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Environmental Justice for All
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United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
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Ensuring environmental
protection for all. That's what
the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency stands for,
and that's what environmental
justice is all about.
EPA strongly believes that all people, regardless
of race, color, national origin, or income level,
should be able to live in a clean and healthy
environment. It is the core mission of the
Agency to protect the public's health and
safeguard the natural environment in which
we live, learn and work.
EPA defines environmental justices as:
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.
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Fair treatment means that no group of people, including
a racial, ethnic, or a socioeconomic group, should bear a
disproportionate share of the negative environmental
consequences resulting from industrial, municipal, and
commercial operations or the execution of federal, state,
local, and tribal programs and policies.
Meaningful involvement means that:
• Potentially affected community residents have an
appropriate opportunity to participate in decisions
about a proposed activity that will affect their
environment and/or health;
• The public's contribution can influence the regulatory
agency's decision;
• The concerns of all participants involved will be
considered in the decisionmaking process; and
• The decisionmakers seek out and facilitate the
involvement of those potentially affected.
In sum, environmental justice is the goal to be achieved
for all communities and persons across this nation.
Environmental justice is achieved when everyone enjoys
the same degree of protection from environmental risks
and health hazards and equal access
to the decisionmaking process.
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EPA
Addressing Environmental Justice
Concerns
EPA administers and enforces environmental laws to protect
human health and the environment of all people, including
residents living in minority, low-income or tribal communities.
Securing environmental justice for all communities is a neces-
sary part of the Agency's work to implement these laws.
Environmental laws provide many opportunities to address
environmental risks and hazards in affected communities. The
application of these existing statutory is an important part of
the Agency's efforts to prevent those communities from being
subject to disproportionately high and adverse impacts.
EPA's environmental justice mandate encompasses the
breadth of the Agency's work, including setting standards,
permitting facilities, awarding grants, issuing licenses or regu-
lations, and reviewing pro-
posed actions of the feder-
al agencies.
While all EPA offices have
the duty to address envi-
ronmental justice, the
Office of Environmental
Justice (OEJ) is the entity within the Agency with primarily
responsible for promoting environmental justice and coordi-
nating the Agency's efforts to that end. OEJ also works with
all stakeholders to constructively engage and collaboratively
address environmental justice issues and concerns.
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OFFICE OF ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE RESOURCES
For general environmental justice inquiries,
-•b 1-800-962- call the Environmental Justice Hotline at
(800)962-6215
- . __: www.epa.gov/compliance/resources/
listserv.html
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compliance/resources/listserv.html
To receive regular environmental justice updates
via e-mail, sign up on the Environmental Justice
list server at www.epa.gov/compliance/
resources/listserv.html
For online publications and other information
resources, visit the Office of Environmental
Justice Web site at www.epa.gov/compliance/
environmentaljustice
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