&EPA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Plan EJ 2014
Considering
Environmental Justice
in Permitting
Plan EJ 2014 is EPA's roadmap for
integrating environmental justice into
its programs and policies.
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CONSIDERING ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
IN PERMITTING
Implementation Plan
September 2011
Led by
Office of Air and Radiation, Office of General Counsel,
and Region 1
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
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&EPA
PLAN EJ 2014 AT A GLANCE
Plan EJ 2014 is the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)'s
roadmap to integrating environmental justice into its programs and policies.
The year marks the 20th anniversary of the signing of Executive Order
12898 on environmental justice. Plan EJ 2014 seeks to:
Protect the environment and health in overburdened communities.
- Empower communities to take action to improve their health and
environment.
Establish partnerships with local, state, tribal, and federal
governments and organizations to achieve healthy and sustainable
communities.
As the EPA's overarching environmental justice strategy, Plan EJ 2014 has
three major sections: Cross-Agency Focus Areas, Tools Development
Areas, and Program Initiatives.
The Cross-Agency Focus Areas are:
Incorporating Environmental Justice into Rulemaking.
Considering Environmental Justice in Permitting.
Advancing Environmental Justice through Compliance and
Enforcement.
Supporting Community-Based Action Programs.
Fostering Administration-Wide Action on Environmental Justice.
The Tools Development Areas are:
Science.
Law.
Information.
Resources.
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&EPA
Table of Contents
1.0 INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 Goals 2
1.2 Organizational Structure 3
2.0 IMPLEMENTATION 4
2.1 Strategies 4
2.2 Activities 5
2.3 Community Engagement and Stakeholder Outreach 7
3.0 DELIVERABLES 8
4.0 REPORTING 9
Potential Tools 10
ACRONYMS 15
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Goals At-A-G lance
To enable overburdened
communities to have full
and meaningful access to
the permitting process
and to develop permits
that address
environmental justice
issues to the greatest
extent practicable under
existing environmental
laws.
1.0 INTRODUCTION
The intent of Plan EJ 2014: Considering Environmental Justice in
Permitting (Environmental Justice Permitting Initiative) is to ensure that
environmental justice concerns are given as full consideration as possible
in the decision to issue a permit and the terms of the permits issued
under existing federal environmental laws. It contemplates a focus on
both U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-issued permits, as well
as permits issued pursuant to existing federal environmental laws (i.e.,
federal, state, local, or tribal). The Environmental Justice Permitting
Initiative seeks to identify the best current opportunities for taking
environmental justice concerns into consideration and to enable EPA to
address the complex issue of cumulative impacts from exposure to
multiple sources and existing conditions that are critical to the effective
consideration of environmental justice in permitting.
The proposed activities outlined in this implementation plan rely heavily
on the advice and recommendations presented by the National
Environmental Justice Advisory Council (NEJAC) from both their most
recent response to EPA's permitting charge and numerous relevant prior
NEJAC reports. EPA recognizes that there has been a considerable
amount of work - particularly on the NEJAC's part - advocating for earlier
and more effective public participation in the permitting process, but that
these practices have not been widely adopted. We also recognize that
although environmental justice can be incorporated into the permitting
process in a variety of ways, there are significant challenges - particularly
related to cumulative/multi-media impacts. We therefore seek to truly
create a culture within EPA - and among other federal, state, local, and
tribal permitting agencies - in which engaging on issues of environmental
justice more readily translates into greater protections for overburdened
communities.1
EPA's implementation plan merely describes our process for the
Environmental Justice Permitting Initiative, with a focus on activities for
2011 and early 2012. Our proposed deliverables for this time period are a
cohesive suite of tools for EPA-issued permits (for example, EPA guidance
on enhanced early public participation) along with a public database of
many other tools to serve as a resource for EPA, other federal agencies,
states, local government, tribal governments, facilities, non-profit
organizations, and communities. This larger database of tools will also
serve as a starting point for our 2012-2014 activities. We are defining
"tools" broadly to include not only guidance, but also best practices,
1 In Plan EJ 2014, EPA uses the term "overburdened" to describe the minority, low-income, tribal, and
indigenous populations or communities in the United States that potentially experience
disproportionate environmental harms and risks as a result of greater vulnerability to environmental
hazards. This increased vulnerability may be attributable to an accumulation of both negative and
lack of positive environmental, health, economic, or social conditions within these populations or
communities.
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templates, reports, checklists, case studies, mapping and screening tools,
protocols, trainings, sample language, and other resources.
Appendix A of this document contains our initial draft list of potential
tools, but the list is neither prescriptive nor exhaustive. Over the next
few years, we may decide not to develop some of these potential tools;
similarly, we may decide to add new potential tools to the list as we
continue to gather ideas and suggestions. Throughout the process,
however, we will be listening to the ideas and experiences of all
interested stakeholders, in order to leverage the successes and seize on
the good work that is already occurring on this topic.
1.1 Goals
The overarching goals of this Plan are to enable overburdened
communities to have full and meaningful access to the permitting process
and to develop permits that address environmental justice issues to the
greatest extent practicable.
To achieve our goals, the Environmental Justice Permitting Initiative will
"[i]dentify and develop tools to support the consideration of
environmental justice during implementation of permitting programs" to
reduce "exposures for those at the greatest risk," as stated in the Fiscal
Year (FY) 2011-2015 EPA Strategic Plan, Cross-Cutting Fundamental
Strategy: Working for Environmental Justice and Children's Health
(Strategic Plan).2
Our goals help to fulfill:
• Executive Order 12898, "Federal Actions to Address Environmental
Justice In Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations," which
tasks each federal agency with "achieving environmental justice as
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 population."3
• The Administrator's priority of Expanding the Conversation on
Environmentalism and Working for Environmental Justice, which
heralds "a new era of outreach and protection for communities
historically underrepresented in EPA decision-making" and calls for
"including] environmental justice principles in all of our decisions."4
• EPA's mission to protect human health and the environment.
2 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, FY2011-2015 EPA Strategic Plan: Achieving Our Vision,
September 30, 2010. Available at: http://www.epa.gov/planandbudget/strategicplan.html.
3 Clinton, William J., Executive Order 12898, "Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in
Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations," February 11, 1994, Federal Register 59, No. 32:
7629.
4 Jackson, Lisa P., "Seven Priorities for EPA's Future." January 12, 2010. Available at:
http://blog.epa.gov/administrator/2010/01/12/seven-priorities-for-epas-future/.
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1.2 Organizational Structure
The success of this Environmental Justice Permitting Initiative will depend
on participation from many offices within EPA, both at Headquarters and
the regions, as well as numerous external stakeholders (see Section 2.3,
Community Engagement and Stakeholder Outreach).
The Office of Air and Radiation has been designated the Headquarters
lead. The Office of General Counsel has agreed to act as co-lead. Region
1 is the Lead Region. Staff and managers from these three offices, with
guidance from the Office of Enforcement and Compliance
Assurance/Office of Environmental Justice, have formed a Steering
Committee to manage the Environmental Justice Permitting Initiative.
The Steering Committee is chaired by the Principal Deputy Assistant
Administrator, Office of Air and Radiation; the Associate General Counsel,
Cross-Cutting Issues Law Office, Office of General Counsel; and the
Deputy Regional Administrator, Region 1.
The Environmental Justice Permitting Initiative has a small group
composed of key senior EPA Headquarters and regional leaders (Senior
Leaders) to provide high level recommendations as well as a cross-Agency
workgroup of EPA Headquarters and regional staff to do the work. The
workgroup contains staff from every EPA region, as well as staff from the
Office of Air and Radiation, the Office of Enforcement and Compliance
Assurance, the Office of Environmental Information, the Office of General
Counsel, the Office of International and Tribal Affairs, the Office of
Research and Development, the Office of Solid Waste and Remediation,
and the Office of Water.
Staff support for the Environmental Justice Permitting Initiative is
provided the Office of Policy Analysis and Review, Office of Air and
Radiation.
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2.0 IMPLEMENTATION
Conducting Public Participation to Develop
Permitting Tools
The Environmental Justice and Permitting Initiative
Workgroup (Workgroup) is exploring ways to enable
overburdened communities to have full and meaningful
access to the permitting process and to ensure that the
Agency develops permits that address environmental
justice issues to the greatest extent practicable. As part
of this effort, the Workgroup is conducting extensive
public outreach to identify best practices and needed
tools, such as guidance, checklists, reports, case
studies, mapping tools, and trainings. In June 2011, the
Workgroup conducted listening sessions for a host of
stakeholder groups, including state and local
governments, business and industry, environmental
groups, tribes, and community groups. One listening
session was conducted entirely in Spanish.
The Workgroup repeatedly heard about the need for
early and meaningful public engagement. Its members
were impressed and inspired by the information they
received about Connecticut, Illinois, and Pennsylvania's
Enhanced/Environmental Justice Public Participation
Policies. The Workgroup is drafting guidance to enhance
the public participation process for EPA-issued
permits and strongly encourages facilities to host pre-
application meetings with local communities. The
Workgroup's hope is that this guidance will be used
across the EPA, as well as by other federal agencies
and states in their respective permit processes.
The strategies and activities outlined below describe the
charge to the Environmental Justice Permitting Workgroup
over the next several years. In the meantime, we strongly
encourage offices and individuals at EPA and external to
the Agency to continue their ongoing practice of furthering
integration of environmental justice into the permitting
process (e.g., regional review of state permits). Indeed, we
encourage offices and individuals to share new issues,
potential tools, and recommendations with the workgroup
and communicate lessons learned.
2.1 Strategies
Strategies to achieve the goals of this implementation plan
are specific to each goal:
Strategy 1: Develop tools that will enhance the ability of
overburdened communities to participate fully and
meaningfully in the permitting process.
These tools will focus on ensuring that overburdened
communities are fully informed about the potential
impacts of permitted activities and understand the
information they receive. In addition, we will explore ways
of promoting regular dialogue between overburdened
communities and the regulated facilities at all stages of the
permitting process, including early involvement, and after
a permit has been issued.
Strategy 2: Concurrently with Strategy 1, develop tools to assist
permitting authorities to meaningfully address environmental justice in
permitting decisions.
These tools will focus on how environmental justice can be incorporated
into the permitting process, including the range of potential permitting
measures that can be used to avoid or reduce potential environmental
justice effects.
Strategy 3: Implement these tools at EPA and work with others to do
the same.
We will first focus on implementing tools related to EPA-issued permits.
Thereafter, we will engage in supporting and encouraging other federal
agencies, as well as state, local, and tribal permitting authorities, to
develop environmental justice strategies for their environmental
permitting decisions.
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2.2 Activities
All of the activities below support our goal to develop and implement
tools to better enable overburdened communities to have full and
meaningful access to the permitting process and for permits to address
environmental justice issues to the greatest extent practicable. These
tools include guidance, best practices, templates, reports, checklists, case
studies, mapping and screening tools, protocols, trainings, and sample
language.
Activity 1: Conduct initial internal research to begin to create a
preliminary list of potential tools and finalize the implementation plan
(March-June 2011, Completed).
* Activity 1.1: Conduct an initial literature review - including a review
of previous NEJAC papers, publications, and other recommendations
- to identify an initial list of existing and needed tools (Completed,
see Appendix A).
• Activity 1.2: Convene a cross-Agency workgroup. The workgroup
met for the first time on March 7, 2011, and will carry out the
proposed activities in this implementation plan (Completed).
• Activity 1.3: Review and evaluate the permitting process for a
minimum of three federal permits with environmental justice
considerations, for use as case studies to identify existing and
needed tools5 (Completed). The workgroup reviewed the permitting
process for three federal permits and will continue to review other
permits to solicit lessons learned and guide our next steps.
• Activity 1.4: Coordinate overlapping strategies with other Plan EJ
2014 elements and consider integrating and leveraging activities
between them (Ongoing).
• Activity 1.5: Issue the final implementation plan (Completed).
Activity 2: Solicit initial existing and recommended tools from internal
and external stakeholders (March-June 2011).
Individual EPA programs and regions, as well as other federal agencies,
states, local agencies, and tribal governments, have already developed
and implemented numerous tools that consider environmental justice
issues during the permitting process. These entities as well as community
and advocacy groups, industry and trade organizations, and experts have
first-hand experience and knowledge about the relevant issues and ideas
for what tools are needed. Outreach to these experts provides the
workgroup an important opportunity to gather the tools and begin to
identify the most effective and replicable ones.
In addition to reviewing all of the comments submitted during the formal
public comment period (which ended Friday, April 29, 2011), the
The Strategic Plan charges the Environmental Justice and Permitting Initiative to "Convene a cross-
Agency workgroup on the consideration of environmental justice in federal EPA permits and review,
at a minimum, three federal permits with environmental justice considerations (by September
2011)."
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workgroup solicited additional comments via an external e-mail and an
internal EPA memo focused on collecting ideas for tools and informative
case studies. From these responses, we followed up with individuals and
organizations to get more detailed information and comments. We also
conducted targeted outreach to national umbrella groups via meetings,
conference calls, and direct emails; and hosted a series of public listening
sessions in June 2011. Finally, we set up a NEJAC Permitting Workgroup
that has already met three times to provide guidance throughout our
process; and we will continue to gather information from all stakeholders
and involve them in our work.
Activity 3: Create an initial list of priority tools and corresponding
deliverablesfor Year 1 (June 2011).
Activity 4: Develop, test, and finalize priority tools for EPA-issued
permits (June 2011 -April 2012).
* Activity 4.1: Develop priority tools, amend existing tools, and identify
those ready for potential immediate use at EPA (June-October 2011).
• Activity 4.2: Identify opportunities to test the draft tools through
ongoing permit activities (June-October 2011).
• Activity 4.3: Solicit comments both internally and externally on the
draft tools (October 2011-February 2012).
• Activity 4.4: Incorporate comments and finalize tools (April 2012).
Activity 5: Determine the bestformat(s) or vehicle(s) to convey and
implement the final tools (guidance, policy, rulemaking, etc.) (December
2 Oil/early 2 012).
Activity 6: Create a more detailed timeline for 2012-2014 deliverables
for the workgroup (early 2012).
Per Activity 5, we intend to finalize the first suite of tools by early 2012.
We will then focus on implementing these tools for EPA-issued permits
via trainings and other efforts to test, revise, and institutionalize their use
at EPA (while also looking for additional opportunities to develop more
tools). In 2012-2014, our anticipated activities may include:
• Implement first suite of tools via trainings at EPA.
• Implement "train-the-trainers" seminars to help train community
organizations and other interested entities on newly developed tools.
• Continually review the effectiveness of the tools and trainings,
update and revise existing tools, develop additional tools, and update
and revise trainings.
• Engage in supporting and encouraging other federal agencies as well
as state, local, and tribal permitting authorities to achieve
environmental justice goals for their permit decisions.
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2.3 Community Engagement and Stakeholder Outreach
The workgroup, with assistance from the Small Business Ombudsman and
the Office of Environmental Justice, has developed a plan for early and
continued stakeholder involvement. Our efforts will include public
comment periods, requests for information, meetings, conference calls,
and direct and targeted outreach to internal and external experts and
stakeholders to seek their early and continued input. Activity 2, above,
describes the workgroup's efforts to date, including public listening
sessions conducted in June 2011 and the formation of a NEJAC Permitting
Workgroup to provide guidance throughout our process.
Because of the states' unique and important role in permitting, EPA has
emphasized, and will continue to emphasize, early and ongoing outreach
to state environmental departments to collect their success stories and
lessons learned. EPA will work with them to identify potential
opportunities to test draft tools (see Activity 4.2) and specifically seek out
their comments and suggestions (see Activity 4.3).
EPA also welcomes comments and participation from all stakeholders
and has already reached out to these stakeholder groups as well as
others:
• Association of State and
Territorial Solid Waste
Management Officials
(ASTSWMO).
Interagency Working Group on
Environmental Justice.
Association of State & Interstate
Water Pollution Control
Administrators (ASIWPCA).
Business organizations and trade
associations.
Clean Air Act Advisory Committee
(CAAAC).
Community advocacy groups.
Environmental Council of the
States (ECOS).
Ground Water Protection Council
(GWPC).
National Association of Clean Air
Agencies (NACAA).
National Association for Clean
Water Agencies (NACWA).
National Tribal Operations
Committee (NTOC).
North American Hazardous
Materials Management
Association (NAHMMA).
Northeast Waste Management
Officials' Association (NEWMOA).
Other federal agencies and state,
local, and tribal permitting
agencies.
We will also reach out to these key stakeholder groups in the near future:
• Asian American Native American Pacific Islanders Servicing
Institutions (AANAPISIs).
• Hispanic Servicing Institutions (HSIs).
• Historical Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).
• Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs).
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3.0 DELIVERABLES
ACTIVITIES
Activity 1.1: Conduct an initial
literature review - including a
review of previous NEJAC
papers, publications, and other
recommendations - to identify
an initial list of existing and
needed tools.
Activity 1.2: Convene a cross-
Agency workgroup.
Activity 1.3: Review and
evaluate the permitting process
fora minimum, of three federal
permits with environmental
justice considerations, for use
as case studies to identify
existing and needed tools.
Activity 1.4: Coordinate
overlapping strategies with
other Plan EJ 2014 cross-
Agency elements and consider
integrating and leveraging
activities between them.
Activity 1.5: Issue the final
implementation plan.
Activity 2: Solicit existing and
recommended tools from
internal and external
stakeholders.
Activity 3: Create an initial list
of priority needed tools and
corresponding deliverables for
Year 1 .
Activity 4.1 : Develop priority
tools, amend existing
resources, and identify those
ready for potential immediate
use at EPA.
Activity 4.2: Identify
opportunities to test the draft
tools through ongoing permit
activities, and solicit comments
and recommendations.
DELIVERABLES MILESTONES
• See Appendix A.
• The workgroup met for
the first time on March 7,
2011, and will continue
to meet throughout the
duration of this project.
• Identification of a
minimum of three federal
permits with
environmental justice
considerations.
• List of existing and
needed tools from the
case studies.
• Regular meetings with
other cross-Agency
workgroups.
• Final implementation
plan.
• List of existing and
needed tools from
internal and external
stakeholders.
• Initial list of tools and
corresponding
deliverables for Year 1 .
• Initial suite of draft tools.
• Comments and
recommendations based
on our initial testing of
the draft tools.
• Completed
• Completed
• Completed
• Completed
• Ongoing
• Completed
• June 2011
• June 2011
• October
2011
• October
2011
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ACTIVITIES
Activity 4.3: Solicit additional
comments both internally and
externally.
DELIVERABLES MILESTONES
Additional comments.
February
2012
Activity 4.4: Incorporate
comments and finalize tools.
Revised tools.
April 2012
Activity 5: Determine the best
format(s) or vehicle(s) to
convey and implement the
recommendations and tools
(finalization, policy, rulemaking,
etc.).
Decision on how best to
convey and implement
the tools.
Early 2012
Activity 6: Create a more
detailed timeline for 2012-2014
deliverables for the workgroup.
More detailed timeline that
may include:
• Implement first suite of
tools via trainings at
EPA.
• Implement "train-the-
trainers" seminars to
help train community
organizations and other
interested entities on
newly developed tools.
• Continually review the
effectiveness of the tools
and trainings, update
and revised existing
tools, develop additional
tools, and update and
revise trainings.
• Engage in supporting
and encouraging other
federal agencies as well
as state, local and tribal
permitting authorities to
achieve environmental
justice goals for their
permit decisions.
2012
4.0 REPORTING
We will report annually on progress in implementing the strategies
outlined in this implementation plan and will update, as necessary, the
activities and deliverables outlined here. For information, please contact
Michelle Roos, 202-573-2549, Roos.Michelle@epa.gov
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Potential Tools
This implementation plan outlines a process by which the workgroup will
research, solicit ideas for, prioritize, and then develop a suite of tools to
better enable overburdened communities to have full and meaningful
access to the permitting process and for permits to address
environmental justice issues to the greatest extent practicable. For the
first year, our activities will focus on developing a cohesive suite of tools
most applicable to EPA-issued permits, and also collecting a larger set of
tools for a public database.
Our initial research, request for comments, meetings, conference calls,
and one-on-one conversations have revealed this list of potential tools for
EPA-issued permits, but the list is neither prescriptive nor exhaustive.
Over the next few years of the Environmental Justice and Permitting
Initiative, we may decide not to develop some of these potential tools;
similarly, we may decide to add new potential tools to the list as we
continue to gather ideas and suggestions. Below is merely a draft list in
the early stages of our multi-year process. Please note that some of the
proposed tools might be applicable only to specific permit types (e.g.,
Prevention of Significant Deterioration [PSD], National Pollutant
Discharge Elimination System [NPDES], Resource Recovery and
Conservation Act [RCRA], etc.):
Public Involvement/Communication
• Environmental Justice and Permitting Enhanced Public Participation
Guidance (potentially with a strong recommendation for pre-
application public meetings).
• Environmental Justice and Permitting Public Participation Fact Sheet
and Website in support of the above-mentioned guidance.
• Environmental Justice and Permitting Public Participation Outreach
Template and Checklist in support of the above-mentioned guidance.
• Updated and condensed guidance, best practices, and checklists for
effective means of conducting public outreach and notification,
potentially including:
o Public notifications outside of newspapers (multi-media press
releases and advertisements, use of internet and SMS, but
not exclusive reliance on such technologies).
o Documents written in plain language.
o Translations of documents in appropriate languages.
o Direct and targeted outreach to community organizations and
institutions.
o Making documents physically accessible and free to
communities.
o Proving per diem or other financial resources for community
members to attend meetings.
o Scheduling meetings during non-working hours.
o Providing third party attorneys and scientists as resources for
communities.
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o Periodic engagement and notification throughout the
permitting process, including when there are changes to the
scope of the permit application or when environmental
studies are taking place.
o Model processes to improve information flow between the
facility, community, and permitting authority.
• Web-based, searchable, updated contact lists, by EPA region, of
community organizations and tribal government and indigenous6
organizations to facilitate outreach.
• Guidance on developing long-term communication protocols with
specific overburdened communities that reflect the communities'
preferences for how to receive information and provide feedback into
permitting decisions.
• Decision tools to assist all parties in understanding the nature of
disproportionate impacts and mitigating effects of permitting
measures.
• The development of an Environmental Justice Permit Social Network
site (a one-stop shop/central point of communication run by a permit
writer to gather all relevant background materials and better
communicate with stakeholders - via postings and Really Simple
Syndication [RSS] feeds).
• Permit process descriptions of when, where, and how the public can
get involved.
• Guidance on translation issues.
• Guidance for facilities on creating a real dialogue with communities
early on in the process (potentially including identifying ways to talk
outside of permit actions, avoiding an adversarial relationship, and
suggestions for community benefit projects).
• Guidance on how to communicate cumulative impacts and/or risk
assessments to the community.
• Guidance for EPA on providing quarterly or other regular updates to
communities and organizations on environmental justice issues,
responses and actions taken, and trends.
Permit Process
• Permit Checklist (possibly in different languages and in plain
language).
• Permit Process Flowchart (possibly including staff contact information
per region and media office).
• Guidance including case studies on if/when, where and how to
conduct an environmental justice analysis or assessment and how to
integrate these into permit conditions, mitigation actions, and/or
clean-up activities outside of permitting.
• Guidance on how environmental justice analyses/assessments can be
integrated into other existing assessment requirements for
permitting.
6 When the term "indigenous" is used in this document, it refers to entities and individuals in the
United States only.
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• Guidance on using existing and proposed EPA screening tools
(including EJScreen, EJView, Community-Focused Exposure and Risk
Screening Tool [C-FERST], Census Tract Ranking Tool for
Environmental Justice [CenRANK], Environmental Justice Strategic
Enforcement Tool [EJSEAT], etc.) in the permitting process.
• Guidance, methodology and/or tools to conduct cumulative impacts
analysis.
• Guidance/protocols on integrated permitting approaches, including
the coordination of permitting actions, public comments periods,
public notices, meetings, and hearings per facility and/or community
between numerous permitting actions and/or across media.
• Guidance/tools to conduct exposure-based (health effects) modeling
and assessments, and how to integrate those results into permits.
• Best practices, guidance, and trainings on using a variety of existing
tools in new ways to better address environmental justice concerns
(best available control technology [BACT]; offsets; monitoring,
recordkeeping, and reporting; startups, shutdowns, and malfunctions
[SSMs]; lower potential to emit; AP-42 emissions factors,7 and Clean
Air Act Title V operating permit approvals).
• Guidance based on lessons learned from watershed analysis
processes (total burden analysis, cross-media effects, etc.).
Permit Conditions - How to Integrate Environmental Justice
into Actual Permit Conditions
• Best practices, guidance, and trainings on developing permits to
include issues important to local communities
• Resources to facilitate and/or fund the placement of more fenceline
and community-based monitors in overburdened communities.
• Best practices, guidance, trainings, and protocols on developing
permit conditions to better address and protect indigenous peoples'
cultural and subsistence resources.
• Guidance on how to conduct traditional knowledge information
gathering and how to integrate that into permit conditions.
• Protocols for factoring environmental justice into permit conditions,
regardless of the level of public participation.
• Best practices, guidance, and trainings on minimizing issuance of
emergency permits.
Interagency and Government-to-Government Guidance and
Protocols
• Guidance, protocols, and trainings for utilizing the role of the
Interagency Working Group for Environmental Justice to work across
federal agencies on permits on tribal lands.
• Guidance on how to integrate government-to-government
consultation and environmental justice executive orders and
expectations into permitting processes.
7 An emissions factor is the formula EPA uses to calculate the emissions from key source categories.
AP-42 is the document EPA compiles the factors into. It is used by industry and states to develop
emissions inventories and project emissions from sources, usually in the permitting process to set
emissions limits.
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• Guidance on developing partnerships with states that support more
direct collaboration with communities in the permitting process.
• Guidance on assisting other federal agencies to integrate
environmental justice into their environmental permitting decisions.
• Guidance on how to conduct joint processing agreements across
permitting authorities (including joint comment periods and hearings
to be held, and final permits to be issued on a cooperative basis).
Education/Training
• Expansion of EPA environmental justice trainings, including:
o Environmental Justice Fundamentals.
o Environmental justice and permitting (for all media).
o Online trainings.
• Community-based trainings, resources, and websites, including:
o Permitting processes (for all media).
o Preparing public comments.
o Environmental justice assessment or screening tools.
o Leadership development.
o Job skills relevant to local industry and facility needs.
o Advanced legal training on major statues.
• A network of EPA experts accessible to the public, hotline of experts,
and/or on-line question-and-answer (Q&A) portal on issues of
importance to environmental justice and permitting.
• Technical assistance resources.
• A collective learning forum and regular national conference call(s) for
EPA staff and managers responding to specific permit challenges.
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"Outside" of Traditional Permitting
• Guidance and trainings on using resources and programs outside of
permitting including:
o Helping communities develop and adopt community-specific,
comprehensive environmental justice plans.
o Community Action for a Renewed Environment (CARE).
o Encouraging the creation of Supplemental Environmental
Project (SEP)-like mitigation projects (diesel retrofits, off-site
street sweeping, tree planting, landscaping, public
playgrounds and green spaces, etc.).
o Good Neighbor/Environmental Benefit Agreements.
o Performance Partnership Agreements.
o Memoranda of Agreement/Understanding involving EPA,
communities, facilities; and state, local, or tribal
governments.
o Increasing and maintaining active listening, engagement, and
follow-up with communities outside of permitting actions.
o Creating plain language summaries of proposed or existing
permit-related regulations that have a greater impact on
overburdened communities, and/or a plain language guide
for rulemaking with the purpose of educating citizens on how
to influence the rulemaking process in a meaningful way.
Cross-Cutting/Other
• Environmental justice and permitting e-Library (i.e., an
online/searchable database of tools organized by key features to
serve as a resource to permit writers and the public looking for tools
and ideas that have been used successfully and could be replicated).
• Guidance, trainings, and other resources on making better use of
other EPA roles, such as oversight, in which EPA affects how other
permitting authorities implement federal permitting requirements.
• General and comprehensive guidance on how to incorporate
environmental justice into all aspects of permitting.
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ACRONYMS
AANAPISIs Asian American Native American Pacific Islanders
Servicing Institutions
ASTSWMO Association of State and Territorial Solid Waste
Management Officials
ASIWPCA Association of State & Interstate Water Pollution Control
Administrators
BAG" Best Available Control Technology
C-FERST Community-Focused Exposure and Risk Screening Tool
CARE Community Action for a Renewed Environment
CAAAC Clean Air Act Advisory Committee
CenRANK Census Tract Ranking Tool for Environmental Justice
ECOS Environmental Council of the States
EJSEAT Environmental Justice Strategic Enforcement Tool
EPA U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
FY Fiscal Year
GWPC Ground Water Protection Council
HSIs Hispanic Servicing Institutions
HBCUs Historical Black Colleges and Universities
NACAA National Association of Clean Air Agencies, comprised of
the State and Territorial Air Pollution Program
Administrators and the Association of Local Air Pollution
Control Officials
NACWA National Association for Clean Water Agencies
NAHMMA North American Hazardous Materials Management
Association
NEWMOA Northeast Waste Management Officials' Association
NEJAC National Environmental Justice Advisory Council
NTOC National Tribal Operations Committee
Q&A Question-and-Answer
RSS Really Simple Syndication
SEP Supplemental Environmental Project
SSMs Startups, Shutdowns, and Malfunctions
TCUs Tribal Colleges and Universities
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For more information on Plan EJ 2014, visit the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of
Environmental Justice website at: http://www.epa.gov/environmentaljustice/plan-ej7
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