
Legislation, Policies and Cases, 4th ed. (Chicago: American
Bar Association, 2009).
This report represents the collaboration between the

University of California Hastings College of the Law and
the American Bar Association to maintain a comprehensive
Newtown Florist Club, GreenLaw, and University of
and up-to-date survey of state environmental justice laws,
Georgia Land Use Clinic. Health, Environmental & Quality policies, and cases. Their goal is to present community
of Life Impacts. Newtown Community, Gainesville, GA.
members, environmental law practitioners, industry
(Atlanta, GA: GreenLaw, 2008).
leaders, regulators, academics, and others with the
This report was prepared to communicate the significant breadth of regulatory and policy techniques that the 50
health, environmental and quality of life impacts imposed states and the District of Columbia have developed to
3
upon the Newtown residential population in Gainesville, pursue environmental justice.
GA.The intent of the document is to provide scientific data Michael Ash, James K. Boyce, Grace Chang, Manuel
and analysis of these impacts which will, in turn, support Pastor, Justin Scoggins, and Jennifer Tran. Justice in the
proposed changes to the City of Gainesvilles land use and Air: Tracking Toxic Pollution from Americas Industries and
zoning ordinances. It was prepared for the benefit of the Companies to Our States, Cities and Neighborhoods (Los
citizens of Newtown and the Newtown Florist Club.
Angeles, CA: Program for Environmental and Regional
Virginia Department of Health. Unequal Health Access

Across the Commonwealth: A Snapshot. (Richmond,
Virginia: Virginia Department of Health Division of
Health Statistics, 2008).
The report represents a one-year snapshot of vital
events data taken from the birth and death certificates
of Virginias population and stratified by socioeconomic
Equity, 2009).
One unique aspect of this work is that we track
the pollution not just to the smokestacks but to the
companies that own them. Many firms are aware of their
impacts on communities and the environment, and many
have adopted strategies for becoming better corporate
citizens.This report aims to contribute to these efforts by
presenting a new measure of performance and whether
1
Background
The Virginia Health Equity Report represents a one-year snapshot of vital events data taken from
the birth and death certificates of Virginias population and stratified by socioeconomic status,
race/ethnicity, and geography (rural and non-rural). Previously, this report focused specifically
on the health of racial and ethnic minority populations. This year is the first step towards a
report that presents data on the current status of health inequities in the Commonwealth and
monitors progress towards their elimination. The primary addition to the report is Geographical
Information System (GIS) and spatial analysis data that demonstrate the distribution of health
inequities and the related social and economic factors that underlie their existence. The report
also presents the spatial distribution of mortality and morbidity.
The vital events data within this report include births, natural fetal deaths, induced terminations,
teen pregnancies, infant deaths, leading causes of death, and selected cancer deaths. While not
intended to be a comprehensive analysis, this report provides a valuable summary of the health
status of Virginias diverse populations.
Introduction
The Virginia Department of Health (VDH) continues to improve the health information available
to Virginias policymakers, health care providers, consumers, and researchers in the
Commonwealth. These actions are consistent with the primary public health goals related to
assessment, data analysis, and evaluation. They also respond to the demand for accurate and
reliable health information, and help to determine a true picture of the health and wellness of
Virginias 7.6 million residents. This data is vital in community efforts to eliminate health
inequities that exist among low socioeconomic (SES), rural, and racial and ethnic minority
populations in the Commonwealth.
In the early 1990s, the State Health Commissioners Minority Health Advisory Committee
recommended that Virginia health statistics be collected and reported by racial and ethnic
groupings, with particular focus on minority populations. These minority populations include
the races Black/African-American (used interchangeably throughout the report), Native
American/American Indian, and Asian/Pacific Islander, and the ethnicity Hispanic/Latino (used
interchangeably throughout the report). The enhanced data sets would improve the
documentation of health statistics for all Virginians, and provide the critical measurements for
evaluating health outcomes for the states diverse populations. In 1995, the department
responded with the first Virginia Minority Health Data Report that provided vital statistics
(birth, fetal death, death) data for the four minority groups. Information on Whites was provided
for comparative purposes.
This tenth edition of the report covers the 2006 calendar year. It provides vital statistics data by
minority group for each health district (and city/county) within Virginia. Beginning this year,
the report will also focus on the health of other socially disadvantaged populations in Virginia,
most notably those of low socioeconomic status (SES), rural populations, and potentially other
disadvantaged groups in the future. In addition to making comparisons to the White population,
comparisons are also made by SES (primarily using data on educational attainment, income, and
area-based analyses of census tract poverty) and geographic residence (urban, rural, and
PUBLIC LAW RESEARCH INSTITUTE
Environmental Justice for All:

A Fifty State Survey of Legislation, Policies and Cases
Fourth Edition
February 15, 2010
Written in association with the American Bar Associations Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities
and the Section of Environment, Energy and Resources
This report does not represent the views or policies of Hastings College of the Law, its Board of Directors
or its faculty, or the American Bar Association, any of its sections, or its Board of Governors.
This report does not represent the views or policies of Hastings College of the Law, its Board of
Directors or its faculty, or the American Bar Association, any of its sections, or its Board of
Governors.
Preface
This study represents an ongoing collaboration between UC Hastings College of the Law
and the American Bar Association, to maintain a comprehensive and up to date survey of
state environmental justice laws, policies and cases. Our goal is to present community
members, environmental law practitioners, industry leaders, regulators, academics and
others with the breadth of regulatory and policy techniques that the fifty states and the
District of Columbia have developed to pursue environmental justice. We do not hold out
any initiative as a best practice, nor do we assess the success of any state's program. We
believe, however, that this compilation of state responses can serve as a reference point as
to which techniques have become customary, which innovations have newly entered the
regulatory arena, and which practices are no longer in use.
Trends
You will note that this study is lengthier than previous editions states continue to
innovate in tackling environmental justice issues and the range of approaches is growing,
showing that this area of law and policy continues to mature. Community participation
and education mechanisms, as in years past, represent the most prevalent techniques of
addressing environmental justice concerns. Substantively, permitting and facility siting
decisions remain a major focus for state rules and programs. However, in a departure
from initiatives identified in our prior studies, a growing number of states, Maryland for
example, are using land use planning techniques such as buffer zones, to improve
environmental conditions, reduce potential health risks, and prevent environmental
degradation in at-risk communities.
In addition, several states have begun addressing global climate change, and a few of
those states California, for example specifically reference environmental justice
concerns in their climate change initiatives. Californias 2006 climate change bill (AB
32) established an environmental justice-climate change advisory committee, which has
participated in the debate about how different implementation approaches will affect
Environmental Justice (EJ) communities. 1
We have noted an increase in the number of states pursuing positive collaborative,
problem-solving approaches or economic incentives to address environmental justice.
For example, several states account for environmental justice in brownfields grant
programs and public private partnerships.
A final noteworthy thread is that many states have environmental enforcement policies
that seek to address environmental justice issues. For example, we found at least seven
states that incorporate environmental justice into Supplemental Environmental Projects
In this study, reflecting discrepant state nomenclature, we use a variety of terms to refer to the
communities that may be disproportionately affected by environmental hazards. These terms include:
environmental justice communities, EJ populations, environmentally burdened communities, marginalized
communities, poor people, the urban poor, and poor communities of color.
iv
FOREWORD
In recent years, Americans have become increasingly concerned about our environment. With climate change
threatening the planet, dirty air triggering asthma, and industrial pollutants causing cancer, the nation is more
motivated than ever before to take a hard look at the problems we face and seek new approaches that can better
secure the future of the planet and the health of our communities.
3
One of the first steps in that process is gathering the information that can help frame the challenge and steer us
to positive solutions. This report, one of the first efforts based on a new database on industrially-generated toxic
air, attempts to do just that. Along the way, we examine not only the level of pollution but also who is being
polluted. As with so many other environmental hazards, it turns out that the problems are disproportionately
borne by low-income communities of color.
One unique aspect of this work is that we track the pollution not just to the smokestacks but to the companies
that own them. Many firms are aware of their impacts on communities and the environment, and many have
adopted strategies for becoming better corporate citizens. This report aims to contribute to these efforts by
presenting a new measure of performance: whether companies are having a particularly high and disparate
impact on disadvantaged communities.
This work has been the product of many hands not that it made the work that much lighter and even
more eyes. For having the faith to fund the larger project from which this stems, we thank Michelle De Pass
and the Ford Foundation. For helping us think through data issues inherent in our calculations, we gratefully
acknowledge our colleagues Nick Bouwes, Paul Mohai, Rachel Morello-Frosch, Rich Puchalsky, and Jim Sadd.
For working with us to make our message more, well, understandable, we thank Michelle Mulkey and Fenton
Communications. And for reviewing our early research and making suggestions for change, we thank our
colleagues in the environmental justice movement who work hard every day to secure healthy neighborhoods
for all Americans.
Michael Ash, James K. Boyce, Grace Chang

Amherst, Massachusetts
Manuel Pastor, Justin Scoggins, Jennifer Tran
Los Angeles, California
companies are having a particularly high and disparate impact on

disadvantaged communities.
Geraldine Terry. Climate Change and Gender Justice (Oxford: Oxam
2009).
This report is an exploration of the complex relationship between gender
and climate change that applies a gender lens to issues of vulnerability
to climate impacts, adaptation, mitigation, and advocacy.
Global Humanitarian Forum Geneva. Key Points on Climate Justice

(Global Humanitarian Forum Geneva 2009).
This report provides key points on climate justice that are intended
to serve as principles to guide policy and action on climate change.
Increasingly unpredictable weather is having a severe impact on
people and communities worldwide.We now know that climate change
constitutes a serious humanitarian concern and a growing threat to
socio-economic development, in particular for the worlds poorest
communities.
National Wildlife Federation. More Extreme Weather: Implications for
Public Health and Social Justice.
(National Wildlife Federation, 2009)
This report discusses that global warming will bring more extreme heat
waves. By the 2080s and 2090s, many parts of the country will have more
than two months each year with100-degree weather if global warming
emissions are not curbed. Urban air pollution will be exacerbated by
more extreme heat, compounding the health effects on hot days and
forcing some cities to take even more aggressive steps to meet federal
ozone standards.
2010
Robert D. Bullard, Glenn S. Johnson, and Angel O.Torres. The State of
Black Atlanta: Exploding the Myth of Black Mecca (Atlanta: Environmental
Justice Resource Center at Clark Atlanta University Report Series,
2010).
In 2010 Summit organizers from Clark Atlanta University-Environmental
Justice Resource Center commissioned working papers from top Atlanta
leaders in academic, public health, business, media, and local community
based organizations with the goal of impacting public sector policies
Dead link
around health, environmental justice, civil rights and
human rights, transportation and land use, housing
and home ownership, wealth creation and business
development, equitable development, education,
food security, and parks and green access in Atlantas
underserved communities. This report represents a
synthesis of challenges, barriers, and opportunities facing
Black Atlanta.
and sustained consequences of the foreclosure crisis, and

the larger issue of housing instability on human health.
The report convincingly elucidates the fact that these
health consequences are interactive and synergistic
and occur at both the individual level and the larger
community level; thus wreaking havoc not only on
isolated families, but also on whole neighborhoods in
Oakland and Alameda County.
Manuel Pastor, Rachel Morello-Frosch, James Sadd, and

Justin Scoggins. Minding the Climate Gap: Whats at Stake
Alameda County Health Department. His Health: Alameda

County Male Health Status Report (Oakland, CA: Alameda
County Public Health Department, 2010).
if Californias Climate Law Isnt Done Right and Right Away
(College of Natural Resources-University of California,

Berkeley and Program for Environmental and Regional
Equity (PERE), University of Southern California, 2010).
The California Global Warming Act (AB 32) a cutting
edge policy that no one expected to pass so quickly and
with so much bipartisan support proposes to cut green
house gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.The successful
implementation of such a standard would mean reducing
carbon emissions from major polluters around the state
cement refineries, power plants, and oil refineries top
among them. This report seeks to analyze co-pollutants
and co-benefits, with an eye toward thinking through
policy designs that could help maximize public health
and close the climate gap. However, California is at the
forefront of dealing with climate change, by setting new
standards, driving toward energy efficiency, encouraging
renewables, and even working to rebalance the mix of
land uses and transportation that have produced our
well-documented sprawl.
3
Dawn Phillips, Robbie Clark,Tammy Lee, and Alexandra
Desautels. Rebuilding Neighborhoods, Restoring
Health: A Report on the Impact of Foreclosure on Public
Health (Oakland, CA: Alameda County Public Health
This report provides a unique gendered perspective

on select health and social indicators (chronic/
communicable disease, crime/violence, mental health,
employment/income, education, homelessness) affecting
Alameda County men. The report includes profiles of
men who live and work in our communities and policy
4
recommendations.
Suzanne Reuben. The Presidents Cancer Panel. Reducing
Environmental Cancer Risk: What We Can Do Now (U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services, National
Institutes of Health, and National Cancer Institute, 2010).
This report summarizes the panels findings and
conclusions based on the testimony received
and additional information gathering. The panels
recommendations delineate concrete actions that
governments, industry, research, healthcare, advocacy
communities, and individuals can take to reduce cancer.
Robin Saha, Kathryn Makarowski, Russ J. Van

Paepeghem, Bethany Taylor, Michelle Lanzoni, Michael
Lattanzio. Missoula Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory
and Analysis, 2003-2008: Toward A Blueprint for
Municipal Sustainability (Missoula, MT: University of
Department, 2010).
Montana, 2010)
The report uses empirical data gathered from hundreds

of Oakland residents living in foreclosure hotspots to
illuminate in compelling detail about the profound acute
Missoula is not alone in recognizing that taking action

as a community can improve fiscal well-being as well as
benefitting the local economy and enhancing quality of
life. However, to be effective, efforts require careful analysis and planning.

This report seeks to assist in that regard by methodically carrying out the
first of five steps for local governments to achieve emission reductions
under the U.S. Conference of Mayors Climate Protection Agreement:
conducting a greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions inventory of municipal
operations.
Dead link
Center for Energy and Environmental Policy, University of Delaware.

Policies for Achieving Energy Justice in Society: Best Practices for Applying
Solar Energy Technologies to Low-Income Housing (Newark, DE: Center for
Energy and Environmental Policy, University of Delaware, 2010).

This report examines the ways in which existing barriers may be
overcome, through a review of state and federal policies that presently
work to reduce the energy burden for low-income households.
Examined in this regard are the history and current state of policies
aimed at addressing energy poverty in the U.S., to identify the strengths,
weaknesses, and relationships among existing policies, and the role of
increased renewable energy consumption in achieving this goal.
Anthony Leiserowitz and Karen Akerlof. Race, Ethnicity and Public
Responses to Climate Change (Yale Project on Climate Change and the
George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication,

2010).
This report is a survey of public support for climate and energy policies
among different racial and ethnic groups. As the United States becomes
increasingly diverse over the first half of the twenty-first century,
understanding the viewpoints of people of different racial and ethnic
groups on climate change is becoming ever more important.
Linda Mazur, Carmen Milanes, Karen Randles, David Siegel. Indicators
of Climate Change in California: Environmental Justice Impacts (Office of
Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA), 2010).
This report presents four indicators that help track trends relating to the
disproportionate impacts of climate change on California communities.
The indicators chosen were selected based on evidence that: (1) the
impacts of climate change are already occurring (rather than projected
to occur based on future climate scenarios); and (2) disparities exist
among socioeconomic or racial groups in either the degree of exposure
to a hazard, or the capacity to take action to reduce exposures or
minimize adverse outcomes.
Key Points on Climate Change
Key Points on Climate Change
1
fact that many decades of carbon emissions in richer parts of the world have led
to global warming and caused severe climate impacts in the poorest countries.
We must hold governments accountable for putting into practice well-established
principles such as the requirement that polluters pay for the environmental damages
they cause.
The concept of Climate Justice also recognizes that the worlds poorest
countries have contributed least to the problem of climate change and
acknowledges that although we all have responsibilities to act, because the worlds
richest economies have contributed and continue to contribute most to the problem,
they have a greater obligation to take action and to do so more quickly. That must
include providing support to developing countries on a scale that not only ensures
they avoid environmentally damaging economic development patterns of the past
but also enables them to meet their current and projected energy needs.
Government leaders have acknowledged their responsibility to work together
towards social justice and protection of the environment. They have signed treaties
and declarations in which they agree to cooperate to protect the climate system and
to ensure respect for fundamental human rights. Yet the challenge of climate change
makes clear that we must define more precisely what international obligations entail,
when they are triggered, and what factors condition our responses.
As a contribution to ongoing effort to shape a shared agenda for
Climate Justice, the Global Humanitarian Forum has worked with a range
of organizations and individuals to develop these Key Points on Climate
Justice. They reaffirm that the benefits and burdens associated with
climate change and its resolution must be allocated in an equitable way.
I commend this document as a valuable guide for all who are working to
make Climate Justice a reality.
Mary Robinson, President and Founder,
Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initiative
Introduction
Increasingly unpredictable weather is having a severe impact on people and
communities worldwide. We now know that climate change constitutes a serious
humanitarian concern and a growing threat to socio-economic development, in
particular for the worlds poorest communities. These people, already the most
vulnerable, contribute least to global emissions of gases that are the principal
cause of climate change. They have the fewest mechanisms of protection available
and the least means to cope.
However, the poor are not alone in facing the threat of climate change. If
emissions of greenhouse gases worldwide continue to intensify, todays dangerous
situation will become catastrophic for the entire planet and for all societies. Billions
of people are now vulnerable to the indiscriminate impacts of climate change,
and significant, immediate and sustained emissions reductions are an urgent
priority. Those who already suffer or will suffer from the impacts of climate change,
especially the poor, require support in order to adapt to environmental changes.
As the Universal Declaration of Human Rights affirmed more than 60 years
ago, every human being is born free and equal in dignity and rights. Yet within the
shared biosphere of our planet, the limited resources available to human society
have been unequally consumed. The mass consumption of fossil fuels by some
has led to a changing climate for the entire planet.
As a global community, we can act together. Efforts to ensure respect for
human rights in the 21st century should include protecting the habitat in which
human beings coexist. Ultimately, shared concern and commitment to the planet
we inhabit and to our neighbours both near and far should be a unifying force.
The following Key Points on Climate Justice are intended to serve as
principles to guide policy and action on climate change.
More Extreme Weather: Implications

for Public Health and Social Justice
N AT I O N A L
W I L D L I F E
F E D E R AT I O N
2 0 0 9
Global warming is making hot days hotter, rainfall and flooding heavier,
storms stronger, and droughts more severe. These will be the most visible
impacts of global warming in our everyday lives and will have grave
implications for public health and social justice. Indeed, our urban
infrastructure, flood protection measures, emergency management
strategies, and agricultural systems were all developed based on past
experience with extreme weather. But, with global warming pushing these
extremes beyond their historical limits, we can no longer plan for the
future based on past climate conditions.
We are already seeing these impacts across the nation. The long-term
warming trend is undeniable: according to NASA, the ten warmest years
on record globally all occurred within the 12-year period 1997-2008.1
Weather and climate disasters are becoming more common and more
expensive in the United States. In the 1980s a billion-dollar weather
disaster was relatively rare. The last decade has seen multiple billiondollar disasters each year.2
Some people are more vulnerable than others to intensifying weather and
climate extremes. Underserved communities and people who are old,
young, or already sick are at greatest risk. Hurricane Katrina is a prime
example: the poor and elderly lost the most because of where they lived
and their limited ability to get out of harms way. About 310,000 African
Americans living in New Orleans were displaced by flooding or damage, a
significantly larger proportion than any other group.3
FEMA/illinoisphoto.com
More and more Americans will be living in vulnerable locations as

population continues to grow rapidly in cities, along the coasts, and in the
South. People of color will be disproportionately impacted because their
populations are concentrated in these areas. For example, 56 percent of
African Americans live in the southern United States or in urban areas.4
We must take action to reduce global warming pollution now, while there
is still time to avert the worst impacts. Investing in a clean energy future
is the essential path forward that will help communities nationwide,
especially the most vulnerable. It can also create new economic
opportunities for underserved communities. One analysis estimates that
transitioning to clean energy could create more than 430,000 jobs for
African Americans by 2030.5
Report
CONFRONTING GLOBAL WARMING
Number of Billion-Dollar
Weather and
Climate Disasters
(1980-2008)
The time for enacting

comprehensive climate
change policies is now. The
American public needs to
understand that global
warming is a health issue and
the most vulnerable people to
its dangerous impacts are
inner city African-Americans.
21-30
13-20
7-12
1-6
SOURCE: National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration
Number of people
indicating one or more
races including Black or
African American
(2008)
Hilary O. Shelton
Senior Vice President for
Advocacy and Director of the
NAACP DC Bureau
1,000,000 to
3,363,000
100,000 to 999,999
Heat Waves
15,000 to 99,999
5,378 to 14,999
Global warming will bring more extreme

heat waves. By the 2080s and 2090s,
many parts of the country will have
more than two months each year with
100-degree weather if global warming
emissions are not curbed. Urban air
pollution will be exacerbated by more
extreme heat, compounding the health
effects on hot days and forcing some
cities to take even more aggressive
steps to meet federal ozone standards.
Heat waves disproportionately impact
the very old and very young, as well as
people who are poor, have asthma or
heart disease, or live in big cities. With
often diminished health and a greater
likelihood of living alone, the elderly are
especially vulnerable. As the U.S.
demographics shift toward an older and
SOURCE: U.S. Census Bureau
States in the Southeast have experienced more billion-dollar

weather and climate disasters from hurricanes and floods to
droughts and heat waves than other parts of the country.
These disasters disproportionately impact the large population
of African Americans who call the Southeast home.
more urban population, efforts to

protect these at-risk communities from
extreme heat will become increasingly
important. Furthermore, African
Americans are at higher risk because
they are both more likely to live in the
places where heat waves are most
severe and less likely to be able to
afford air conditioning, insulation, and
other home improvements that reduce
exposure to extreme heat.6
Flickr: tlh3rd
For more information, see National

Wildlife Federations 2009 report More
Extreme Heat Waves: Global Warmings
Wake Up Call.
The intensity of the hurricanes

since Katrina in 2005 and
unusually high temperatures have
become the norm impacting the
lives of all Gulf Coast residents,
including me. Ive dealt with
frequent evacuations and the
personal loss of a friend
as a result of heat stroke.
Jerome Ringo
President of the Apollo Alliance
Former Chair of the National Wildlife
Federations Board of Directors
Resident of Lake Charles, Louisiana
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This report was jointly produced by Causa Justa :: Just Cause (CJJC) and the Alameda County
Public Health Department (ACPHD). Many individuals and organizations contributed thoughtfully, tirelessly, and wholeheartedly to its development. We especially acknowledge and thank
all the East and West Oakland residents who shared their personal insights and experiences
through the door-to-door survey and one-on-one interviews. The foreclosure crisis has deeply
impacted many of these residents, and it is their voices and stories that we seek to underscore
and augment
in this report.
Authors
Dawn Phillips, Program Director, CJJC
Robbie Clark, Housing Rights Lead Organizer, CJJC
Tammy Lee, Community Epidemiologist, ACPHD
Alexandra Desautels, Local Policy Coordinator, ACPHD
Contributors
388 residents of East and West Oakland neighborhoods
Kimberly Isaac, CJJC member since 2000 and West Oakland resident
Karen Mims, CJJC member since 2009 and East Oakland resident
Maria Ramirez, CJJC member since 2009 and East Oakland resident
Joan Phillips, CJJC member since 2010 and East Oakland resident
Survey Outreach, Data Support, and Report Reviewers

Members of the National Civilian Community Corps
Vanessa Moses, Oakland Basebuilding Lead Organizer, CJJC
Paper Buck, CJJC volunteer
Justin Stein, CJJC volunteer
Sandra Witt, Deputy Director of Planning, Policy, and Health Equity, ACPHD
Jane Martin, SuperviSing Epidemiologist, ACPHD
Matt Beyers, Epidemiologist, ACPHD
Liz Maker, Evaluation Specialist, ACPHD
Sarah Martin-Anderson, Policy Consultant, ACPHD
Jennifer Aquino, ACPHD intern
Lauren Pettis, ACPHD intern
Report Design and Layout

Design Action Collective
Photo Credits
David Velasquez, CJJC Intern
Tatiana Randal, CJJC Intern
Amber McZeal, Oakland Housing Organizer, CJJC
Report Funder
The California Endowment
The
California
Endowment
The disaster also acutely crystallizes the question

of how we strike the right balance between private
sector risk-taking and effective regulation that protects the interests of vulnerable populations and
other precious resources. While the BP oil spill
is the most recent and dramatic example of our
relatively hands-off approach to aggressive private
sector risk-taking, the banking and foreclosure
crisis and resultant world economic crisis are a reflection of the very same phenomenon.
Ultimately, decisions about the design of policies that balance these competing interests come
down to a question of values. Unfortunately, it
appears that we are still struggling in this country
to reach a stable consensus on the core values
that should serve as the underpinning of our
social policy and more clearly define the role of
government. Consequently, we are witnessing a
stark polarization between notions of individual
responsibility, market justice, laissez-faire capitalism, and small government versus notions of
social responsibility, environmental stewardship,
sustainability, equity, and fairness. Policies that
are firmly grounded in the latter values will help
steer us away from inevitable and extreme environmental and economic crises that are propelled
by the reckless and profit-blinded actions of a
handful of private sector actors that feel no meaningful regulatory constraints or consequences.
Until those who are strongly committed to a
sense of social and environmental stewardship
engage more effectively in the values battleground, we will continue in the "damage control"
mode that has us cleaning up toxic spills, burying masses of people abandoned by Katrina-like
events, and trying to mitigate the health and social consequences of economic disasters such as
the foreclosure crisis. This vivid report reminds us
of the undeniable human health costs of inaction.
The foreclosure crisis, in conjunction with the associated surge in unemployment and larger economic recession, has focused renewed attention
on the human health consequences of large-scale
social crises. While the association between housing stability and homeownership and health has
been documented in the public health literature,
the direct effects of foreclosure on health have
only recently begun to be explored. Thus this
ground-breaking and highly anticipated report by

Causta Justa :: Just Cause (CJJC) and the Alameda
County Public Health Department (ACPHD) will
greatly advance our understanding of this issue
and provide a tool for communities, advocates,
and policymakers to employ in the design of
thoughtful preventive and intervention strategies.
The report uses empirical data gathered from
hundreds of Oakland residents living in foreclo-
sure hotspots to illuminate in compelling detail

the profound acute and sustained consequences
of the foreclosure crisis, and the larger issue of
housing instability, on human health. The report
convincingly elucidates the fact that these health
consequences are interactive and synergistic
and occur at both the individual-level and the
larger community-level; thus wreaking havoc
not only on isolated families, but also on whole
neighborhoods in Oakland and Alameda County.
The report brilliantly delineates key pathways
through which these health consequences occur
and thereby offers policymakers a much deeper
insight into the inter-relatedness of housing
policy and health policy. Furthermore, the report
prescribes cogent city, county, state, and federal
policy approaches to mitigating the immediate
consequences of the foreclosure crisis in Oakland
and Alameda County and preventing future crises.
Prior research by ACPHD has demonstrated that
people who live in certain low-income neighborhoods in Alameda County can expect to die, on
average, a decade or more before residents of
the rest of the County. These low-income neighborhoods represent a constellation of socially
hazardous conditions that are not natural, but
instead the legacy of man-made policy. Through
portraying the tight relationship between the
foreclosure crisis and the physical and emotional
health of Oakland and Alameda County residents,
this report invites us to dedicate ourselves to the
creation of new social policy and systems change
that better reflect the values of equity, social justice, environmental stewardship, and community
responsibility. This work aligns squarely with the
mission, vision, and practice of The California
Endowment, which salutes CJJC and ACPHD for
demonstrating the data-driven, inter-sectoral, values-centered leadership that sustainable progress
in health equity demands.
Rebuilding Neighborhoods, Restoring Health
20082009 Annual Report iPresidents Cancer Panel
REDUCING
ENVIRONMENTAL
CANCER RISK
What We Can Do Now
Suzanne H. Reuben
for
The Presidents Cancer Panel
April 2010
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

National Institutes of Health
National Cancer Institute
Executive Summary
Despite overall decreases in incidence and mortality, cancer continues to shatter and
steal the lives of Americans. Approximately 41percent of Americans will be diagnosed
with cancer at some point in their lives, and about 21percent will die from cancer. The
incidence of some cancers, including some most common among children, is increasing
for unexplained reasons.
Public and governmental awareness of environmental influences on cancer risk and
other health issues has increased substantially in recentyears as scientific and health
care communities, policymakers, and individuals strive to understand and ameliorate
the causes and toll of human disease. A growing body of research documents myriad
established and suspected environmental factors linked to genetic, immune, and
endocrine dysfunction that can lead to cancer and other diseases.
Between September 2008 and January 2009, the Presidents Cancer Panel (the Panel)
convened four meetings to assess the state of environmental cancer research, policy, and
programs addressing known and potential effects of environmental exposures on cancer.
The Panel received testimony from 45 invited experts from academia, government,
industry, the environmental and cancer advocacy communities, and the public.
This report summarizes the Panels findings and conclusions based on the testimony
received and additional information gathering. The Panels recommendations delineate
concrete actions that governments; industry; the research, health care, and advocacy
communities; and individuals can take to reduce cancer risk related to environmental
contaminants, excess radiation, and other harmful exposures.
Key Issues for Reducing Environmental Cancer Risk

Issues impeding control of environmental cancer risks include those related to
limited research on environmental influences on cancer; conflicting or inadequate
exposure measurement, assessment, and classification; and ineffective regulation of
environmental chemical and other hazardous exposures.
20082009 ANNUAL REPORT|PRESIDENTS CANCER PANEL
Missoula Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory and Analysis 2003-2008
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Goals and Objectives

As frequent stories in the news attest, climate change is harming the natural assets that Montanans value.
Scientists predict that threats to our forests, streams, wildlife, working farms, and our states economy will
grow in the future as things continue to heat up and dry out. Indeed, climate change threatens the local
economy in Missoula, the fiscal well-being of City government, and our local quality of life.
As major contributors of greenhouse gas emissions that are causing climate change, cities around the
world, including several cities in Montana, are facing up to their responsibility to be part of climate
change solutions. In an era of ever-increasing energy costs, cities are finding many good reasons to lead
by example.
Because addressing climate change involves using less energy and using it more wisely, it can allow
services that the public demands to be maintained in tough economic times and prevent undesirable
and forced choices to be made.
Missoula is not alone in recognizing that taking action as a community can improve fiscal well-being
as well as benefitting the local economy and enhancing quality of life. However, to be effective, efforts
require careful analysis and planning. This report seeks to assist in that regard by methodically carrying
out the first of five steps for local governments to achieve emission reductions under the U.S. Conference
of Mayors Climate Protection Agreement: conducting a greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions inventory of
municipal operations.
Specific goals of this report are:
1. To present a baseline greenhouse gas emissions inventory for the City of Missoula that
quantifies total energy use and associated emissions for municipal operations.
2. To identify major sources of municipal GHG emissions and relative contributions within
and among the various sectors examined.
R A C E , E T H N IC I T Y
and Public Responses to Climate Change

1
Cover image courtesy of NASA.
This study was conducted by the Yale Project on Climate Change and the George Mason University
Center for Climate Change Communication. It was funded by the Surdna Foundation, the 11th Hour
Project, the Pacific Foundation, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The race and ethnicity
analysis was supported by the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Principal investigators:
Anthony Leiserowitz, PhD
Yale Project on Climate Change
School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University
(203) 432-4865
anthony.leiserowitz@yale.edu
Karen Akerlof
Center for Climate Change Communication
Department of Communication, George Mason University
(703) 282-1289
kakerlof@gmu.edu
Cite as: Leiserowitz, A. & Akerlof, K. (2010) Race, Ethnicity and Public Responses to Climate
Change. Yale University and George Mason University. New Haven, CT: Yale Project on Climate
Change. http://environment.yale.edu/uploads/RaceEthnicity2010.pdf
2
The climate change movement still remains highly homogenous by race and class and significantly by
gender in its leadership. Even in 2009, climate briefings held across the country consistently feature
mostly male and all-white casts. Like other pockets of environmental and conservation movements,
climate change still suffers from the perception, and arguably the reality, that it is a movement led by
and designed for the interests of the white, upper-middle class. Many people erroneously believe that
interest in environmental issues is dependent on race, education, and class. To the contrary, growing
numbers of people of color working in the environmental field and public polling demonstrate that
reality often differs from conventional assumptions. Angela Park1
In this report we examine American public support for climate change and energy policies among
different racial and ethnic groups. We find that in many cases, minorities are equally as supportive,
and often more supportive of national climate and energy policies, than white Americans.
3
Introduction
As the United States becomes increasingly diverse over the first half of the twenty-first century2,
understanding the viewpoints of people of different racial and ethnic groups on climate change is
becoming ever more important. This report provides an analysis of the global warming and energy
policy preferences of both the overall American public and of particular racial and ethnic groups,
based upon an October and November 2008 nationally representative survey of American 2,164
adults. A follow-up survey of 1,001 respondents in December 2009 and January 2010 (see Survey
Methodology, p. 18) is also discussed.
The impacts of climate change are likely to be felt disproportionately by those who face
socioeconomic inequalities.3 In the United States this includes many Hispanics, African Americans
and other racial and ethnic groups who are likely to be more vulnerable to heat waves, extreme
weather events, environmental degradation, and subsequent labor market dislocations.4 Climate and
energy policies that limit greenhouse gas emissions can often help reduce these impacts and improve
the health of all Americans by decreasing other concomitant air pollutants and increasing
opportunities for active and less carbon intensive lifestyles. These reductions are of great benefit to
low-income and minority communities since many suffer greater impacts from air pollution and as a
result will have the most to gain from policies that will improve air quality. Economic opportunities
for low-income and minority communities are also forecast to improve access to green jobs and
grow the green economy.5
Overall Policy Support

The fall of 2008 survey asked Americans how much they supported or opposed a wide variety of
climate change policies, including possible regulations, subsidies, tax incentives, research and
development funding, and international treaties. Overall, there was broad-based, bipartisan support
for most policy options, with the notable exception of a higher gas tax (Fig. 1).
4
INDICATORS OF CLIMATE CHANGE

IN CALIFORNIA:
IMPACTS
December 2010
LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS
Authors
Linda Mazur
Carmen Milanes
Karen Randles
David Siegel, Ph.D.
Integrated Risk Assessment Branch,
Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA)
Reviewers
George Alexeeff, Ph.D., DABT, Deputy Director for Scientific Affairs, OEHHA
Allan Hirsch, Chief Deputy Director, OEHHA
Joan Denton, Ph.D., Director, OEHHA
Andrew Altevogt, Cal/EPA Office of the Secretary
Marian Ashe, Cal/EPA Office of the Secretary
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
In 2009, the California Environmental Protection Agencys (Cal/EPA) Office of the
Secretary requested the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment
(OEHHA) to develop indicators describing the disproportionate impacts of climate
change on environmental justice communities. These indicators will help
Cal/EPA examine potential environmental justice concerns associated with
climate change.
8
Evidence is emerging that some of the projected impacts of climate change on
9
human health and well-being are already occurring. Some of these impacts may
disproportionately affect those who are socially or economically disadvantaged,
and hence represent environmental justice concerns.
This report presents four indicators that help track trends relating to the
disproportionate impacts of climate change on these communities. The
indicators chosen were selected based on evidence that: (1) the impacts of
climate change are already occurring (rather than projected to occur based on
future climate scenarios); and (2) disparities exist among socioeconomic or
racial groups in either the degree of exposure to a hazard, or the capacity to take
action to reduce exposures or minimize adverse outcomes. The indicators are
summarized in the text box below.
THE INDICATORS
Air conditioner ownership and cost
Low-income individuals and families
are less likely to live in homes with air
conditioning. Moreover, electricity
costs for cooling are a greater
proportion of their household income
compared to more affluent households.
Exposure to urban heat

Low-income residents and people of
color are more likely to live in urban
neighborhoods with large impervious
areas and with minimal tree canopy
conditions that intensify summertime
heat. Indicators to track these
conditions need to be developed.
Farm worker exposure to extreme

heat
Farm workers are a low-income,
predominantly Hispanic population.
They experience disproportionately
greater exposures to extreme heat.
Summertime extreme heat in certain
agricultural stations declined from 1950
to the mid-1980s, but appears to be
trending upward.
Vulnerability to wildfires
The rural poor living at the wildlandurban interface may have less capacity
and resources to take measures to
prevent and fight wildfires and to
recover following a fire. Indicators that
integrate information about fire threat
and about community capacity will help
track vulnerability to wildfires.
-i-

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19642014 Environmental Justice Timeline and Milestones

of persistent chemicals to northern Indigenous peoples and a call for

In May, the National Academy of Public Administrators published an

On May 2, 2009, GreenLaw

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19642014 Environmental Justice Timeline and Milestones

schools in Rhode Island on contaminated sites where there is an ongoing

agencies are finalizing strategies for incorporating environmental justice into

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April 18, 2012, EPAs Office

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District Court Held that Government Agency Must Take Steps to

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HB 2018, Reduced Truck Idling Rule, is

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The link points to a

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Warning letters and hazard alerts are issued on the

On January 18, 2012, EPA released a draft guidance

On November 7, 2011, the Governmental Accountability

Model Civil Rights Program at the Environmental Protection

Approximately 175 people attend the New England

The Law of Environmental Justice (Detail Updates)

Alleging Violations of the Civil Rights Act Concerning Landfill that

Department of Transportation Released Guidance Document on

GAO Released Report Criticizing Several Aspects of EPAs

Environmental Justice Interagency Working Group Released

On May 9, 2012, protesters of the 99

passed a landmark Sustainable Communities Strategy plan, NAACP had intervened in an

Atlanta metropolitan area contribute to blight and can

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The Law of Environmental Justice: Update Service

American Bar Association: http://www.americanbar.org/aba.html

EPA Released Draft Plan EJ 2014 Supplement

EPA Launched Environmental Justice in Action Blog

Federal Court Refused to Dismiss Lawsuit Concerning Permitting of

The 2013 Environmental Justice

The National Park Service publishes the final report on the

This was the first time the three organizations convened

The 2013 Environmental Justice Implementation Progress

California leads the nation in advanced bio fuel companies

The historic genocide and human rights trial in Guatemala

Milestones and Accomplishments 81

Title VI Policy | Civil Rights | US EPA

You are here: EPA Home

The demolished pedestrian bridge

Earlier this year, SCSJ led on behalf of the

Coverage on Democracy Now is avialable here

On April 12, 2013, Texas Southern

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Federal judge rules in favor of parents suing New York City

The NAACP and Green for All join forces to demand

to expedite removal of toxic polychlorinated biphenyls

documentary, Water Blues-Green Solution.

President and CEO of Joint Center for Political and Economic

leaders at the White House to meet with President Obama

Staying Green and Growing Jobs: Infrastructure

battle over a West Virginia coal mining project that

which goes to a young adult who is making outstanding