EPA200-R-93-001
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Administration And
Resources Management
(3103)
EPA 200-R-93-001
February 1994
<&EPA Environmental Justice Initiatives
1993
AGENCY
DAUAS, TEXAS
LIBRARY
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The Environmental Justice Program At EPA
The Office of Environmental Equity
was officially established on
November 6, 1992 with a specific
directive to deal with environmental
impacts affecting people of color and
low-income communities. The Office
serves as the Agency's and public's
point of contact for environmental
justice outreach, technical assistance,
and information. A separate senior
executive committee, the Equity
Cluster, was formed at the same time
to develop the Agency's policies,
guidance documents, and agenda for
environmental justice. The Office and
the Cluster worked in concert to frame
the issues and develop broad direc-
tives.
Some regions have developed
environmental justice policies, strate-
gic plans and action plans. The stra-
tegic plans outline the region's com-
mitment to ensure equitable envi-
ronmental protection for all commu-
nities while the action plan provides
managers and staff with a framework
to develop and implement environ-
mental justice efforts. Each region
and program office initiated envi-
ronmental justice workgroups, quality-
action teams, advisory boards or steer-
ing committees to focus on and
oversee environmental justice
activities.
Individual "Ethnic Study Groups"
made up of EPA volunteers were es-
tablished to develop discussion topics
and position papers on how environ-
mental justice issues affect each ethnic
group. Each EPA volunteer identified
equity issues pertinent to the EPA pro-
gram in which they worked.
To enhance communication with
outside groups, particularly
communities, the Office created sev-
eral publications and other "access"
vehicles:
• An Environmental Justice Hotline is
open on 1-800-962-6215.
• The Environmental Equity Update
Memo, a status report published
several times a year, highlights
agency environmental justice activi-
ties and initiatives.
• Equity programs are sponsored on
ethnic radio and TV networks (i.e.,
Hispanic Network Radio and the
Black College Satellite Network).
• The public's understanding of en-
vironmental justice is refined
through interviews on public TV,
technical advice to museum exhib-
its, sponsorship of booths at
national conferences, and serving as
advisors to university drama clubs
on the creation of an environmental
justice drama.
• Meetings were held with senior offi-
cials to discuss the concerns and
listen to the suggestions of outside
environmental justice leaders. The
Agency is formalizing this input by
establishing a Federal Advisory
Committee on Environmental Jus-
tice.
All regional offices were encour-
aged to reach out to community
groups, industries, state and local
organizations to bring them together to
discuss local environmental problems
and decide on possible solutions. The
Office sponsored several pilot
symposia of this type to be used as
national models.
The central office coordinated
projects and shared environmental
justice information across media
offices by forming networks in all
program and regional offices. Each of
them has appointed an environmental
justice coordinator.
New Initiatives
In January, 1994, the Agency will
initiate a new three-tiered environmen-
tal justice infrastructure to work with
the Office of Environmental Equity.
The structure will establish a new
Executive Steering Committee,
reconstitute the Equity Cluster as an
Environmental Justice Policy Working
Group, and strengthen the Environ-
mental Justice Coordinators.
• The Executive Steering Committee,
comprised of Deputy Assistant Ad-
ministrators and Deputy Regional
Administrators from at least three
regions, will provide agency direc-
tion on strategic planning to ensure
environmental justice is in-
corporated into Agency operations
and to provide direction to the
Policy Group.
• The Policy Working Group will
ensure cross-media policy develop-
ment and multi-media coordination
of environmental justice projects
and technologies.
• Environmental Justice Coordinators
will continue to provide education
and outreach for environmental
justice information in their offices
and regions.
The new structure is an effort to get
a clear commitment from senior
management to integrate environmen-
tal justice into their offices, continue
to move away from our mandated
single-media orientation to a multi-
media, holistic approach to
protecting public health and the en-
vironment, and provide communica-
tion and accountability mechanisms to
ensure results.
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EPA's COMMITMENT
We at EPA are deeply committed to the principle of environmental justice: fair
environmental protection for all people regardless of race, ethnic background or
income status. We believe that EPA has the responsibility for coordinating the
efforts and duties of the federal, tribal, state and local governments to provide a
clean and safe environment for every resident, in every community, in the United
States.
We now believe that the remedies we adopted to upgrade environmental
quality during the past two decades have not benefitted all communities. People of
color and low-income communities have alleged that they have a higher level of
environmental risk than the majority population, especially in hazardous waste
exposure, disposal, and containment. In fact, some of these communities do bear a
disproportionate share of the nation's air, water, and waste-contamination prob-
lems.
We are committed to address these concerns and are assuming a leadership
role in environmental justice initiatives in order to enhance the environmental
quality for all residents of the United States. Incorporating environmental justice
into "everyday" activities and decisions will be a major undertaking. Fundamental
reform will be needed in the way we do business. We have begun by including
environmental justice among the Agency's highest priorities in all programs, both
at headquarters and in the regions. We are incorporating environmental justice
initiatives into short-term and long-term planning processes, in regulatory and
policy making activities, enforcement, pollution prevention, education and eco-
nomic development strategies.
More than ever, businesses, communities, and federal, tribal, state and local
governments are coming to realize the link among environmental justice, sustain-
able development, and community empowerment. To achieve environmental
justice, it is critical that these parties work together to shift the direction of current
policies. Environmental justice will require that managers, in conjunction with all
stakeholders develop a sophisticated understanding of the environment itself. The
opportunity is here - let's seize it.
Carol M. Browner, Administrator
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
January 1994
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ORIGINS
Many people of color and low-income communities have alleged that they
suffer a disproportionate burden of health consequences due to over-siting of
industrial plants and waste dumps, and from exposures to pesticides or other toxic
chemicals at home and on the job. It appears that many of these communities are
situated by unusually high numbers of industrial and waste facilities. Consequent-
ly, possible exposure levels raise concerns about the likelihood of rising cancer
rates and other health effects.
One of the first reports to document the correlation among risk, race and
income was the Council on Environmental Quality's (CEQ) 1971 Annual Report to
the President. In this report, the CEQ acknowledged that racial discrimination
adversely affected the ability of the urban poor to elevate the quality of their
environment.
In 1979, Robert Bullard, while a sociologist at Texas Southern University, com-
pleted a report describing the futile attempt of an affluent African-American
neighborhood in Houston, Texas to block the siting of a hazardous waste landfill
nearby. He provided evidence that race, not just income status, was a probable
factor in this local invidious land-use decision.
Environmental justice became a nationally recognized issue in 1982, when 500
demonstrators protested against the proposed siting of a landfill for polychlorina-
ted biphenyls (PCBs) in a predominantly African-American and low-income
community in Warren County, North Carolina. This targeting of an unwanted
hazardous facility in a politically powerless black community was called "environ-
mental racism" by the demonstrators. As a result of the Warren County protests,
and his participation in these protests, District of Columbia Congressional Delegate
Walter Fauntroy requested a U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) study of
hazardous waste landfill sitings in EPA's Region 4 (Georgia, Florida, Mississippi,
Alabama, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina). The 1983
study found that three of the four commercial hazardous waste facilities were in
predominantly African-American communities and the fourth was in a low-income
community.
In 1987, the United Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice released a
study which expanded the GAO study by including all regions in the nation. This
finding determined that race, not income status, was the factor more strongly
correlated to residence near a hazardous waste site.
In the early 1990's, two major environmental justice conferences were held: The
First National People-of-Color Environmental Leadership Summit and The University of
Michigan School of Natural Resources Conference on Race and the Incidence of Environ-
mental Hazards.
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The Environmental Leadership Summit was held in Washington, IX, in
October of 1991. The Summit was organized by grassroots organizations and
community activists who considered the struggle for environmental justice as a life-
or-death matter for their communities. More than 650 participants adopted the
"Principles of Environmental Justice," a platform calling for an end to the poisoning
of low-income communities and people of color all over the world.
The University of Michigan held its conference, in January of 1990, in Ann
Arbor, MI. One outcome of this conference was the formation of the Michigan
Coalition: a group of social scientists, civil rights leaders, and environmentalists
interested in making environmental justice a public-policy issue. The Coalition
sent a letter to the EPA Administrator requesting Agency action on environmental
risks in communities of color, low-income neighborhoods, and on Tribal lands.
In response to the concerns of the U.S. Congressional Black Caucus and the
Michigan Coalition, EPA formed the Environmental Equity Workgroup. The
Workgroup, comprised of a cross-section of senior EPA staff, reviewed and
evaluated the evidence that low-income and people of color communities bear a
disproportionate environmental risk burden. The Workgroup's findings were
reported in a two-volume report titled Environmental Equity: Reducing Risk in All
Communities, m summary, the report found that:
• There are clear differences between racial groups in terms of disease and death
rates; however, there is a general lack of data on environmental health effects
by race and income. The notable exception is lead poisoning. A significantly
higher percentage of African American children, compared to white children,
have unacceptably high levels of lead in their blood.
• People of color and low-income populations experience higher-than-average
exposures to selected air pollutants, hazardous-waste facilities, contaminated
fish, and farm pesticides in the workplace.
• Data are not routinely collected on health risks posed by multiple industrial
facilities, cumulative and synergistic effects, or multiple pathways of exposure.
• American Indians are a unique ethnic group with a special relationship to the
federal government and distinct environmental problems. Tribes generally lack
physical infrastructure, institutions, trained personnel and resources necessary
to protect their members.
As recommended by the Workgroup, the EPA created the Office of Environ-
mental Equity to coordinate the Agency's efforts to address environmental justice
issues. The Office serves as the focal point for environmental justice concerns at
EPA and oversees related activities throughout the Agency. [See box inside the
front cover.]
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EPA RESPONDS
Because of the scarcity of scientific information and criteria to help define
disproportionate impacts, exposures, and nexus, EPA must re-evaluate its existing
policies to ensure that environmental justice activities are integrated into all of its
programs and operations. From Superfund's administrative improvements, the
reauthorization of CERCLA and the Clean Water Act, to the internal reorganization
and focus on enhancing the Agency's enforcement function, positive changes are
occurring. We expect that the direct beneficiaries of these activities will be the
communities of color and low-income populations. A number of these programs
are already ongoing, but in their infancy, and will require more time to be fully
implemented.
Gathering Information
To determine whether people of color and low-income communities are being
subjected to disproportionate siting of facilities that generate hazardous substances,
the Agency is utilizing advanced computer methodologies or devising new ones to
carry out data searches for more comprehensive evaluations of existing exposure
patterns. Geographic analysis to develop information describing populations that
live near hazardous waste sites, including both National Priority List (NPL) and
non-NPL sites, commercial hazardous waste disposal facilities and RCRA corrective
action sites are underway. Many of the EPA Regions, particularly Region 2 (Bos-
ton), Region 3 (Philadelphia) and Region 6 (Dallas) have already put in place
capabilities which allow them to access and analyze demographic data more
accurately for identification of potential environmental justice situations.
For example, Region 2 is conducting a Geographic Information System (GIS)
analysis to test methods of identifying areas of potential concern in the region
based on factors such as facility location, population density, income and ethnicity.
The GIS pilot uses New Jersey census block data with Toxic Release Inventory
(TRI) emission-source data to test the methodology. The material is being used in
siting, enforcement and monitoring decisions.
GIS Conference
A National Environmental Justice/Geographic Information Systems Forum for
EPA national and regional program managers was held in October 1993. The
forum brought environmental justice policy makers and technical experts together
to open lines of communication. This will lead to effective use of state-of-the-art
data-management tools in analyzing demographic data for environmental justice
impacts. The ultimate goal is to develop consistent and credible GIS methodolo-
gies for use in environmental justice analyses.
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GIS Air-Emissions Analysis
Under the Clean Air Act and as part of the Urban Area Source Program, the
Office of Air and Radiation is continuing a series of urban studies identifying risks
to populations from aggregate exposures to many air toxics. The studies evaluate
cancer and non-cancer health endpoints at numerous urban locations and include
many parameters such as source type, proximity of people to sources, and magni-
tude of exposures to multiple pollutants. The studies allow an assessment of
particular population groups that suffer from the highest levels of risk. Overlaying
risk-distribution patterns from these studies with socioeconomic statistics, available
from census data, gives some sense of differential risks seen by various population
groups. This type of analysis provides an indication of unequal risks related to
urban sources of toxic emissions.
For instance, Region 6 is conducting an analysis along the Industrial Corridor
between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, which includes ten parishes (counties)
with over 150 manufacturing facilities, many of which report under the Toxics
Release Inventory. The area is interspersed with people of color and low-income
communities. The analysis indicated that total on-site releases and transfers to off-
site locations from facilities in several of the parishes were relatively high com-
pared to other U.S. counties. Releases in the Industrial Corridor are declining,
however, at a rate higher than the average for the U.S. A GIS analysis found that
populations within two miles of facilities releasing 90 percent of the area's total air
emissions had a higher proportion of people of color than the state's average.
The analysis has been cited in several reports on environmental justice issues in
Louisiana, most notably the report of the Louisiana Advisory Committee on Civil
Rights entitled "The Battle for Environmental Justice in Louisiana ... Government,
Industry and the Public."
GIS Used in Targeting Lead in Communities (GIS-TLC)
The Office of Prevention, Pesticides, and Toxic Substances has initiated a risk-
based geographic targeting system for lead exposure using the GIS. Initial studies
were aimed at identifying predictive variables by comparing housing and socioeco-
nomic characteristics with elevated blood levels of the population undergoing the
study. The Agency hopes the targeting information can be used by states and
regional offices for the assessment of lead risk in high exposure communities in
major metropolitan areas. As an application of GIS-TLC, Region 9 (San Francisco)
is using the lead-targeting system in Alameda County, California. Alameda's high
level of community awareness, availability of data, and convenience to the regional
office for on-site inspection, made it an ideal area for GIS-TLC mapping. Maps
produced show specific areas where Hispanic children living below the poverty
line, with a female head-of-household, appear to have the highest probability of
elevated blood-lead levels among children up to six years of age. The next step is
to acquire blood-lead test data to confirm these findings.
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Future GIS Directions
EPA's GIS capabilities do not now include the full range of data needed to
conduct valid analyses everywhere. EPA has proposed an initiative which would
include the development of an expanded set of GIS-analysis tools and data,
together with grants for pollution prevention actions in areas with environmental
justice concerns. As part of this proposal, the GIS tools and data would be made
available to interested groups to use in conducting local analyses. If funded, this
proposal will expand the public's role in TRI reductions to foster targeted pollution
prevention. Using the grants, local governments and community groups could
address a wide range of toxic chemical concerns by focusing on reducing or
eliminating the use or generation of the substances.
Health Risks To Communities
An important aspect to advancing environmental justice is the need to ascertain
whether racial and ethnic minority populations are: exposed to a greater burden
and higher frequency of multiple chemical exposures; more susceptible to the
effects of environmental pollution; and adequately protected by current health-risk-
analysis methods taking these factors into consideration. Economically disadvan-
taged and some ethnic populations tend to have a higher incidence of cancer and
other health effects. Chronic, low-level exposures to hazardous substances faced
by these communities suggest the health consequences of these impacts are more
severe. The Agency is examining this threat more closely.
Diet and Eating Habits
EPA has begun to link health risks, pesticides, and diet as an environmental
justice issue. One can no longer assume that people of different ethnic background
and income levels eat the same kinds and amounts of food as presumed in some
studies. Environmental justice requires that the role of culture, ethnicity, and
income-related factors in dictating eating habits must be explored when setting
pesticides tolerances and other standards for food.
We've known for some time that certain populations (e.g., recreational and
subsistence fishers, American Indians, Asian-Americans, and low-income popula-
tions) have higher fish consumption rates than the 6.5 grams/day used in the
national water-quality-criteria guidance for human health. The 6.5 grams/day rate
equates to roughly one of fish meal per month. Tribes in the Northwest have been
particularly alert to the discrepancies found between their traditional cultural
practices and the 6.5 grams/day rate. Alaskan fish consumers have become
alarmed by use of the 6.5 grams/day consumption rate to protect Alaskan waters,
as the level may harm their health, and threaten their way of life.
The 6.5 grams/day rate was derived from data on both consumers and non-
consumers of fish from fresh and estuarine waters throughout the United States.
There is fairly broad agreement that this number is an underestimate and out of
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date. At national EPA workshops (e.g., a tribal water quality standards workshop
held in Denver in March 1992) and in comment letters on proposed water quality
standards for Alaska, EPA has encouraged the recalculation of human health
criteria using more appropriate fish consumption rates.
In efforts to help this recalculation, Region 9 (San Francisco) and Region 10
(Seattle) have started a cooperative project to survey fish consumption levels in
Asian American populations. People of this culture consume large quantities of
fish and other seafood and the results of this work could greatly impact the
development of more relevant water quality criteria.
Similar studies have been ongoing in American Indian populations for several
years. A survey of the Umatilla, Ney Perce, Yakima and Warm Springs Tribes of
the Columbia River Basin has been conducted by the Columbia River Inter-Tribal
Fish Commission. The study, which assesses the consumption rate of fish by tribal
members, the species of fish consumed, fish preparation methods, and the source
of the fish, is to be published later this year.
Comparative Risk Analysis
The Office of Policy, Planning and Evaluation is currently assisting several
cities in executing comparative risk projects (i.e. a process of ranking environ-
mental problems by priorities). The objective is to identify the relative risks posed
by environmental problems in a given area and to develop credible and realistic
action plans for mitigation. An environmental justice analysis within the compara-
tive-risk analytical framework is being developed to adequately identify communi-
ties and sub-population groups at risk. These analyses require a re-examination of
risk assessment assumptions based on hazard identification and exposure.
The Hawaiian Department of Health has implemented a comparative-risk
project to identify and assess environmental problems facing Hawaiian residents.
Two environmental justice issues are being addressed in the project. First, the
effects of environmental impacts on the quality of life are being assessed with a
specific emphasis on native Hawaiian culture, because it is closely tied to the
environment. Second, the health effects of any increased exposure to environmen-
tal contaminants are being assessed for native Hawaiian communities living at the
subsistence level.
Eleven tribes in Wisconsin released a report this year entitled "Tribes at Risk:
The Wisconsin Tribes Comparative Risk Project." This completed the first phase of
Region 5's (Chicago) joint comparative risk project with the Tribes. Since then,
Tribal environmental programs throughout the Region have worked closely with
Region 5 in the second phase, risk communication, to improve the information on
risks and to begin risk-based dialogues with other tribes and federal agencies. The
project was a major catalyst for the 1993 Tribal Environmental Summit.
Region 3's (Philadelphia) Urban Environmental Risk Initiative is a geographic
initiative aimed at identifying, ranking, reducing, and preventing environmental
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risks in large metropolitan areas. Baltimore, Maryland and Washington, DC were
selected as pilot areas. The Initiative is intended to serve as a model to be applied
to urban areas across the country. This Initiative not only defines and resolves
urban environmental problems, but can characterize and target environmental
justice problems associated with urban areas. In a cooperative effort, EPA, the
target cities, and other participants are using existing data to complete environmen-
tal risk ranking; identify sub-geographic problem areas; develop and implement
effective risk communication to educate effected communities; and develop and
implement risk-reduction activities.
Health Assessment Studies
The National Human Exposure Assessment Survey (NHEXAS) currently being
developed by EPA's Office of Research and Development, is designed to generate a
human exposure database to address some of the geographic and demographic
questions relevant to the issue of environmental justice. NHEXAS will address the
exposure-based component by providing information on the magnitude, extent,
and causes of human exposure. This program will be important in providing
information essential to making informed decisions about environmental health
risks in high risk communities.
The Office of Policy, Planning, and Evaluation is currently developing an
environmental justice database which will integrate health-effects data from the
National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey HI (NHANES-HI), demographic
data from the 1990 Census, environmental data from air monitoring stations and
the Toxic Release Inventory database. This database integration will assist EPA
staff in developing disease correlations with air-exposure data in high impact
populations.
EPA, in conjunction with the U.S. Public Health Service, designed the Lower
Rio Grande Valley Environmental Study to investigate human exposures to
environmental contaminants along the U.S./Mexico border. This work began as a
result of reports of increased rates of fetal brain defects in Brownsville, Texas and
Matamoros, Mexico. The sources of contamination and identification of the
pathways of exposure are expected outcomes.
In other health-effects studies, Region 2 (New York) received several requests to
investigate reported health problems in the municipality of Catano, Puerto Rico.
Residents complained of high rates of cancers of all types as well as incidence of
pediatric asthma higher than anywhere else in the world. These health statistics
were attributed to power-plant emissions and other industrial pollutant releases in
the area. The Region took environmental samples, conducted intensive inspections
of facilities in the area and took expedited enforcement actions. The Center for
Disease Control and Region 2 arranged to have an asthma study conducted and
the Puerto Rico Department of Health established a special health study group for
the area, including citizen representatives.
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Health Effects Conference
An interagency symposium on "Health Research and Needs to Ensure Environ-
mental Justice" scheduled for February 10-12,1994, will develop constructive
communication among key stakeholders (e.g., effected communities, tribes, regula-
tors, scientists, elected officials, and others), in order to develop research programs
aimed at filling data gaps in several critical areas (health, exposure, prevention,
intervention). The symposium will also focus on the development of new methods
to better identify areas and communities where environmental justice issues arise
and to design effective prevention and intervention strategies.
Public Participation And Decision Making
Superfund Administrative Improvements
EPA is committed to increased public participation at an earlier stage in the
process of siting decisions for hazardous and solid waste facilities. Administrative
improvements made by EPA in June 1993 included efforts to enhance public
participation and the effectiveness of Superfund cleanups in communities of color
and low-income populations. So far, the Agency has surveyed its regions and has
identified more than 20 environmental justice pilot projects that will allow the
agency to experiment and provide the basis for substantive policy development.
Superfund Reauthorization and Policy Changes
EPA is considering environmental justice in the context of the Superfund
reauthorization process. Discussions on reauthorization have yielded a high level
of public involvement on matters of concern to environmental justice advocates
and other stakeholders. The Administrator has requested the formation of a
working group under National Advisory Committee on Environmental Policy and
Technology (NACEPT), to address these concerns. On the basis of the working
group's proposals, the Agency is considering changes to the Hazard Ranking
System (HRS) which would give cleanup priority to Superfund sites located in
neighborhoods burdened with multiple environmental stressors—primarily people
of color and low-income communities.
Targeted Enforcement Inspections And
Compliance Monitoring
Enforcement and Compliance Monitoring Activities
Historically, the Agency has pursued violations of environmental laws on a
statute-specific basis. Cases were filed alleging failure to comply with only a single
environmental law. The Agency is now emphasizing a multi-media approach, in
which it looks at all of the environmental problems presented by a particular
facility or geographic area alleging violations of more than one statute in a single
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action. The Agency is also devising strategies to target inspections, enforcement
actions, and compliance monitoring in communities that are exposed to multiple
environmental hazards.
For example, Region 5 (Chicago) has heightened its scrutiny of facilities in the
highly industrialized area of southeast Chicago and northwest Indiana, where
industry has contributed to severe surface-water and groundwater degradation and
to the chronic air pollution problems. This area, comprised of mostly low-income
and people-of-color communities, is being targeted for multi-media inspection,
compliance monitoring, and enforcement initiatives.
Region 10 (Seattle) recognized the importance of a targeting system for facilities
in their region scheduled to receive an EPA multi-media inspection. For some
time, it has been the Region's goal to increase emphasis on multi-media activities
and focus on those facilities objectively posing the greatest risk to the environment.
The Region's targeting workgroup succeeded in creating a precedent-setting
targeting protocol to accomplish these goals. Environmental justice considerations
have been factored into the screening criteria and are part of the decision-making
process.
In efforts to effect internal change, Region 6 modified its annual multi-media
enforcement and inspection-targeting strategy and procedures to include an
environmental justice component. The factors to be weighted equally in the annual
targeting process include environmental justice; human health risk; historically
significant non-compliance with the environmental statutes; current EPA enforce-
ment program input; state input, and current national, regional and program
specific-enforcement initiatives.
Federal facilities are often overlooked for compliance with environmental laws,
despite their sometimes low rate of compliance. The 1994 federal facilities multi-
media enforcement/compliance initiative involves targeting high-priority facilities
for inspections and follow-up enforcement. Environmental justice is one of the key
ranking factors for selecting facilities for enforcement inspections.
Settlements and Fines
Last March Region 5 achieved a settlement with Inland Steel Corporation for
violations of the Clean Water Act, RCRA, the Clean Air Act and the Safe Drinking
Water Act; the company agreed to $3.5 million in penalties, a $19 million project to
clean up contaminated sediments that threaten Lake Michigan, and $7 million in
future supplemental environmental projects. In June, EPA filed suit against a
Sherwin-Williams paint-manufacturing plant in the same corridor for violations of
RCRA, the Clean Air Act, and the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-
Know Act. Both of these facilities are located near large people-of-color and low-
income communities.
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Supplemental Environmental Projects (SEPs)
A key aspect of using enforcement as a tool to help reduce the heightened risks
borne by certain communities is the implementation of Supplemental Environ-
mental Projects (SEP's). In the past, EPA has insisted upon recovering in cash the
economic benefit that any company gained through non-compliance with environ-
mental laws. But under the SEP policy, EPA can reduce penalties achieved from
above the economic benefit level in exchange for enforceable agreements to
complete environmentally beneficial projects that go beyond the injunctive relief
that EPA can order—projects that promote pollution prevention, pollution reduc-
tion, environmental restoration and environmental auditing.
While SEPs are complex, they offer the Agency an opportunity to deal creative-
ly with problems of communities that have legitimate environmental justice
concerns. The Office of Enforcement is working with the Department of Justice to
identify those cases in which SEPs may offer a partial solution to these problems.
Civil Rights Act Enforcement
Under separate enforcement authorities, EPA's Office of Civil Rights received
and accepted for processing two complaints alleging racial discrimination under
Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VI prohibits discrimination on the
grounds of race, color or national origin in programs or activities receiving Federal
financial assistance. The Title VI regulations and environmental statutes them-
selves provide EPA with the authority to promote environmental justice policies.
One of the complaints involves a permit application for a hazardous waste treat-
ment and storage facility in Iberville Parish, Louisiana. The other complaint, filed
by African-Americans for Environmental Justice, involves permit applications for
several facilities in or near Noxubee County, Mississippi.
Both complaints are in the discovery stage, information is being collected and
analyzed from a variety of sources as the first step in the investigations. The next
step of the complaint processing procedure provides for conciliation efforts to settle
complaints. If the complaints are not settled, the Agency will complete the
investigations and take action.
Outreach And Education
Environmental information must be readily available and understandable by
the public. Materials must be developed to keep the public fully informed of EPA
rulemaking, enforcement actions, risk assessments and other relevent activities. To
help boost environmental awareness and acceptability by communities, EPA has
taken important initiatives. To enable communities, organizations, and institutions
to better understand environmental activities, and to pursue environmental
protection alternatives in a systematic, long-term effort.
In order to institutionalize environmental justice the Agency has formed
partnerships with other groups and provided financial assistance and outreach to
people of color and low-income communities using more effective means of
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communication and education. It is critical that information on environmental
hazards be communicated to citizens independently of educational level and lan-
guage, so that communities can become empowered to make their own environ-
mental decisions. One of EPA's environmental justice goals is to ensure that no
segment of the population carries a disproportionate burden of pollution, especially
not as a result of being uninformed.
Education programs are essential to the successful implementation of programs
to mitigate instances of environmental injustice. The public needs to be aware of
environmental issues and rights and responsibilities under environmental laws.
Communities must be aware of the ability to share in the potential economic bene-
fits to be realized through pollution prevention programs, preventive-exposure
programs, remediation programs, community restoration projects, etc. Training
programs can be conducted via public meetings, symposia, workshops and
seminars conducted by churches, schools, colleges, universities and community
organizations. Program and regional offices have devoted much of this first year
to devising training programs, hosting conferences and workshops, and building
partnerships to focus on identifying environmental justice problems and determin-
ing possible solutions.
Opportunities to obtain environmental education should be provided on an
institutional basis as well as by informal means. EPA believes that all levels and
segments of the population can benefit from information that can help them focus
on the essence of environmental issues. Environmental managers are learning to
become better decision-makers by gaining an appreciation of risks, socio-economic
impacts and benefits, and environmental justice. For instance Region 10 (Seattle)
conducted a risk-based environmental decision making conference for residents in
the States under its purview. This day-and-a-half conference explored the use,
limits and value of risk-based environmental-decision-making. The conference
targeted policy makers; environmentalists; scientists; federal, state and local
officials; attorneys, health care providers; business leaders and members of eth-
nic/minority and rural communities. Discussions centered on the process of
environmental risk-based decision-making and the challenge of addressing broader
social concerns such as justice, prosperity, and safety.
In addition, EPA must target the low-income and people-of-color communities,
affording them with greater opportunities to understand the principles of environ-
mentalism, community rights, and the needed training to help reduce environmen-
tal risks in their communities. The goal is to bring a fresh perspective to the
understanding of environmental risks so that each community can make informed
decisions by exercising their rights in all phases of environmental decision-making.
For example, the Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response (OSWER) and
the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) are
working in partnership to examine the health risks presented by certain inactive or
uncontrolled waste sites located in or near people-of-color and economically
disadvantaged communities. In this prototype, teams of experts will be established
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to go into the selected communities, survey residents, and develop strategies to
resolve health and environmental issues. These experts will examine community
participation in the Superfund process and they will seek the reasons for it or lack
of involvement by the community. The NAACP will make a report of the
findings and recommendations available for community use. Ultimately, the
project will provide a means to strengthen community participation earlier in the
Superfund process.
EPA has initiated a number of environmental programs which formalize the
training and provide "hands on" experience for students at the undergraduate
level. Through educational grants, EPA has provided summer employment
opportunities for students at governmental agencies nationwide. This past sum-
mer, 23 Morgan State University undergraduates were matched with appropriate
EPA projects for the summer. This arrangement gives the students professional
experience and will hopefully create an interest in pursuing a career in environ-
mental fields.
A cooperative agreement was also initiated with the Environmental Careers
Organization (ECO) to help the Agency attract summer interns to work for federal,
state, local and tribal government environmental agencies. Students from the
nation's historically black colleges and universities, The Hispanic Association of
Colleges and Universities, and various tribal colleges were selected to train in
environmental protection.
Region 7 (Kansas City) had a number of environmental education programs
targeted at American Indians. For example, the region has 1) awarded to Haskell
Indian Junior College an environmental education grant that will support their CIS
program; 2) provided support for a science camp for American Indian students; 3)
ran workshops for science and math teachers of American Indian students; and fur-
nished copies of an Environmental Curriculum Guide and offered training in its
use to teachers of American Indian students.
Other EPA educational and outreach programs included training of inspectors,
workers and local residents of ethnic communities on such issues as emergency
planning and community right-to-know, lead abatement, risk reductions of
hazardous materials, well-head protection of water resources, and pesticide
exposures. Two important areas to which EPA devoted much attention are lead
abatement programs and the adoption of new guidelines for the protection of
consumers and workers exposed to pesticides.
EPA has organized conferences and workshops which aim at providing short-
term training to both technical personnel and the affected general public on specific
environmental or environmental-justice issues. Manuals, fact sheets, or other
printed materials in the appropriate native languages are provided to attendees
and residents of local ethnic communities.
The Colonias Project, formed under the EPA U.S./ Mexico Integrated Border
Environmental Plan, is a multi-agency group, chaired by EPA Region 6, to deal
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with border-area environmental issues. Region 6 hosted five workshops in the
border area of Texas through the Texas Colonias Sub-Group. The objectives of the
five workshops were to provide information to the residents and to address
questions regarding water supply and wastewater-treatment financing in the
colonias.
Lead Abatement and Pesticides Worker Protection
Under the Lead-based Paint Hazard Reduction Act, EPA's Office of Prevention,
Pesticides and Toxic Substances is working with the Agency for Toxic Substances
Disease Registry and the Department of Housing and Urban Development on a
number of public awareness and educational activities. The National Lead Infor-
mation Center (NLIC) was formed in April, 1993 to provide lead-poisoning
information to the general public. In 1993, more than 40,000 calls were received by
the NLIC. During this time, the NLIC also sponsored two public meetings in
Newark and Chicago to discuss lead-poisoning prevention and abatement strate-
gies. Separately, a national public service advertising campaign with the National
Safety Council was put together to heighten the public's awareness on the dangers
of lead poisoning in children through printed materials, television and radio
advertisements in both English and Spanish.
For three years EPA has funded grants to non-profit groups to deliver lead-
abatement-worker training. Seven grants were awarded to groups located in low-
income communities to recruit and train qualified unemployed community
residents to be lead-abatement workers. The training includes both classroom
studies as well as an extensive apprenticeship where lead abatement work is
actually performed on homes in the community. This on-the-job training provides
free labor to home owners who could not otherwise afford to eliminate lead
hazards. Special emphasis is placed on teaching a portion of the class supervisory
skills to improve their future employment opportunities in the lead abatement
field. In addition, carpentry and other related skills are taught at the same time.
It has been estimated that as many as 300,000 cases of pesticides poisoning
occur each year among agricultural workers. In August, 1992, EPA published new
standards for protection from the hazards posed by pesticides for this group. With
the assistance of affected interest groups, the Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP)
has developed a number of outreach and informational materials designed to help
agricultural employers understand their responsibilities to their workers, better
prepare state agencies and tribal governments to enforce the new standards, and
provide safety information to workers. OPP has begun to work with the Associa-
tion of Farmworker Opportunity Programs (AFOP) to develop outreach and
education material, and with the Rural Community Assistance Program (RCAP) to
identify and refine training methods that could be effective in educating workers
on the dangers of pesticides. These efforts included translation of materials into
other languages and training taught in appropriate languages. Announcements in
Spanish were made on the National Hispanic Radio Network.
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Region 8 (Denver) has a Tribal Pesticide Enforcement Program aimed at field-
worker protection, pesticide applicators, and groundwater protection. The region
is currently providing funding and assisting in implementing five programs using
grants to provide training and technical assistance to Standing Rock, Pine Ridge
Reservation, Rose Bud, The Three Affiliated Tribes (Fort Berthold) and Cheyenne
River reservations. This program helps tribes to develop enforcement programs,
including hiring inspectors, certification of pesticide applicators, and establishing
worker-protection regulations and codes.
Community Assistance
This year the Office of Environmental Equity developed a new community
assistance grant program for groups dealing with local environmental justice
projects. The program, to be administered by the regional offices, will provide
financial assistance to community groups and tribes engaged in environmental
justice issues. This first year's program will award amounts up to $10,000 per
grant to conduct projects such as socioeconomic impact studies, organize natural
resource clean-up efforts, develop or supplement community newsletters, hold
environmental justice workshops, access environmental public databases, etc.
The Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response has simplified and stream-
lined the Superfund Technical Assistance Grant application package. The modified
version is to make the application more accessible to community groups. Informa-
tion about applying and managing the grant is available in four user-friendly
booklets which can be requested as needed, instead of the one-inch thick stack of
loose paper previously provided. Focus groups to test the effectiveness of these
changes are planned.
Innovative Programs
Some program and regional offices are developing creative ways to inform and
involve the public in environmental initiatives that will impact their communities.
The following are a sampling of those projects.
Region 10 in conjunction with the City of Seattle has established a Master
Home Environmental Program which is designed to reduce exposures from toxic
materials and pollutants in the home. The focus is indoor pollutants including
lead, contaminated soil, toxics in house dust, hazardous household chemicals and
pollutants from smoke and tobacco products. A group of Health Department
nurses are working with low-income families in the Women, Infants, and Children
(WIC) program, and provide information on home toxics and lead to the people
they visit in the WIC program. The program targets communities with higher
populations of people of color and low-income residents and relies on volunteers,
many from the targeted communities. Volunteers who successfully complete the
training then present this information to community groups and organizations, and
assist people in implementing a survey for pollution problems in their homes.
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Region 6 (Dallas) has created a First Responder Training for residents. Training
is scheduled throughout the year for first responders to hazardous material acci-
dents. This training provides for effective management of those accidents to
prevent harm, when possible, to human lives and the environment. During this
year, courses have been offered in the five states of Region 6, including bilingual
training in the lower US/Mexico border areas and on Native American lands in
New Mexico and Oklahoma.
Region 1 (Boston) sponsors an annual event that promotes youth interest in the
field of environmental science. This past summer youths worked with zoo keepers,
participated in horticultural projects and worked on a wetlands-restoration activity.
The students also worked on a water-quality-monitoring project in the park and
were exposed to a variety of environmental speakers and scientists. As a follow-up
to this program, the region also works with YouthBuild Boston, a training program
in Boston which provides young adults between the ages of 18 and 24 carpentry
and vocational skills in addition to assisting students in completing their G.E.D.
requirements. The objective of this program is to heighten awareness of the health
risks associated with urban pollution and to encourage community involvement in
remediation efforts. Regional Laboratory employees have volunteered their
personal time to teach students data gathering techniques such as soil testing,
measuring and sampling. Students then use their newly developed skills to work
with soil-remediation specialists in cleaning up a lead-contaminated lot in their
community. Once the lot has been cleaned, YouthBuild students use their carpen-
try and building skills to create playgrounds for neighborhood children.
In Region 4 (Atlanta), the OEA has supported Clark Atlanta University's
development of an environmental curriculum to enable students to get "hands on"
environmental experience while still in college. The Region, working with Clark, is
establishing a mobile air toxics laboratory and air-monitoring station and will
provide classroom presentations on monitoring technologies and methods.
In partnership with Morgan State University, EPA conducted a two-week
environmental teachers institute. Forty teachers were recruited from low-income
and culturally diverse communities where hazardous waste issues are of local
concern. The teachers heard national experts speak on topics ranging from toxic
waste and race to environmental technologies of the future. The 1993 institute was
a national pilot and will be adopted in some EPA regions in 1994.
Sustainable Development
EPA believes that all communities deserve to be as free as possible from
adverse environmental impacts. If this goal is to be reachable it must be accom-
plished through the integration of environmental health and ecosystem protection
and sustainable economic development. In addition, intra- and inter-generational
equity (environmental justice now, equity for future generations and consideration
of cultural heritage) must be attained.
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EPA defines "sustainable development" as development that meets the needs of
the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their
own needs. This means improving the quality of human life, while living within
the carrying capacity of supporting ecosystems. Sustainable development is
dynamic and implies the interplay of four dimensions: economic, human, environ-
mental, and technological. EPA has begun to communicate the importance of
environmental justice and sustainable development to communities, organizations
and institutions. Funds are also being made available to minority and low-income
communities to develop model sustainable-development projects.
In its efforts to empower communities to embrace sustainable-development,
EPA has supported "self help" and financial-assistance programs in people-of-color
and low-income areas. These programs are meant to stimulate economic growth
through efforts to train and employ the unemployed and create businesses while
cleaning the environment. The projects encompass lead and asbestos abatement,
recycling, and environmental restoration.
The Office of Environmental Equity in conjunction with the Office of Small and
Disadvantaged Businesses and Region 1, has developed environmental jus-
tice/economic development projects in Washington, D.C. and Boston. These
projects seek to provide economic development opportunities for unemployed
residents of public housing, while reducing a significant environmental risk (i.e.
lead exposure to children). The aim is to train unemployed minority and low-
income persons guarantee them employment; help create small businesses as
employers and abate an environmental problem causing significant risk in the
community. To accomplish these goals, EPA signed a Memorandum of Under-
standing with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD),
Department of Commerce (DOC), and the District of Columbia Government. In
Boston, EPA signed with HUD, Roxbury Community College, Community Devel-
opment Centers, and Boston's Public Facilities Department.
The Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response has a model remediation/r-
edevelopment project underway in Ohio. The Brownfields Redevelopment National
Pilot Project is the prototype for a major national initiative between EPA, the State
of Ohio and the Cuyahoga County Planning Commission in Cleveland, Ohio. The
project will stimulate economic redevelopment of contaminated, abandoned urban
areas through environmental cleanup.
Another example, of a different type, is the Mercado Project in Oakland,
California, which is developing a public education center and small business
incubator for retail outlets and related manufacturing/assembly facilities. These
facilities will produce and sell high value-added products using recycled materials
as a feedstock. California State University, Hayward, is preparing a business-
management-training program and business plan for the Asian-American commu-
nity in the San Francisco Area. The Mercado Project will train and employ people
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from a culturally diverse community. Specifically, unemployed residents will be
trained to convert recyclable wood and plastic into furniture.
In other areas, Congress has continued to fund the lead-worker-abatement
grants program to recruit and train qualified unemployed community residents to
be lead-abatement workers in their own communities. Seven groups, including
The Salvation Army, Bronx Legal Services, and Baltimore Jobs in Energy, who
offered this type of training and services to low-income communities, shared
$500,000 from EPA's 1993 resources.
A Project Matrix is available which contains a complete list of all project
activities undertaken by EPA during the past year. To obtain this information,
write to:
Environmental Justice Projects Matrix - 1993
U.S. EPA (Mail Code 3103)
Office of Environmental Equity
Washington, DC 20460.
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