United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Enforcement and
Compliance Assurance
(2201 A)
EPA-300-F-96-002-R
August 1998
Office of Environmental Justice (OEJ)
cvEPA
Environmental Justice
Fact Sheet
ESTABLISHING AN INFRASTRUCTURE In
1992, EPA created the Office ofEnvironmentalJustice to
coordinate the Agency's effort to address environmental
justice issues. Since that time the Administrator has made
environmental justice one of the agency's top priorities and
has "... embarked on a mission to develop a new system of
environmental protection: one that builds on the strengths
of the past 25 years but overcomes the deficiencies of the
past; one that works community by community to prevent
pollution, rather than wait to clean it up after the fact. " To
do this EPA created a strong infrastructure to integrate
environmental justice into EPA 's policies, programs and
activities. As a first step each region and headquarters
office was asked to appoint an Environmental Justice
Coordinator (see attached list ofEJ Contacts) to serve as
front-line staff specifically responsible for ensuring that
environmental justice is included in policy input, program
development, and implementation; the Policy Working
Group, a group of high level policy staff, was formed to
ensure that cross-media policy development and
coordination occurs at all levels; and the Executive
Steering Committee, senior managers at EPA, was
established to provide leadership and direction on strategic
planning to ensure that environmental justice is
incorporated into Agency operations. A list of
Environmental Justice Coordinators is on the reverse side
of this fact sheet.
EXECUTIVE ORDER 12898 "Federal Actions to
Address Environmental Justice in Minority
Populations and Low-Income Populations" was
signed February 11, 1994, to focus federal attention on the
environmental and human health conditions of minority
populations and low-income populations with the goal of
achieving environmental protection for all communities.
The Order directed federal agencies to develop
environmental justice strategies. The Order established an
Interagency Working Group (IWG) chaired by EPA and
comprised of the heads of eleven departments/agencies and
several White House offices. These include the EPA, the
Departments of Justice, Defense, Energy, Labor, Interior,
Transportation, Agriculture, Housing and Urban
Development, Commerce, and Health and Human Services,
the Council on Environmental Quality, the Office of
Management and Budget, the Office of Science and
Technology Policy, the Domestic Policy Council, and the
Council of Economic Advisors. Strategic plans may be
obtained by calling 202-564-2515 or 1-800-962-6215.
OBTAINING STAKEHOLDER ADVICE. To
ensure that the Agency receives significant input from
affected stakeholders, the National Environmental Justice
Advisory Council (NEJAC), a Federal Advisory Committee,
was established. The NEJAC is comprised of 25 members
and seven sub-committees with 5-10 additional members
each, all appointed from key environmental justice
constituencies. The purpose of this group is to provide
consensus advice on a variety of documents, which include
the Agency's environmental justice agenda, the
Environmental Justice Strategic Plan, the Environmental
Justice Annual Report, and other Agency materials. The
NEJAC meets 2-3 times a year throughout the country to
receive comments from local citizens and community
groups on the state of the environment in local areas.
INTERNS. For the past six years, EPA has sponsored a
summer intern program with the express desire to
encourage students to pursue an environmental career.
The EPA Partnership with the Environmental Careers
Organization continues to flourish with more than 300
students being placed since January 1997, making a total of
approximately 1,000 trainees and more than $9 million
dedicated to their training since January 1992. At least 40
percent of the trainees are students at minority academic
institutes of higher education. The program benefits both
the student and EPA. The student gets to spend up to 6
months working full time at an EPA laboratory, regional
office, or in a headquarters program while the EPA
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Sponsor gets the benefit of the student's skill and eagerness
for a nominal investment on the average of $12,000
extramural dollars per trainee-ship. The Cooperative
Agreement is managed by Linda Smith (Project Officer)
and Renee Coins (Program Coordinator) of the Office of
Environmental Justice. For more information, call 202-
564-2515 or 1-800-962-6215. Students must be registered
at a university to participate.
COMMUNITY GRANTS. Two grant programs assist
communities and tribal governments in addressing local
environmental concerns. The EJ Small Grants Program
was established in 1993 to assist community-
based/grassroots organizations and tribal governments
working on local solutions to local environmental
problems. In FY94, the Office took$500,000from its then
quite small budget and started the Small Grants program.
In Fiscal Years 1995, 1996 and 1997 the program was
supported by additional funding additions and was
increased to $3 million with individual awards of up to
$20,000 each. More than 500 grants have been awarded to
date. Since many communities did not have the expertise to
address some of the more technical problems in their
neighborhoods, the Program was expanded in 1995 to
include a Community-University Partnership component.
This Program is designed to help community groups
address local environmental justice issues through active
partnerships with institutions of higher education,
including community colleges. The uniqueness of this
program is the requirement that the University/Community
College must have a formal partnership with one or more
local communities in order to qualify for an award of up to
$300,000. To date 27 awards have been made.
Philadelphia, PA 19107
Phone: 215/566-2988
Fax: 215/566-2901
Region 4 (AL, FL, GA, KY, MS, NC, SC,TN)
Connie Raines
61 Forsyth Street
Atlanta, GA 30303
Phone: 404/562-9671
Fax: 404/562-9664
Region 5 (IL, IN, MI, MN, OH, WI)
Karla Johnson
77 West Jackson Blvd. (MC T-175)
Chicago, IL 60604-3507
Phone: 312/886-5993
Fax: 312/886-2737
Region 6 (AR, LA, NM, OK, TX)
Shirley Augurson
1445 Ross Ave, Suite 1200
Dallas, TX 75202-2733
Phone: 214/665-7401
Fax: 214/665-2118
Region 7 (IA, KS, MO, NB)
Althea Moses
726 Minnesota Ave
Kansas City, KS 66101
Phone: 913/551-7649 or 1-800-223-0425
Fax: 913/551-7976
REGIONAL COORDINATORS
Region 1 (ME, VT, NH, MA, CN, RI)
Jerry Ellis
One Congress Street
Boston, MA 02203
Phone: 617/565-9454
Fax: 617/565-3415
Region 2 (NY, NJ, PR, VI)
290 Broadway, 26th Floor
New York, NY 10007
Melva Hay den
Phone: 212/637-5027
Fax: 212/637-5024
Region 3 (MD, DE, WV, VA, PA, DC)
Reginald Harris
841 Chestnut Building
Region 8 (CO, MT, ND, SD, UT, WY)
Elisabeth Evans
999 18th Street, Suite 500
Denver, CO 80202-2405
Phone: 303/312-6053
Fax: 303/312-6558
Region 9 (CA, AZ, HI, NV, GM, AS)
75 Hawthorne Street
San Francisco, CA 94105
Fax: 415/744-1605
EJ Information Line: 415/744-1565
Region 10 (AK, ID, OR, WA)
Joyce Kelly
1200 Sixth Ave (MD-142)
Seattle, WA 98101
Phone: 206/553-4029
Fax: 206/553-6647
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