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EJ 2020 ACTION AGENDA
THE U.S. EPA'S ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE STRATEGIC PLAN FOR 2016 - 2020
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Clean water and clean air don't just happen, especially in low-income and minority
communities. These are essential resources that we have to invest in protecting
and that starts with communities, cities, states and tribes. This problem isn't
easy. We won't fix it overnight. It's only when we work together that we will be
able to deliver these basic rights to every American, no matter who they are,
where they live, or how much money they make. Everyone deserves to have
their health protected from environmental exposures.
- EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy
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CONTENTS EJ 2020
ACTION AGENDA
Administrator's Message /'/'
Executive Summary ///'
Chapter 1 Overview 7
2 Rulemaking 13
3 Permitting 16
4 Compliance and Enforcement 19
5 Science 23
6 States and Local Governments 27
7 Federal Agencies 32
8 Community-Based Work 38
9 Tribes and Indigenous Peoples 42
10 Significant National Environmental Justice Challenges 45
Appendix A Summary of Plan EJ 2014 Accomplishments 54
Appendix B Glossary 55
Appendix C Acronyms 56
Endnotes 58
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ii I EJ 2 0 2 0 ACTION AGENDA
ADMINISTRATOR'S MESSAGE
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's mission is to protect the environ- H
ment and the health of all people in every corner of our nation. But far too often
minority and low-income communities and indigenous peoples are most vulner-
able to environmental and public-health challenges. That is why we have worked
for more than two decades to ensure that overburdened communities receive the
same environmental protections as everyone else. And it is the reason I positioned
environmental justice at the core of the EPA's mission. f k
We have made tremendous progress during the past eight years. Through Plan EJ H
2014 we laid a foundation for integrating environmental justice into every EPA .
program, revitalized environmental justice across the federal family and expanded
on our rich history of working with communities.
To build on this momentum I am proud to release the EJ 2020 Action Agenda, the
EPA's strategic plan for advancing environmental justice for 2016 through 2020.
EJ 2020 will strengthen our relationships with key partners - from federal, state, |
tribal and local governments to community-based organizations and industry - to
promote the integration of environmental justice across our nation's larger environmental enterprise. We will expand our
work with diverse stakeholders in communities to make an even greater and lasting impact where our help is needed most.
And we will develop meaningful ways to measure our progress as we work to ensure that every person in every community
enjoys the benefits of living in a cleaner, healthier nation.
Our environmental-justice challenges are becoming increasingly more complex. And our capacity to confront these
challenges will depend on a coordinated, long-term effort with our partners and stakeholders nationwide. EJ 2020 provides
a roadmap for us to move forward together in a more productive and holistic way, listening to community leaders and
residents and better understanding the burdens they face so that we strategically focus our resources. That is how we will
truly make a difference in our nation's most overburdened communities.
The EJ 2020 plan is the result of incredible work by so many dedicated public servants at the EPA and discussions with
states, communities and other partners. It has been an honor to help lead this work during the past three-plus years. During
the next four years and beyond, a collective effort will be key to achieving success.
Thank you for joining us in this plan of action; I am confident that together we can address environmental injustice in our
nation while working to ensure cleaner air, water and land; better health; and an enhanced quality of life for families in
communities throughout America.
Gina McCarthy
EPA Administrator
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EJ 2 0 2 0 ACTION AGENDA I in
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
INTRODUCTION
The EJ 2020 Action Agenda (EJ 2020) is the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's
(EPA) strategic plan for advancing environmental justice for the years 2016-2020.
EJ 2020 will build on the foundation established by EPA's previous plan, Plan EJ
2014, as well as decades of significant environmental justice practice by the Agency,
communities and our partners.
GOALS
We will achieve EJ 2020's vision through three goals. Each goal, its priority areas,
along with examples of key actions, are outlined below.
GOAL I: DEEPEN ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE PRACTICE WITHIN EPA PROGRAMS TO
IMPROVE THE HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENT OF OVERDURDENED COMMUNITIES.
This goal will focus on four areas: (1) Rulemaking, (2) Permitting, (3) Compliance
and Enforcement, and (4) Science.
• Institutionalize environmental justice in rulemaking through imple-
mentation of guidance, training, monitoring, evaluation and community
involvement, including rigorous assessments of environmental justice
analyses in rules.
• Build on lessons learned in Plan EJ 2014 to establish a framework and tools
for considering environmental justice in EPA-issued permits, and design
and implement a process for "joint learning" with regulatory partners on
incorporating environmental justice into permitting.
• Direct more enforcement resources to address pollution and public health
burdens caused by violations of environmental laws in overburdened
communities, and increase compliance evaluations, enforcement actions
and settlements that benefit those communities. Over the next five years,
EPA will work with co-regulators to identify and undertake strategies in
at least 100 of the most overburdened communities where data indicate
that facilities present a high likelihood of serious non-compliance issues,
and address serious violations that are found.
• Routinely analyze, consider and address environmental justice issues in
all appropriate EPA rulemaking, permitting and enforcement actions.
• Routinely use best practices for meaningful community engagement.
• Implement the EJ Research Roadmap to develop tools that provide a
stronger scientific basis for action to address environmental justice and
cumulative impact issues, conduct research that informs cumulative risk
assessment, and develop innovative tools for monitoring and controlling
environmental contamination.
GOAL II: WORK WITH PARTNERS TO EXPAND OUR POSITIVE IMPACT WITHIN
OVERBURDENED COMMUNITIES.
This goal will focus on four areas: (1) States and Local Governments, (2) Federal
Agencies, (3) Community-Based Work, and (4) Tribes and Indigenous Peoples.
VISION
By 2020, we envision an EPA that
integrates environmental justice
into everything we do, cultivates
strong partnerships to improve
on-the-ground results, and charts
a path forward for achieving
better environmental outcomes
and reducing disparities in the
nation's most overburdened
communities. Achieving this vision
will help to make our vulnerable,
environmentally burdened, and
economically disadvantaged
communities healthier, cleaner
and more sustainable places in
which to live, work, play and learn.
PRIORITY AREAS
RULEMAKING
PERMITTING
COMPLIANCE AND
ENFORCEMENT
SCIENCE
STATES AND LOCAL
GOVERNMENTS
FEDERAL AGENCIES
COMMUNITY-BASED WORK
TRIBES AND INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
NATIONAL EJ CHALLENGES
• LEAD DISPARITIES
• DRINKING WATER
• AIR QUALITY
• HAZARDOUS WASTE SITES
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iv I EJ 2 0 2 0 ACTION AGENDA
• Work with states and local governments to develop and implement a phased approach to building on-the-
ground collaborations, identifying best practices, supporting peer-to-peer learning, and fostering cross-program
planning, and establish shared expectations through Performance Partnership Agreements and other planning
and accountability mechanisms.
• Advance environmental justice within federal agencies through the Interagency Working Group on Environ-
mental Justice, with emphasis on strengthening consideration of environmental justice in the National
Environmental Policy Act process and addressing impacts from commercial distribution of freight (goods
movement).
• Support communities' day-to-day needs through best practices for community-based work and seek oppor-
tunities to catalyze revitalization of overburdened communities through federal partnerships.
• Implement the EPA Policy on Environmental Justice for Working with Federally Recognized Tribes and Indig-
enous Peoples, work with tribal governments to build tribal capacity and promote tribal action on environ-
mental justice, and promote coordination with other tribes, as well as federal agencies and states, to address
environmental justice concerns in areas of interest to tribes and indigenous peoples.
GOAL III: DEMONSTRATE PROGRESS ON SIGNIFICANT NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE CHALLENGES.
This goal will focus on four areas: (1) Lead Disparities, (2) Drinking Water, (3) Air Quality, and (4) Hazardous Waste Sites.
• Work to eliminate disparities in childhood blood lead levels as an integral part of reducing lead exposure for
all people. EPA will convene partners to identify geographic areas with the greatest lead exposures, reduce
sources of lead contamination, and take national action to reduce lead in drinking water.
• Work to ensure all people served by community water systems have drinking water that meets applicable
health based standards. We will place special emphasis on addressing drinking water challenges in underserved
communities.
• Achieve air quality that meets the fine particle pollution national ambient air quality standards in all areas of
the country, with special emphasis on communities with poor air quality and low-income populations. Working
with our co-regulator states, we will achieve this as soon as practicable and no later than the statutory attain-
ment date.
• Reduce human exposure to contamination at hazardous waste sites, with emphasis on minority, low-income
and vulnerable communities.
EPA will: (1) employ a suite of programs, actions and measures in these areas; and (2) evaluate progress, enhance measures
as appropriate, and explore the development of a few additional national environmental justice measures and associated
strategies.
WHAT'S IN EPA'S EJ 2020 ACTION AGENDA
EJ 2020 is EPA's EJ plan of action that will involve every EPA office and region. EJ 2020 consists of eight priority areas and
four significant national environmental justice challenges; each of these has its own section in this document, laying out the
agency's objectives, the plan for achieving them, and how we will measure success. EPA expects to periodically review and,
as appropriate revise, the actions we undertake to meet these goals. Every national program and region has assumed the
responsibility of co-leading at least one of the plan's priority areas; leadership responsibilities are included in each section.
CONCLUSION
Over the next five years, EPA will advance environmental justice to a new level and make a more visible difference in the
environmental and public health outcomes for all people in the nation. Strengthening our collaborations with the commu-
nities we serve, our governmental partners and interested stakeholders will be key to achieving this vision.
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EJ 2020 ACTION AGENDA I 1
CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW
EJ 2020 will build on the foundation established by EPA's Plan
EI 2014,' the Agency's environmental justice strategic plan for
2010-2014, as well as decades of significant environmental
justice practice by the Agency communities and our partners.
Through Plan EJ 2014, EPA developed a comprehensive suite
of basic guidance and tools that integrate environmental justice
in EPA's programs and policies. Over the next five years, we
will make a bigger visible difference in overburdened commu-
nities2 by deepening environmental justice practice within
EPA's programs and expanding our partnerships outside of
the Agency. This chapter discusses our vision and goals for
EJ 2020 as well as several cross-cutting issues.
VISION
By 2020, we envision an EPA that integrates environmental
justice into everything we do, cultivates strong partnerships
to improve on-the-ground results, and charts a path forward
for achieving better environmental outcomes and reducing
disparities in the nation's most overburdened communi-
ties. Achieving this vision will help to make our vulnerable,
environmentally burdened, and economically disadvantaged
communities healthier, cleaner and more sustainable places
in which to live, work, play and learn.
GOALS
To achieve our vision for 2020, we will focus on a set of priori-
ties that the Agency has identified for high-level attention over
the next five years to strategically move EPA's environmental
justice practice to the next level. The work included here
builds on the progress made over the last eight years, focuses
on further implementing the advances already achieved, and
adds new commitments to move us much further toward
our goals in environmental justice. The EJ 2020 priorities are
structured around three goals:
EPA defines environmental justice 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. Our efforts
to achieve environmental justice are based upon Executive
Order 12898, Federal Actions to Address Environmental
Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Popula-
tions (59 FR 7629, February 16, 1994), environmental
and civil rights laws and their implementing regulations,
Agency environmental justice guidance and policies, and
Agency strategic plans.
As part of our efforts to achieve environmental justice,
Executive Order 12898 requires that these efforts apply
equally to Native American programs. EPA recognizes
the right of tribes as sovereign governments to self-
determination and acknowledges the federal government's
trust responsibility to tribes. EPA works with tribes on a
government-to-government basis to protect the land, air,
and water in Indian country. Furthermore, in focusing
attention on tribal and indigenous populations with respect
to EJ 2020, our goal will be to fully implement the EPA
Policy on Environmental Justice for Working with Feder-
ally Recognized Tribes and Indigenous Peoples, and will
be guided by the 1984 Indian Policy.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or Agency)
is committed to protecting the health and environment of
all people living in the United States. The EJ 2020 Action
Agenda (EJ 2020), EPA's strategic plan for advancing
environmental justice (EJ) for the years 2016-2020, plays
an integral part in fulfilling that mission by focusing our
attention on the environmental and public health issues and
challenges confronting the nation's minority, low-income,
tribal and indigenous populations.
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2 I EJ 2020 ACTION AGENDA
1. Deepen environmental justice practice within EPA
programs to improve the health and environment
of overburdened communities;
2. Work with partners to expand our positive impact
within overburdened communities; and
3. Demonstrate progress on significant national
environmental justice challenges.
EJ 2020 is structured around implementations plans for eight
priority areas along with our work to address four significant
national environmental justice challenges. Each of the eight
priority area implementation plans will be led by a national
program and regional office. Because environmental justice
is a cross-agency endeavor, responsibility for the success
of each priority area rests with all national programs and
regional offices.
GOAL I: DEEPEN ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE PRACTICE WITHIN
EPA PROGRAMS TO IMPROVE THE HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENT
OF OVERBURDENED COMMUNITIES.
*
Goal I builds on the foundation laid through Plan EJ 2014 and
deepens environmental justice practice within EPA's programs
and regions in the areas of rulemaking, permitting, compli-
ance and enforcement, and science. The following section
provides information on the co-leads, objectives, background
and strategies for each of these cross-agency areas.
RULEMAKING
Co-Leads: Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Preven-
tion (OCSPP), Office of Policy (OP) and Region 7
Objective: Ensure environmental justice is appropriately
analyzed, considered and addressed in EPA rules with poten-
tial environmental justice concerns, to the extent practicable
and supported by law.
Background: EPA will implement the Guidance on Consid-
ering Environmental Justice During the Development of a
Regulatory Action and Technical Guidance on Assessing for
Environmental Justice in Regulatory Analysis, two funda-
mental foundational documents developed over the past
several years. We will institutionalize the consideration of
environmental justice in rules.
Strategies:
• Implement rulemaking guidance and learn from
experience how to strengthen consideration of
environmental justice in rules;
• Conduct training and other activities to promote
information sharing and continuous learning
among EPA rule writers and analysts;
• Monitor implementation and evaluate progress,
including a rigorous assessment of EJ analyses
in rules every three years; and
• Strengthen outreach and meaningful community
involvement.
PERMITTING
Co-Leads: Office of Air and Radiation (OAR), Office of
General Counsel (OGC) and Region 2
Objective: Consider environmental justice concerns in all
appropriate EPA permitting activities, and collaborate with
state, tribal and local co-regulatory partners, communities
and permit applicants to identify and share tools, promising
practices, and approaches.
Background: Under Plan EJ 2014, the Agency developed
guidance on conducting enhanced outreach to communi-
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EJ 2020 ACTION AGENDA I 3
ties and each EPA region developed and is implementing a
Regional Implementation Plan for priority EPA-issue permits.
EPA also provided recommended practices for business and
industry on engaging neighboring communities to build
trust and promote better understanding. For 2020, EPA
will build on the lessons learned during the past eight years,
continuing to implement strategies to strengthen considera-
tion of environmental justice in permits, and adding work
with state, tribal and other regulatory partners to promote
these tools nationwide.
Strategies:
• Implement the outreach tools developed under
Plan EJ 2014, and establish a framework and
set of tools for strengthening consideration of
environmental justice concerns in EPA permit-
ting.
• Collaborate with state, tribal and local co-regulatory
partners, communities, and permit applicants
to share and promote use of tools, promising
practices and approaches.
COMPLIANCE AND ENFORCEMENT
Co -Leads: Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance
(OECA) and Region 8
Objective: Address pollution and public health burdens
caused by violations of environmental laws in the nations
most overburdened communities, strengthen the role of
environmental justice in EPA's compliance and enforcement
work, and enhance work with our regulatory partners in
overburdened communities.
Background: EPA will build upon the significant progress made
under Plan EJ 2014 to weave consideration of environmental
justice into the fabric of EPA's compliance and enforcement
program and will address pollution and public health burdens
caused by violations of environmental laws in the nations
most overburdened communities. We will do so by directing
more enforcement resources to the most overburdened
communities and strengthening the role of environmental
justice in EPA's compliance and enforcement work.
Strategies:
• Direct more EPA enforcement resources to the
most overburdened communities.
• Work with federal, state, tribal and local co-regula-
tory partners to pursue vigorous enforcement
for violations in overburdened communities
and leverage limited compliance resources
by improving joint planning and targeting of
enforcement activities.
• Strengthen communication so enforcement
cases can benefit from the knowledge of local
communities, and empower communities with
information about pollution and violations that
affect them.
• Increase the number of supplemental environ-
mental projects and mitigation projects affecting
overburdened communities.
SCIENCE
Co-Leads: Office of Research and Development (ORD) and
Region 1
Objective: Strengthen the scientific foundation for considering
environmental justice in decision-making through research
on decision support tools, adverse and cumulative impacts
and risks, innovative monitoring and solution technologies.
Background: EPAs efforts to strengthen the scientific founda-
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4 I EJ 2020 ACTION AGENDA
tion for considering environmental justice in decision-making
will draw heavily from EPA's Environmental Justice Research
Roadmap, the blueprint EPA is using to promote integra-
tion of EJ-related research across EPA's Office of Research
and Development and communicating current research and
strategic directions internally and externally.
Strategies:
• Promote the use of decision support tools for
identifying and prioritizing environmental
concerns, assessing cumulative impacts and
evaluating mitigation options.
• Increase understanding of the factors that
influence environmental health disparities and
develop methods and data to assess adverse and
cumulative risks.
• Develop innovative monitoring tools and techno-
logical solutions to environmental problems.
• Address special focus areas: (a) promote tribal
sustainability and well-being and (b) advance
efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change
in vulnerable communities.
GOAL II: WORK WITH PARTNERS TO EXPAND OUR POSITIVE IMPACT
WITHIN OVERBURDENED COMMUNITIES.
EPA will work with our partners at multiple levels to make
a bigger difference in overburdened communities. We will
do so by focusing on states and local governments, federal
agencies, community-based work, and tribes and indigenous
peoples. The following section provides information on the
co-leads, background, objectives and strategies associated
with each of these areas.
Objectives: Achieve significant environmental results and
meaningful public participation in the nations most overbur-
dened and vulnerable communities in partnership with state
and local co-regulators; and build the joint capacity of EPA,
state and local co-regulators to address environmental justice
concerns in our day-to-day program work.
Background: Expanding EPA's work with our state partners
and other co-regulators is an important area of additional
emphasis for EPA's environmental justice efforts and reflects
long-standing aspirations of environmental justice stakeholders.
It recognizes that many states have developed effective tools
to advance environmental justice and we can collectively
expand our positive impact in overburdened communities by
making our larger environmental enterprise more effective.
Strategies:
• Work with co-regulators to reduce adverse
impacts and promote meaningful involvement
in overburdened communities through our
regulatory work.
• Support peer-to-peer learning to identify best
practices on how to address environmental justice
concerns.
• Foster cross-program discussion, planning and
actions to build program capacity.
• Work with co-regulators to establish shared
program expectations and performance criteria
and hold ourselves accountable to drive improve-
ment where needed.
FEDERAL AGENCIES
Co-Leads: Office of Land and Emergency Management
(OLEM) and Region 4
STATES AND LOGAL GOVERNMENTS
Co-Leads: Office of Water (OW) and Region 5
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EJ 2020 ACTION AGENDA I 5
Objective: Strengthen collaboration and coordination on
environmental justice issues among all federal agencies to
amplify our collective impact in overburdened communities.
Background: We have learned from our concerted efforts to
make a difference in overburdened communities that environ-
mental justice requires not only reducing disproportionate
burdens but also creating opportunities to build healthy
wholesome, sustainable and resilient communities. EJ 2020
builds on the progress being made across the federal govern-
ment to strengthen engagement in communities to reduce
burdens and focus on strategies to share in the benefits of
a clean economy and promoting community revitalization.
Strategies:
• Address key environmental justice challenges in
collaboration with government partners through
the implementation of the Federal Interagency
Working Group on Environmental Justice (EJ
IWG) FY 2016-2018 Framework for Collabora-
tion.
• Seek opportunities to catalyze revitalization of
overburdened communities through federal
partnerships that connect protection of public
health and the environment with economic
development, land development, infrastructure
investment and resiliency planning.
• Foster the capacity of EPA and our sister federal
agencies to meaningfully address environmental
justice concerns through the use and continued
development of environmental justice tools,
resources, and ways to integrate environmental
justice into programs and policies of all agencies.
Co-Leads: Office of Land and Emergency Management
(OLEM), Region 3 and Region 10
Objective: Achieve meaningful and sustainable improvements
in overburdened areas through the strategic deployment of
Agency community-based and core programmatic resources
in a cross-agency manner that helps to build the capacity of
our community partners, and establishes community-based
work as a routine means of achieving our mission.
Background: EPA has a significant history of working
closely with communities, which has produced significant
and often powerful results. Through EJ 2020, EPA seeks to
apply the expertise and knowledge of all parts of the Agency
towards making a more tangible difference in overburdened
communities.
Strategies:
• Improve on-the-ground results by incorporating
environmental justice and community-based work
as a part of how EPA core regulatory programs
achieve our mission of protecting public health
and the environment.
• Expand the positive impact of EPA's efforts by
building stronger on-the-ground partnerships
with communities and involving government,
academia, business, philanthropy and other
sectors.
• Build the capacity of communities to take part in
critical environmental and public health issues
that impact them through the sharing of tools
and other resources.
TRIBES AND INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
Co-Leads: Office of International and Tribal Affairs (OITA)
and Region 6
Objective: Fulfill EPA's commitment, in partnership with
federally recognized tribal governments, to protect the
environment and health of federally recognized tribes and
indigenous peoples, and provide them access to the Agency's
decision-making processes, so that everyone has a safe and
healthy environment in which to live, learn, work and play.
Background: EPA seeks to maximize environmental and
public health protection in Indian country and for indig-
enous peoples throughout the United States. This work will
be guided by our full implementation of the EPA Policy on
Environmental Justice for Working with Federally Recognized
Tribes and Indigenous Peoples, and conducted in accordance
with the EPA Policy for the Administration of Environmental
Programs on Indian Reservations, the EPA Policy on Consul-
tation and Coordination with Indian Tribes, EPA Guidance
for Discussing Tribal Treaty Rights, E.0.12898, and relevant
statutes, regulations and other policies.
Strategies:
• Strengthen consideration of federally recognized
tribes' and indigenous peoples' issues, their
involvement in EPA's decision-making processes,
and responsiveness to their concerns when EPA
directly implements federal environmental
programs.
• Help federally recognized tribal governments
build capacity and promote tribal action on
environmental justice.
• Reduce disproportionate impacts, improve
COMMUNITY-BASED WORK
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EJ 2020 ACTION AGENDA
engagement, promote meaningful involvement,
and improve responsiveness to the environmental
justice concerns of indigenous peoples.
• Promote intergovernmental coordination and
collaboration to address EJ concerns in Indian
country and in areas of interest to tribes and
indigenous peoples throughout the United States.
GOAL III: DEMONSTRATE PROGRESS ON SIGNIFICANT NATIONAL
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE CHALLENGES.
Demonstrating progress on significant national environ-
mental justice challenges is the third major goal of EJ 2020.
EPA recognizes the need for a more systematic approach to
reducing environmental and health disparities for minority,
low-income and tribal populations and improve the air, water
and land in the nation's most overburdened communities.
Addressing complex and continuing national environmental
and health problems of concern to overburdened communi-
ties is a long-term endeavor that goes beyond EJ 2020. EPA
will take a two-phased approach. In the first phase, EPA will
employ a comprehensive suite of programs and actions and
work closely with our state, tribal and other co-regulatory
partners with authority and opportunity towards achieving
progress in the following four key areas.
• Lead: Work to eliminate disparities in child-
hood blood lead levels as an integral part of
reducing lead exposure for all people. EPA will
convene partners to identify geographic areas
with greatest lead exposures, reduce sources of
lead contamination, and take national action to
reduce lead in drinking water.
• Drinking Water: Work to ensure all people served
by community water systems have drinking water
that meets applicable health-based standards. In
working toward this goal, we will place special
emphasis on addressing drinking water challenges
in underserved communities.
• Air Quality: Achieve air quality that meets the
fine particle pollution national ambient air quality
standards in all areas of the country, with special
emphasis on communities with poor air quality
and low-income populations. Working with
our co-regulator states, we will achieve this as
soon as practicable and no later than the statu-
tory attainment date. Low-income populations
are among those most at-risk to adverse health
effects from exposure to fine particle pollution.
• Hazardous Waste Sites: Reduce human exposure
to contamination at hazardous waste sites, with
emphasis on minority, low-income and vulner-
able communities.
In the second phase, we will evaluate progress on achieving our
current goals, enhance measures as appropriate, and explore
potential development of additional national environmental
justice measures and associated strategies. We anticipate
focusing particular attention on issues of concern to overbur-
dened communities that
may warrant attention at the
national level. These issues
include pesticide impacts
on farmworkers, goods
movement (commercial
transportation of freight
and supporting infrastruc-
ture), water infrastructure,
air pollution and climate
change, among others.
EPA is already undertaking
significant ongoing work in
all of these areas. We also
anticipate working closely
with federal, state, tribal and
local government partners,
communities, and other
stakeholders through our
second phase efforts.
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EJ 2020 ACTION AGENDA I 7
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KEY RESULTS
Through EJ 2020, EPA will advance our environmental justice
efforts to a new level in improving the health and environment
of overburdened communities. By 2020, we will:
• Improve on-the-ground results for overburdened
communities through reduced impacts and
enhanced community benefits;
• Institutionalize
environmental justice
integration in EPA
decision-making;
• Build robust partnerships
with states, tribes and other
co-regulatory partners;
• Strengthen our ability
to take action on
environmental justice
and cumulative impacts;
and
• Better address complex
national environmental
justice issues.
Our vision of how EPA will make
a difference in the environmental
and public health landscape over
the next five years is detailed below.
Improve on-the-ground results
for overburdened communities
through reduced environmental
impacts and enhanced community
benefits. By 2020, EPA will make
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Facility is located at
Name
Pcore
a more visible difference in overburdened communities by
strengthening our work toward on-the-ground results. We
will make measurable progress on environmental outcomes
in four areas with significant environmental justice challenges
nationally. We will enhance the Agency's work in supporting
environmental and public health improvements in thousands
of communities throughout the United States by institution-
alizing environmental justice and community practice as a
routine part of our core programmatic and regulatory work.
For example, EPA will direct more
enforcement resources to address
pollution and health burdens caused
by violations of environmental laws.
Over the next five years, EPA will work
with co-regulators to identify and
undertake strategies in at least 100
of the most overburdened communi-
ties where data indicate that facilities
present a high likelihood of serious
non-compliance issues, and address
serious violations that are found.
We will work with our federal, state,
tribal and local government partners
to coordinate and expand the benefits
of the collective efforts of our nations
larger environmental enterprise.
Among these are partnerships with
federal agencies to support commu-
nities in achieving their own visions
Worn of community health, environmental
| quality and economic vitality.
Institutionalize environmental j ustice
" integration in EPA decision-making.
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8 I EJ 2020 ACTION AGENDA
By 2020, EPA will institutionalize a system for routinely
analyzing, considering and addressing environmental justice
issues in all appropriate EPA rulemaking, permitting and
enforcement actions. We will reinforce and refine integra-
tion of environmental justice in EPA's rulemaking actions
through implementation of guidance, meaningful community
involvement and continuous learning, including a rigorous
evaluation of EJ analyses for rulemaking efforts every three
years. EPA will systematically consider environmental justice
issues in all appropriate EPA-issued permits, accompanied by
enhanced outreach for priority permits and analyses of poten-
tial local impacts. EPA will continue to develop approaches
to focus compliance and enforcement resources to make a
bigger difference in the most overburdened communities.
Build robust partnerships with state, tribal and other
co-regulatory partners. By 2020, EPA will work with our state,
tribal and other co-regulatory partners to jointly implement
a set of best practices to improve the health and environment
of the nations most overburdened communities. Through
mutual learning, EPA will work with states to develop an
agreed-upon set of tools and approaches in EJ screening,
meaningful involvement, compliance and enforcement, permit-
ting, community revitalization and other areas that matter
to communities. We will work collaboratively to advance
effective tools and approaches already developed by states.3
EPA will work with our state partners to establish shared
expectations to implement effective tools and approaches, as
well as shared standards for holding ourselves accountable
to these expectations. EPA's work with our state partners
represents an extremely important next milestone for EPA's
environmental justice efforts and reflects recommendations
from EJ 2020's public comments and long-standing aspira-
tions of environmental justice stakeholders.
EPA similarly plans to work closely in partnership with tribes
to strengthen consideration of, and responsiveness to, the EJ
concerns of tribes and indigenous peoples. Consistent with
its 1984 Indian Policy, EPA works with federally recognized
tribes on a government-to-government basis, with the under-
standing that tribes are the primary authority and respon-
sible party for providing environmental and public health
protection on tribal lands. EPA will work with tribes to build
tribal capacity and promote tribal action on environmental
justice, and will promote coordination with other tribes, as
well as federal agencies and states to address EJ concerns in
areas of interest to tribes and indigenous peoples.
Strengthen our ability to take action on environmental
justice concerns and cumulative impacts. By 2020, EPA
will build a stronger scientific basis for action on environ-
mental justice concerns and cumulative impacts. We will
achieve this by developing and using assessment, screening
and decision tools that look at communities holistically, and
drive action when possible. These tools include: EJSCREEN,
Community-Focused Environmental Risk Screening Tool
(C-FERST)/'iyi.bal-Pocui>ed Environmental Risk and Sustain-
ability Tool (T-FERST), Next Generation Compliance4
advanced environmental monitoring tools, port emissions
characterization tools, Plealth Impact Assessment (PIIA) and
analytic methodologies for considering EJ during National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) reviews. In addition, EPA
research will contribute to the development of cumulative
risk assessment for regulatory decision-making. Through our
Environmental Justice Research Roadmap, we will help to lay
a foundation for better understanding the interrelationships
between social determinants of health, other non-chemical
stressors, and chemical agents. An important aspect of this
work includes integrating Traditional Ecological Knowledge
in environmental science, policy and decision-making.5
Better address complex national environmental justice issues.
By 2020, EPA will make measurable progress on significant
national environmental justice challenges. We will work to
eliminate lead disparities among children, ensure safe drinking
water for small and tribal communities, enhance protection
from fine particle air pollution for low-income populations,
and reduce human exposure to contaminants at hazardous
waste sites. Based on this work, we will chart a path forward
to achieving our long-term goal of better environmental
outcomes and measurable reduction of disparities in the
nation's most overburdened communities.
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EJ 2020 ACTION AGENDA I 9
CROSS CUTTING ISSUES
Several issues are critical to the implementation of all areas of EJ 2020 as well understanding the relationship of EJ 2020
to other work at the Agency. These cross-cutting issues include the relationship of EJ 2020 to Title VI of the Civil Rights
Act of 1964, EJSCREEN, climate change/climate justice and stakeholder engagement. These issues are discussed below.
RELATIONSHIP OF EJ 2020 TO TITLE VI OF THE
CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964
The Presidential Memorandum Accompanying Executive Order
12898 acknowledged that both environmental and civil rights
statutes provide many opportunities to address environmental
hazards in minority communities and low-income communities.
In the context of environmental
justice, EPA seeks the fair
treatment and meaningful
involvement of all people
with respect to the imple-
mentation of environmental
programs, regardless of their
race, income, or other factors;
the EJ 2020 Action Agenda is
designed to strengthen EPA's
EPA SEEKS THE FAIR TREATMENT AND MEANINGFUL
INVOLVEMENT OF ALL PEOPLE WITH RESPECT
TO THE IMPLEMENTATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL
PROGRAMS, REGARDLESS OF THEIR RACE,
INCOME, OR OTHER FACTORS
efforts to address challenges
faced by overburdened communities, in coordination with
local, state, tribal and federal partners. EPA is also responsible
for enforcing Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VI),
42 U.S.C. 2000d, which provides that no person in the United
States shall, on the ground of race, color, or national origin
(including limited proficiency in English), be excluded from
participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to
discrimination under any program or activity receiving
Federal financial assistance from EPA.
EPA's Office of Civil Rights (OCR) is specifically charged
with overseeing the implementation of its important
civil rights legal obligations, and has laid out its plan to
execute those responsibilities in OCRs External Compli-
ance and Complaints
Program Strategic Plan
for FY 2015-2020. This
plan promotes mission-
critical program account-
ability through measurable
goals that will: (1) ensure
prompt, effective, and
efficient complaint docket
management; (2) enhance
OCR's external compli-
ance program through proactive compliance reviews,
strategic policy development, and engagement of critical
EPA, federal and external partners and stakeholders (e.g.,
recipients and communities); and, (3) strengthen OCR's
workforce through strategic human capital planning,
organizational development and technology and training
to promote a high-performing organization.
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10 I EJ 2020 ACTION AGENDA
Where possible, EPA program offices and regions assist in, and
share approaches and tools for, addressing underlying issues of
concern in communities, thereby resolving many issues outside
of the civil rights enforcement process; this is an important
component of the Agency's efforts to make a prompt and visible
difference in communities. However, where potential Title VI
claims exist, EPA's Office of Civil Rights will promptly, effec-
tively and efficiently address those claims and will coordinate
with relevant programs and regions, including the Office of
Environmental Justice (OEJ), whenever appropriate. (See OCR
Interim Case Resolution Manual. Chapter I.)
The Agency-wide sharing of knowledge and experience in
identifying and responding to community concerns serves to
strengthen both EPA's civil rights and environmental justice
efforts. EPA is committed to ensuring that a comprehensive set
of tools are available to affected communities. Best practices and
lessons learned by the Office of Civil Rights and by the Agency's
environmental justice program can complement one another
and inform discussion of how programs and regions can better
address community issues. EPA will provide progress reports
on these collaborative efforts in EJ 2020's annual reports.
STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT
Vibrant stakeholder engagement and partnerships are the backbone
of EJ 2020 and essential to achieving meaningful outcomes
for overburdened communities. Through early, ongoing and
meaningful stakeholder engagement, EPA will catalyze a new
level of stakeholder dialogue and collaboration in the course of
implementing EJ 2020 and environmental justice practice within
our programs and regions. Examples of community engagement
in EJ 2020 include community involvement in EPA rulemaking
and permitting processes, community-based participatory
research and citizen science, and the development of outcome
measures that are meaningful to communities.
Through EJ 2020, EPA will offer a variety of opportunities for
stronger stakeholder engagement and collaboration. EPA will
continue to use partnership mechanisms, such as the Federal
Interagency Working Group on Environmental Justice, and
consult with the Environmental Council of States, the National
Tribal Operations Committee, the National Environmental
Justice Advisory Council and the Local Government Advisory
Committee, as well as with individual tribes and federal, state
and local government partners. EPA will periodically invite
partners and stakeholders - through meetings, roundtables and
focus groups - to provide input on EPA's priorities and discuss
how EPA is demonstrating progress. We will host webinars
on all of the EJ 2020 priority areas and national EJ challenges,
and maximize the use of the EPA EJ Listserv to share EJ 2020
FARM WORKER PROTECTION
Agricultural Worker Protection Regulation: Protecting our
nation's farmworkers from harmful pesticide exposures is
at the core of EPA's work to ensure environmental justice
for all Americans. Through the 2015 revisions to the
1992 agricultural worker protection regulation, EPA is
implementing stronger protections for the nation's two
million agricultural workers and their families working
on farms, forests, nurseries, and greenhouses which will
afford farmworkers protections that are already afforded
to workers in other industries. The 2015 revisions to the
regulation require that owners and employers on agricul-
tural establishments: provide protections to workers and
handlers from potential pesticide exposure; provide more
frequent and thorough training about pesticide safety; and
provide mitigation measures in case exposures may occur.
The Agency is creating training and compliance materials;
educating agricultural workers, pesticide handlers, and
agricultural employers about the revised regulations; and
partnering with organizations to better serve underserved
communities and populations at higher riskfor pesticides
exposures. EPA will tailor efforts to educate farmworkers,
agricultural employers, state regulators, health care
providers and communities about the health-related
dangers of working with and around pesticides, and how
the revised regulation can bring about needed protections.
Outreach on the regulation will bean ongoing, multi-year
effort focused on enhancing knowledge of the rule and its
impact with the regulated entities. EPA will target outreach
and communications to underserved communities that are
disproportionately burdened by the impacts of pesticides to
ensure agricultural workers and their families understand
the new protections provided them under the agricultural
worker protection regulation.
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EJ 2020 ACTION AGENDA I 11
related information, events and trainings. To increase
transparency and accountability with stakeholders, we will
report updates and program-specific actions through our
website, provide regular newsletters
discussing implementation, and issue
annual public progress reports that
demonstrate progress to communities
and collaborations with our partners.
EPA will address issues of specific
population groups as part of EJ 2020
efforts based on the programmatic
priorities of each program and region.
In this process, EPA will consider a
number of factors, such the severity
and nature of health consequences, the magnitude of the
estimated differences in impacts between population groups,
distributions of exposures or risk to relevant population
groups, and considerations that may make population groups
more vulnerable.
~SCREEN
The Agency's environmental justice mapping and screening
tool, ETSCREEN, will play an important role in the implemen-
tation of the EJ 2020 Action Agenda and, more broadly, in the
agency's overall environmental justice efforts. This publicly
available, web-based mapping tool provides an easy way to
look at a variety of environmental and demographic data, and
combines these factors into EJ indexes. EPA currently uses
EJSCREEN as a starting point for a variety of applications
including outreach and engagement, inspection targeting,
retrospective reports, and other aspects of agency programs
that affect communities with environmental justice concerns.
An important theme within EJ2020 calls for a focus on the
"most overburdened" communities. EPA will use EJSCREEN
as a starting point in identifying such places. In addition,
we will consider other information to
help ensure we focus attention on the
most overburdened areas, including
data that offers greater insight into
local impacts and experience, such
as regional experience, non-EPA data
sources, and local knowledge.
In order to be more transparent about
how we consider environmental justice
in our work, assist our stakeholders in
making informed decisions, and create
a common starting point for dialogue, EPA is specifically
focused on sharing information and training with:
• Governmental partners, in order to provide
federal, state, tribal, and local governments with
consistent tools and approaches for considering
environmental justice in their work;
• Affected communities, in order to provide
screening level information as a starting point
for further analysis and/or dialogue on potential
issues surrounding them; and the
• General public, in order to further a basic
understanding of environmental justice through
an easy-to-use way to visualize environmental
and demographic data.
EPA will work with partners and communities to develop
collaborative uses of the tool. In addition, we encourage
groups to explore their own unique ways to use EJSCREEN
and its data. EPA has made all of the underlying data avail-
able to the public in an effort to be transparent and
encourage innovation. We will work with partners on
a voluntary basis to explore and test new uses of the
tool. Finally, EPA commits to continued stakeholder
engagement, exploration and development of new
and better datasets in EJSCREEN to serve the needs
of all stakeholder, both urban and rural.
CLIMATE CHANGE/CLIMATE JUSTICE
EPA's extensive and ongoing efforts to address climate
change include an important focus on climate justice, the
intersection between climate change and environmental
justice. Climate change is an environmental justice issue
because low-income communities and communities
of color are likely to be disproportionately affected by,
and be less resilient in absorbing and adapting to, the
THROUGH EJ 2020,
EPA WILL OFFER A VARIETY OF
OPPORTUNITIES FOR STRONGER
STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT
AND COLLABORATION
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12 I EJ 2020 ACTION AGENDA
impacts of climate change. The final Clean
Power Plan (CPP) is designed to provide
broad benefits to communities across the
nation, as its purpose is to reduce C02,
one of the most significant drivers of
climate change.6 When implemented, the
CPP will reduce carbon pollution from
power plants while maintaining energy
reliability and affordability. The EPA
released a proximity analysis to identify
potentially impacted communities at
the time it issued the final Clean Power
Plan in 20157 In addition, the CPP has
provisions that, when they take effect,
will require the states to meaningfully
engage with communities as they are
developing their plans. EPA encourages
states to conduct an EJ analysis as part
of plan development, and has developed
information resources and tools that may be helpful to
states' efforts. The CPP also includes an optional program,
the Clean Energy Incentive Program (CEIP), that provides
a mechanism for states to encourage early implementation
of emission-reducing measures like energy efficiency in low
income communities. EPA is currently taking comment on
whether this program should include greater incentives for
other clean energy options such as solar projects in these
communities. Other EPA climate actions will also benefit
vulnerable communities. For example, the GHG and fuel
economy standards for medium and heavy-duty vehicles
recently finalized by EPA and the National Elighway Traffic
Safety Administration, which includes all types of trucks,
busses, and work vehicles such as garbage trucks, will substan-
tively reduce emissions from these vehicles, many of which
are driven on neighborhood streets.
In addition to reducing pollution and improving energy
efficiency, EJ 2020's climate justice work encompasses EPA
efforts on building sustainable and resilient communities,
conducting decision-relevant research to support communi-
ties, and sharing information, tools and technical assistance
through partnerships with federal, state, tribal and local
governments. A recent example of such information is the
series of fact sheets EPA posted based on the recently released
report from the U.S. Global Change Research Program, "The
Impacts of Climate Change on I Iuman Health in the United
States: A Scientific Assessment." These fact sheets focus on
climate impacts to eight populations disproportionately
affected by climate change: communities with environmental
justice concerns, indigenous peoples, children, pregnant
women, older adults, occupational groups, and people with
disabilities or with pre-existing medical conditions. The series
is available online in both English and Spanish languages.
EPAs climate justice work includes an emphasis on objectives
such as ensuring that underserved communities benefit from
energy efficiency and green infrastructure initiatives, training the
next generation of young climate justice leaders, and applying
EJSCREEN and other Agency efforts and tools that impact
communities, as well as other key climate justice areas. EPA
is anticipating and planning for future changes in climate to
ensure it continues to fulfill its mission of protecting human
health and the environment even as the climate changes. To
achieve this goal, the Agency developed our Climate Change
Adaptation Plan that provides a framework and commitments
to support the direction provided in the President's Climate
Action Plan, and Executive Order 13653, Preparing the
United States for the Impacts of Climate Change. As part of
this effort, EPA will help increase the resilience of the most
vulnerable people and places by improving their capacity to
predict, prepare for, and avoid adverse impacts from climate
change. Adapting to the changes that are already underway,
and preparing for future climate change, can help reduce
the risks these communities will face from climate change.
REPORTING
EPA will issue an annual report on our progress in imple-
menting EJ 2020. Annual progress reports will provide
information from each of the EJ 2020 priority areas, and
will be coordinated by the Office of Environmental Justice.
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EJ 2020 ACTION AGENDA I 13
CHAPTER 2: RULEMAKING
OBJECTIVE
ENSURE ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE IS APPROPRIATELY ANALYZED, CONSIDERED AND
ADDRESSED IN EPA RULES WITH POTENTIAL ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE CONCERNS, TO THE
EXTENT PRACTICABLE AND SUPPORTED BY RELEVANT INFORMATION AND LAW.
Further integrating environmental justice (EI) in EPA's core
rulemaking function is essential to ensure that all people
living in the United States, regardless of their race, color,
national origin or income, have access to clean water, clean
air and healthy communities. Rulemaking is an important
function used by the EPA to protect human health and the
environment for all communities. The EJ 2020 Rulemaking
Implementation Plan seeks to advance when and how EI is
considered in rules; ensure analysts and rule writers have
the appropriate training and tools to understand the role of
El in the development of rules; and monitor EPA's progress
in considering EI in rules.
The development and implementation of environmental
justice and rulemaking guidance is a central part of this plan.
The Guidance on Considering Environmental Tustice During
the Development of an Action (EI ADP Guide), which was
issued in May 2015, helps Agency rule writers determine
when EI should be considered during the development of
rules under the Action Development Process (ADP). For this
reason, the guidance is often referred to as the EI ADP Guide.
The Technical Guidance on Assessing for Environmental
lustice in Regulatory Analysis (EI Technical Guidance) is a
complement to the EI ADP Guide, and was issued in lune
2016. It provides guidance for analysts on how to conduct
an EI analysis for rules.
PROGRAM AND REGIONAL LEADS
Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP),
Office of Policy (OP), Region 7
STRATEGIES AND ACTIONS
This plan includes four strategies to improve the quality and
effectiveness of environmental justice analyses conducted to
inform and support consideration of environmental justice in
rulemaking. These strategies build on existing guidance and
introduce new activities to ensure environmental justice is
rigorously and consistently considered and analyzed, where
appropriate.
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14 I EJ 2020 ACTION AGENDA
STRATEGY 1: IMPLEMENT RULEMAKING GUIDANCE AND LEARN
FROM EXPERIENCE HOW TO STRENGTHEN CONSIDERATION OF
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE IN RULES.
Action 1.1: Implement the Technical Guidance for Assessing
Environmental Justice in Regulatory Analysis (EJ Technical
Guidance).
EPA finalized the EJ Technical Guidance in June 2016. It was
distributed widely across the Agency and made available for
use by analysts. EPA will support the continued use of the EJ
ADP Guide to EPA staff and managers participating in the
rulemaking process.
Action 1.2: Incorporate scientific advances into the EJ Technical
Guidance.
EPA will review and monitor the scientific literature for
advances that warrant inclusion in the EJ Technical Guidance
and provide updates as appropriate. As the science develops,
EPA will update the EJ Technical Guidance through technical
memoranda, modifications to particular sections, and/or
additions to the guidance, as appropriate.
Action 1.3: Update existing guidance documents through
lessons learned from the application of the EJ ADP Guide
and EJ Technical Guidance.
EPA will provide updates to the EJ ADP Guide and EJ Technical
Guidance based on information gained in training sessions,
feedback from EPA programs, input from communities, and
other communication channels. EPA will use information
gained from implementation of other strategies in this plan,
such as ways to improve meaningful community involvement
and periodic in-depth evaluation of EJ analysis in rules, to
determine when and how to update the guidance documents.
STRATEGY 2: IMPLEMENT TRAINING AND OTHER MECHANISMS
TO PROMOTE INFORMATION SHARING AND LEARNING AMONG EPA
RULE WRITERS AND ANALYSTS.
Action 2.1: Develop and conduct training on the EJ ADP Guide
and EJ Technical Guidance.
EPA will develop and deploy training materials and programs
for the EJ ADP Guide and the EJ Technical Guidance. EPA
will conduct briefings for managers and staff to highlight the
responsibilities and expectations discussed in the EJ ADP
Guide. EPA will also develop and provide training for the
EJ Technical Guidance, focusing on best practices, analytic
methods and data issues. These training activities will include
multiple approaches, such as train-the-trainer modules,
recorded webinars for managers and staff, and in-person
events, as well as public webinars.
Action 2.2: Share information and advance the state of
knowledge across EPA to promote rigor and consistency in
how environmental justice is considered in rules.
EPA will establish mechanisms to share information and
advance the state of knowledge across the Agency as rule
writers and analysts gain experience in considering and
conducting EJ analyses for rules. These mechanisms will
include establishing a "community of practice" for the EJ
Technical Guidance by creating a network of experts across
program offices. This network will serve as another resource
for EPA analysts to advance the tools, methods, guidance and
procedures that are used to ensure rigorous consideration of
environmental justice throughout the development of rules.
STRATEGY 3: MONITOR IMPLEMENTATION, EVALUATE PROGRESS,
AND STRENGTHEN PRACTICE ACROSS EPA.
In order to improve EPA's efforts regarding environmental
justice and rulemaking, EPA will monitor and periodically
evaluate when and how EJ analyses are conducted and use
the information gained to determine when and how to update
guidance documents and training activities.
Action 3.1: Evaluate EJ analysis plans for existing and prospec-
tive rules.
On an annual basis, EPA Assistant Administrators from
the Office of Air and Radiation, Office of Chemical Safety
and Pollution Prevention, Office of Land and Emergency
Management, Office of Water, Office of Policy, and the Office
of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance will conduct an
annual meeting to consider rules for priority agency atten-
tion from an EJ perspective. This meeting will be informed
by an annual staff workshop to assess progress, challenges,
and opportunities for the improvement of EJ analyses of
rules. The purpose of the annual workshop is to convene
EPA's community of practice for EJ rulemaking analysis to
conduct an examination of the opportunities, accomplish-
ments and challenges associated with analyzing and addressing
potential EJ concerns in rules. The workshop will focus on
recent or current rulemakings for which EJ analysis has been
completed or is actively underway and, where appropriate and
timely, upcoming rules for which EJ analysis is anticipated
and for which sufficient information is available to support
an informed discussion of the significant opportunities and
challenges.
Action 3.2: On a triennial basis, EPA will conductan assessment
of EJ analyses for EPA rules finalized during the preceding
three years.
On a triennial (i.e., once every three years) basis, EPA will
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EJ 2020 ACTION AGENDA I 15
conduct a rigorous assessment of EJ analyses developed for
finalized EPA rules during the preceding three years. This
assessment will involve a review of documentation in the
preamble and/or regulatory analysis for how potential EJ
concerns were identified and analyzed, assessing meaningful
community involvement activities. It will also identify data
gaps, methods development needs and other lessons learned.
STRATEGY 4: STRENGTHEN OUTREACH AND ENCOURAGE MEANINGFUL
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT.
Action 4,1: Develop and implement plans for achieving
meaningful community involvement.
EPA will incorporate an appropriate level of meaningful
community involvement in the development of rules with
potential environmental justice concerns. To accomplish this,
each EPA program office responsible for writing rules will
consider opportunities and develop strategies for achieving
involvement of potentially impacted minority populations,
low-income populations, and tribes and indigenous peoples
as part of the process of developing the rule. Each program
office responsible for writing rules will consider steps to
increase community involvement and understanding about
high priority rules that are expected to significantly affect
overburdened communities. These efforts will be augmented
by periodic sessions that provide basic information to the
public on the rulemaking process and relevant statutes. When
conducting outreach and meaningful community involve-
ment, EPA may use a variety of methods, including traditional
and non-traditional communication; Tribal Consultation.
social media, email blasts, and website content; community
town hall meetings; existing state and local partnerships; and
Federal Advisory Committee meetings.
Action 4.2: Update best practices for conducting
outreach and encouraging meaningful commu-
nity involvement in rulemaking.
EPA will compile best practices based on
lessons learned through outreach efforts over
the last five years, as well as collaboration
with states, tribes, and local communities
and organizations. This information will be
shared across EPA program offices to enhance
existing channels for soliciting comments and
feedback and to update the best practices as the
Agency develops new outreach practices (e.g.,
use of social media, other on-line information
sharing technology). Together, this will enable
the Agency to more effectively incorporate
information from communities about ways
that EPA can better share information with
communities about its rulemaking activities as
appropriate. EPA will monitor and evaluate implementation of
meaningful community involvement, including use of trien-
nial in-depth evaluations of EJ analysis In rules (Action 3.2).
MEASURES
EPA has established the following measures to identify
existing practices, aspire to new levels of effectiveness and
provide clear, ambitious goals for this implementation plan.
While EPA will monitor and evaluate progress on all aspects
of this implementation plan, the following specific measures
will enable EPA to evalu ate progress on key areas of the plan.
• By the end of 2017, establish a baseline of how
environmental justice has been analyzed in all
economically significant rules since Plan EJ 2014
was released.
• By the end of 2017, EPA will provide training
to EPA staff involved in the development of
environmental justice analysis for rules.
• On a triennial basis, EPA will conduct an assess-
ment ofEJ analyses for EPA rules finalized during
the preceding three years.
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16 I EJ 2020 ACTION AGENDA
CHAPTER 3: PERMITTING
OBJECTIVE
CONSIDER ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE CONCERNS IN ALL APPROPRIATE EPA PERMITTING
ACTIVITIES, AND COLLABORATE WITH STATE, TRIBES AND LOCAL CO-REGULATORY PARTNERS,
COMMUNITIES AND PERMIT APPLICANTS TO IDENTIFY AND SHARE TOOLS, BEST PRACTICES,
AND APPROACHES.
Environmental permitting presents an opportunity for
regulatory agencies to understand the environmental justice
(EJ) concerns in overburdened communities. Meaningful
engagement, including enhanced outreach and analysis, where
appropriate, can help inform whether such concerns can be
effectively addressed within the scope of the permit itself,
or warrant attention by another program or organization.
Under Plan EJ 2014, the Agency developed guidance on
when and how to conduct enhanced outreach to communi-
ties where permit or permit renewals were scheduled, and
each EPA Region developed and is implementing a Regional
Implementation Plan identifying where they will undertake
enhanced outreach. EPA also provided recommended
practices for business and industry on engaging neighboring
communities to build trust and promote better understanding.
The environmental justice in permitting area of EJ 2020 has
two basic objectives which build on the successes and lessons
learned during the implementation of Plan EJ 2014. The first
is that environmental justice is routinely considered in EPA
permitting in all appropriate circumstances. This means that
in initiating a permitting action, EPA permit writers will
consider whether there are environmental justice concerns
present in the community affected by the permit. Wherever
appropriate, EPA will conduct enhanced outreach to fully
understand those concerns and perform analyses of poten-
tial local impacts on overburdened communities. EPA will
establish appropriate permit terms and conditions to address
environmental justice concerns to the extent supported by
the relevant information and law. Where EPA is unable to
address community concerns in EPA permit terms and condi-
tions, EPA will identify other federal, state or local agencies,
or other entities who may be able to assist.
The second objective is to build, through engagement in
"mutual learning" with state and local co-regulators and
other stakeholders, a shared set of tools, best practices and
approaches for considering environmental justice concerns
in permitting. These tools, practices and approaches will
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EJ 2020 ACTION AGENDA I 17
help overburdened communities know how to advocate their
concerns and help permitting agencies consider and address
them in an appropriate manner.
PROGRAM AND REGIONAL LEADS
Office of Air and Radiation (OAR), Office of General Counsel
(OGC), Region 2
STRATEGIES AND ACTIONS
STRATEGY 1: IMPLEMENT THE OUTREACH TOOLS DEVELOPED
UNDER PLAN EJ 2014, AND ESTABLISH A FRAMEWORK AND SET OF
TOOLS FOR STRENGHTENING CONSIDERATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL
JUSTICE CONCERNS IN EPA PERMITTING.
Under Plan EJ 2014, EPA's previous EJ strategic plan, the Agency
developed guidance on when and how to conduct enhanced
outreach to communities in conjunction with EPA permits or
permit renewals. As a result, each EPA regional office devel-
oped and is implementing a Regional Implementation Plan
identifying how they will conduct this enhanced outreach. EPA
also provided promising practices for business and industry on
engaging neighboring communities to build trust and promote
better understanding. Under EJ 2020, EPA will establish a
framework and tools for permit writers on when and how to
consider and analyze environmental justice concerns in the
development of EPA-issued permits, and encourage the use of
permit terms and conditions to address concerns to the extent
supported by relevant law and information.
Action 1,1: Establish a framework and tools for considering
environmental justice concerns in permitting.
Under EJ 2020, EPA programs and regional offices will
work together to establish a framework and set of tools that
help EPA permit writers conduct screening and determine
when it may be appropriate to gather additional informa-
tion and perform analysis relevant to environmental justice
concerns as part of the permit development. These tools may
change over time and the appropriate level of analysis will
be determined based on site-specific issues. This informa-
tion and analysis will inform decisions about which issues
and concerns might be addressed through permit terms and
conditions under applicable authorities, and which issues or
concerns the permit cannot address but might be referred
to other programs, agencies or entities who may be able to
assist. In some appropriate circumstances where concerns
cannot be directly addressed through the permit, EPA may
help to facilitate voluntary agreements between those affected
communities and permittees and/or permit applicants.
Action 1.2:Train EPA permit writers on the use of the frame-
work and tools and leverage EPA's ongoing activities in other
regulatory areas.
Once the framework and tools are available, EPA programs
and regional offices will work together to develop a series of
trainings for EPA permit writers. This will include training
for EPA staff in headquarters and regions on:
• Best practices for community outreach and
engagement;
• Developing appropriate permit terms and condi-
tions, opportunities to leverage technology and
other potential sources of assistance;
• Techniques for gathering data such as community
demographics, environmental information, and
facility history that help permit writers more easily
describe or analyze potential local impacts on
communities and to inform and focus enhanced
outreach efforts; and
• Train the trainer strategies.
The availability of the trainings will be based on available
resources and an annual planning process among headquarters
and regional staff to identify opportunities and priorities.
One area of ongoing EPA activity with potential for lever-
aging is agency efforts to support innovative techniques,
such as Next Generation Compliance advanced monitoring,
reporting and transparency tools. These techniques may
increase transparency at a permitted facility and in the permit
itself. Another area ripe for leveraging is the relationships
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18 I EJ 2020 ACTION AGENDA
built among staff, programs, agencies and organizations,
while doing community outreach or other community-based
work and other related efforts. This network of contacts and
the information they have are invaluable resources that can
help permit writers to more fully understand community
perspectives and concerns. These and other resources from
other EPA efforts can help EPA permit writers, state permit-
ting authorities, permit applicants, and communities in the
permitting process.
STRATEGY 2: COLLABORATE WITH STATE, TRIBAL AND LOCAL
CO-REGULATORY PARTNERS, COMMUNITIES, AND PERMIT
APPLICANTS TO SHARE AND PROMOTE THE USE OF TOOLS, BEST
PRACTICES AND APPROACHES.
EPA will engage in discussions with our regulatory partners
and external stakeholders, including community representa-
tives and permit applicants about considering environmental
justice concerns in permitting. The Agency plans to develop a
series of information resources for co-regulators, communi-
ties and permit applicants. We will also continue to build on
products that were developed during the first phase of this
effort, including the previously published Promising Practices
for Permit Applicants Seeking EPA-Issued Permits-Ways to
Engage Neighboring Communities.
Action 2.1: Design and implement a process for"joint learning"
with regulatory partners on incorporating environmental
justice concerns and meaningful involvement with communi-
ties into the permitting process.
Through appreciative inquiry and adaptive management, EPA
will work together with state, tribal and local co-regulators
to design and implement a process for "joint learning"
about the incorporation of environmental justice concerns
into permitting. A joint learning process will facilitate the
sharing of information and best practices between EPA and
co-regulators for implementation of permitting programs.
This process of sharing and discovery, which will begin with
the Environmental Council of the States (ECOS), will inform
development of a set of shared tools and approaches available
for use by all environmental permitting agencies. These may
include examples of meaningful engagement opportunities
with the public, enhanced outreach techniques, methods of
analyzing environmental justice concerns, training materials,
and/or toolkits for permit writers, communities and permit
applicants.
Action 2.2: Develop tools that enable communities to partici-
pate more effectively in the permitting process.
EPA will expand the availability of information resources,
especially web-based information, to help communities
understand EPA permitting processes, and how they might
participate effectively in it. Over time this information may
grow to include best practices that permitting agencies,
permit applicants and communities might employ to ensure
meaningful communication and participation.
Action 2.3: Develop tools for permit applicants.
Building upon Promising Practices for Permit Applicants Seeking
EPA-Issued Permits- Ways to Engage Neighboring Communi-
ties, a product developed during the first phase of this effort,
EPA will engage with permit applicants to share information,
tools and approaches for conducting enhanced outreach in
communities with environmental justice concerns. Following
this engagement, the Agency will compile these tools and
approaches in an information resource of best practices for
permit applicants. This will also include promoting permit
applicants' participation in community training to help build
effective relationships and foster communication with the
surrounding communities.
MEASURES
The measures, along with other supporting information,
will illustrate the progress the EPA has made in integrating
environmental justice concerns into permitting, and building
capacity with communities, permit applicants and co-regulators.
• By 2020, EPA will consider, for all newly issued
EPA permits, whether there are environmental
justice concerns present.
• By 2020, for all EPA-issued permits where
environmental justice concerns are identified,
EPA will conduct meaningful engagement and
establish appropriate permit terms and condi-
tions to address environmental justice concerns
to the extent supported by the relevant infor-
mation and law, including the use of tools such
as monitoring and web-posting of data that
increase the availability of information to the
public. Additionally, where EPA is unable to
address identified EJ concerns in EPA permit
conditions, EPA will identify other federal, state
or local agencies or other entities who may be
able to assist.
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EJ 2020 ACTION AGENDA I 19
CHAPTER 4: COMPLIANCE 8 ENFORCEMENT
OBJECTIVE
ADDRESS POLLUTION AND PUBLIC HEALTH BURDENS CAUSED BY VIOLATIONS OF ENVIRON-
MENTAL LAWS IN THE NATION'S MOST OVERBURDENED COMMUNITIES, STRENGTHEN THE
ROLE OF ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE IN EPA'S COMPLIANCE AND ENFORCEMENT WORK, AND
ENHANCE WORK WITH OUR REGULATORY PARTNERS IN OVERBURDENED COMMUNITIES.
Over the next five years, EPA will address pollution and
public health burdens caused by violations of environmental
laws in the nations most overburdened communities. We
will do so by directing more enforcement resources to the
most overburdened communities and strengthening the role
of environmental justice in EPA's compliance and enforce-
ment work. These efforts will build upon the significant
progress made under Plan EJ 2014 to weave consideration
of environmental justice into the fabric of EPAs compliance
and enforcement program.
Because states, tribes and local governments play a vital role
in addressing violations that affect overburdened communi-
ties, EPA will also build environmental justice into our work
with these co-regulators. EPA will increase collaboration
with states, tribes, and local governmental partners to find
and support the wider adoption of promising practices for
addressing disparate impacts of illegal pollution on communi-
ties. EPA will also enhance communication and transparency
with affected communities and the public regarding compli-
ance and enforcement actions, so that community input can
inform our work, and communities can be empowered with
information about environmental and human health stressors
that affect them.
As EPA directs enforcement resources and increases collabo-
ration with states, tribes and local governments, we will be
mindful of the national environmental outcome measures
discussed in the Overview section of this Action Agenda.
Compliance and enforcement activities can contribute to
success in achieving the goals associated with these measures,
and in reducing environmental and health disparities between
populations with EJ concerns and the rest of the nation in
general. EPA will evaluate opportunities for compliance and
enforcement activities to contribute to achieving these goals
and focus its efforts, as appropriate.
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20 I EJ 2020 ACTION AGENDA
PROGRAM AND REGIONAL LEADS
Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA),
Region 8
STRATEGIES AND ACTIONS
STRATEGY 1: DIRECT MORE EPA ENFORCEMENT RESOURCES TO
THE MOST OVERBURDENED COMMUNITIES.
Over the last five years EPA's enforcement program has
significantly increased its focus on environmental justice,
including reviewing all new cases to determine whether
they affect overburdened communities and in structuring
the resolution of enforcement actions to benefit the affected
communities. For EJ 2020, EPA will ramp up its consideration
of environmental justice when selecting national enforcement
initiatives and the specific facilities and sites for compliance
monitoring, and in selecting, prioritizing and concluding
enforcement cases. EPA will increase its compliance monitoring
and enforcement activities in areas that are overburdened.
In particular, EPA will undertake the following specific activi-
ties to increase EPA's enforcement presence in, and response
to concerns of, overburdened communities:
Action 1,1; EPA will build upon existing tools (e.g., EJSCREEN)
and data to help EPA regional offices and co-regulators (states,
tribes and local governments) focus compliance reviews in
overburdened communities where there is a high likelihood
of facilities' non-compliance with environmental laws.
This Action will assist EPA and its co-regulators in implementing
Action 1.2 (below), by bringing together facility compliance
information and information on overburdened areas. More
specifically, the tools will merge EJSCREEN and enforcement
and compliance mapping data, as well as explore incorpora-
tion of other demographic, environmental burden, pollution
emission, and public health data. The information produced
by these efforts will serve as a starting point for identifying
overburdened communities where facilities present a high
likelihood of non-compliance with environmental laws. EPA
will use these tools, along with on-the ground knowledge
from other EPA programs, states, tribes, and community
members and groups, to help direct where we should focus
our compliance and enforcement efforts to make a difference
to overburdened communities. A few examples of additional
information that may be considered when available include
concerns made known to EPA by communities, any absence
of recent inspections, cumulative impacts/risk information,
and existence of vulnerable populations. We cannot predict in
advance where the most serious violations will be found, and
so we can't identify in advance the overburdened communi-
ties on which we will focus.
Action 1.2: EPA will increase compliance evaluations and
enforcement actions for serious violations affecting overbur-
dened communities. In particular, over the next five years,
EPA will work with co-regulators to identify and undertake
community-focused compliance reviews and enforcement
strategies in at least 100 of the most overburdened communities
where data indicate that facilities present a high likelihood of
serious non-compliance issues impacting those communities,
and address serious violations if found.
EPA will work to increase the number of compliance evalu-
ations undertaken in overburdened communities to identify
and address serious violations that are adversely affecting
these communities, and will help co-regulators to achieve
a similar goal. In particular, over the next five years, in at
least 100 of the most overburdened communities where data
indicate that facilities present a high likelihood of serious
non-compliance with environmental laws, EPA will develop
holistic, community-focused strategies to address any
serious violations that are found. The Agency will invite the
participation of state, tribal, local, or federal partners in the
development of strategies to increase compliance and reduce
burdens, which may include, as appropriate, approaches
such as multi-media enforcement efforts, Next Generation
Compliance strategies8, and coordinated action with our
partners. EPA will also engage with community stakeholders
as we implement Action 1.2, as appropriate.
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EJ 2020 ACTION AGENDA I 21
Action 1.3: EPA will achieve more settlements that benefit
overburdened communities impacted by pollution violations.
These benefits can be achieved through injunctive relief, mitiga-
tion and supplemental environmental projects (SEPs). Indeed,
EPA's recent update to its SEP policy and 2012 memorandum
on mitigation both recognize that when these types of projects
are feasible, they can play an important role in cases that
raise environmental justice concerns. Thus, EPA is setting
the goal of increasing the number of SEPs and mitigation
projects affecting overburdened communities. To achieve this
goal, EPA will, among other things, promote early considera-
tion of beneficial SEPs and mitigation projects, by assuring
that early enforcement case documents make defendants/
respondents aware that such projects can be an important
element of a settlement package. Importantly, EPA will share
EJ enforcement success stories and best practices across the
Agency, including examples of outreach to communities
regarding civil and criminal enforcement actions that benefit
overburdened communities.
STRATEGY 2: WORK WITH FEDERAL, STATE, TRIBAL AND LOCAL
CO-REGULATORY PARTNERS TO PURSUE VIGOROUS ENFORCE-
MENT FOR VIOLATIONS IN OVERBURDENED COMMUNITIES AND
LEVERAGE LIMITED COMPLIANCE RESOURCES BY IMPROVING
JOINT PLANNING AND TARGETING OF ENFORCEMENT ACTIVITIES.
The active participation by EPA's co-regulators - states, tribes
and local governments - is critical to the goal of advancing
environmental justice through compliance and enforcement.
States in particular conduct a significant portion of the
compliance and enforcement activities across the country, so
shared accountability toward protecting the most vulnerable
necessarily involves strengthening our joint commitment with
states. EPA will work with states, tribes and local governments
to strengthen the consideration of environmental justice in
compliance and enforcement programs by environmental
regulators at all levels. We also will work with our partner
agencies to identify the most effective solutions to viola-
tions that pose the greatest environmental and public health
concerns in overburdened communities.
Action 2.1: EPA will work with co-regulators to build an
environmental justice community of practice on enforcement
and compliance issues.
We will work with our co-regulators to share experiences and
learn from each other about incorporating environmental
justice into our respective enforcement and compliance efforts.
Among other things, EPA will: (a) solicit and share examples
of best state and federal practices, standard operating proce-
dures, trainings, tools, case studies, and policies and guidance
that advance environmental justice through enforcement and
compliance; and (b) facilitate joint learning by federal and
state, tribal and local enforcement staff on how and when
to consider overburdened communities when undertaking
enforcement activities.
Action 2.2: EPA regional offices will engage each year in
joint planning and targeting with the states in their region
to collaborate and leverage limited resources as we pursue
compliance and enforcement activities in the nation's most
overburdened areas.
Discussions will cover partnership opportunities regarding
existing compliance and enforcement strategies, the develop-
ment of new holistic community-focused strategies under
Action 1.2, and on-the-ground knowledge states have to
help focus enforcement efforts under Action 1.1. Discussions
will also include implementation of National Enforcement
Initiatives and will utilize, for example, EJSCREEN, tips
and complaints systems, and information learned through
community engagement.
Action 2.3: EPA will improve coordination with tribes to target
enforcement and compliance activities in Indian country.
EPA will use EPA Tribal Environmental Plans (ETEPs) to identify
and share tribal and EPA program priorities and roles and
responsibilities. In addition, EPA will work with the Regional
Tribal Operations Committees and use EJSCREEN, tips and
complaints systems, and information learned from community
engagement, among other things, when working with tribes.
STRATEGY 3: STRENGTHEN COMMUNICATION SO ENFORCEMENT
CASES CAN BENEFIT FROM THE KNOWLEDGE OF LOCAL COMMUNI-
TIES, AND EMPOWER COMMUNITIES WITH INFORMATION ABOUT
POLLUTION AND VIOLATIONS THAT AFFECT THEM.
Action 3.1: EPA will empower communities with information
about pollution and violations that affect them.
We will increase the number of EPA enforcement settle-
ments negotiated each year that incorporate environmental
monitors and/or transparency tools (e.g., web posting of data),
in accordance with EPA's 2015 policy on the use of Next
Generation Compliance Tools in Civil Enforcement Settle-
ments. with the goal of doubling the total annual national
number achieved in FY 2015 by the end of FY 2020. The
increased availability of compliance data through environ-
mental monitors and transparency tools will allow impacted
communities to play a role in assessing the compliance of
facilities under such settlements.
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22 I EJ 2020 ACTION AGENDA
Action 3.2: EPA will strengthen communication with commu-
nities (including members of the public with limited English
proficiency) on enforcement and compliance work that
affects them.
We will enhance efforts to share information and seek
input about EPA's enforcement and compliance program
and activities, as appropriate. For example, EPA will make
improvements to its Enforcement and Compliance History
Online (ECHO) data tool, which provides publically avail-
able compliance and enforcement information for regulated
facilities nationwide. Specifically, EPA will expand ECHO
to include: 1) more criminal enforcement data to increase
transparency and information to communities, and 2) an
EJSCREEN-based flag to assist ECHO users to search for
facilities located in potentially overburdened areas. EPA will
also make available materials to help communities better
understand EPA's enforcement process.
MEASURES
The following measures and associated targets will allow EPA
to track and report on progress to advance environmental
justice through the strategies and activities in this chapter.
• Percent of enforcement actions initiated by EPA
in overburdened communities.
• Number of compliance and enforcement strategies
focused in the most overburdened communities
(Action 1.2).
• Number of EPA enforcement settlements negoti-
ated each year that incorporate environmental
monitors and/or transparency tools (Action 3.1:
By the end of 2020, EPA will double the total
annual national number of settlements achieved
that incorporate environmental monitors and/
or transparency tools in FY 2015).
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EJ 2020 ACTION AGENDA I 23
STRENGTHEN THE SCIENTIFIC FOUNDATION FOR CONSIDERING ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE IN
DECISION MAKING THROUGH RESEARCH ON DECISION SUPPORT TOOLS, CUMULATIVE IMPACTS
AND RISKS, INNOVATIVE MONITORING AND SOLUTION TECHNOLOGIES.
Science plays a particularly important role in providing a stronger
scientific basis for action9 to protect the health and environ-
ment of minority, low-income, tribal and other populations
that may be especially vulnerable to environmental hazards.
At the federal and state level, high quality data, rigorous risk
assessments and state-of-the science analytical tools provide
a foundation for the legal, political, health and economic
decisions to protect public health and the environment in these
communities. At the local level, practical decision support
tools and environmental monitoring information, along with
appropriate technological solutions, are important for charac-
terizing, prioritizing and solving environmental problems.
Meaningful engagement of the public allows for public input
into the scientific process, provides opportunities for mutual
learning between scientists and members of the public, and
ensures that the research is relevant to local conditions. The
findings of scientific studies must be effectively communicated
so that decision makers and the public fully understand and
are able to utilize the new information, tools and technologies
that are developed through this research.
EPA will pursue four key strategies to meet our objective
of strengthening the scientific foundation for considering
environmental justice (EJ) in decision-making:
• Develop decision support tools for identifying and
prioritizing environmental concerns, assessing
adverse and cumulative impacts and evaluating
mitigation options;
• Increase understanding of the factors that
influence environmental health disparities, and
develop methods and data to assess adverse and
cumulative risks;
• Develop innovative monitoring tools and techno-
logical solutions to environmental problems;
• Special focus areas: (a) promote tribal sustain-
ability and well-being; and (b) advance efforts
to mitigate the effects of climate change in
vulnerable communities.
As recommended by the National Research Council,10 EPA
introduced a "fit for purpose"11 framework to enhance the
CHAPTER 5: SCIENCE
OBJECTIVE
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24 I EJ 2020 ACTION AGENDA
utility of risk assessments for decision making purposes. The
central principle of the framework is that the information
needs of the decision-maker and the type of decision to be
made should be carefully considered during the design of
the risk assessment. "Fit for purpose" can also be applied to
the EJ 2020 science plan research activities and the decisions
they support. It is particularly useful in highlighting impor-
tant distinctions between cumulative impact assessments (in
Strategy #1) and cumulative risk assessments (in Strategy #2).
These two types of assessments are generally used for different
purposes, depending upon factors such as the voluntary or
regulatory nature of the decision, the level of quantification
and quality of the data required, and whether the applica-
tion is at the local, state, tribal or federal level. Cumulative
impact assessments may involve the use of more qualitative or
semi-quantitative information, and may be particularly useful
to communities for identifying and prioritizing problems.
Conversely, cumulative risk assessments generally have more
rigorous requirements for data and reflect a greater scientific
understanding of environmental health disparities. Cumulative
risk assessments would be more suitable for setting standards
at the federal level. The "fit for purpose" framework can also
be applied to other EJ 2020 Science Plan activities, such as
decision support tools, innovative monitoring technologies,
and tribal and climate research.
The EJ 2020 Science Plan draws heavily from EPA's 2016 EJ
Research Roadmap (Roadmap). The Roadmap is designed to
promote integration of EJ-related research across EPA's Office
of Research and Development's (ORD) six National Research
Programs12 and to communicate EPA's current research and
strategic directions internally and externally with partners
and public stakeholders. Other research relevant to EJ is
found in EPA's Children's Environmental Health Roadmap
(e.g., unique life stage sensitivities, community outreach) and
the Global Climate Change Roadmap (e.g., effects of climate
change on vulnerable populations). Research supporting
the science strategies is conducted by Agency scientists and
by outside investigators supported through cooperative
agreements and grants. EPA supports EJ-related research
in partnership with other federal agencies, particularly the
National Institute of Health's National Institute on Minority
Health and Health Disparities.
PROGRAM AND REGIONAL LEADS
Office of Research and Development (ORD), Region 1
STRATEGIES AND ACTIONS
STRATEGY 1: PROMOTE THE USE OF DECISION SUPPORT TOOLS
FOR IDENTIFYING AND PRIORITIZING ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS,
ASSESSING ADVERSE AND CUMULATIVE IMPACTS AND EVALUATING
MITIGATION OPTIONS.
The complexity of the environmental problems faced by
communities with environmental justice concerns and
the frequent need for multi-sectorial solutions highlights
the importance of being able to collect information on
relevant chemical and nonchemical stressors, assess their
adverse and cumulative impacts, prioritize the concerns
for possible action, and identify appropriate mitigation
options. Research associated with this strategy includes
the development and application of decision support tools
and approaches that provide access to relevant community-
scale data and mapping or other visualization tools. This
area of research, which supports assessments of adverse
and cumulative impacts of multiple stressors, may be used
in problem formulation and scoping, for screening level
assessments, and to improve information access, evaluate
options, and inform decision-making at a local level. Some
of the research associated with Strategy 1, as well as with
Strategies 3 and 4 below, involves the development of tools
and technologies that promote public engagement in the
scientific process (citizen science).
Action 1.1: Develop decision support tools for characterizing,
prioritizing and evaluating options for solving environmental
problems.
By September 2020, EPA will support a variety of efforts, in
partnership with community partners, to further develop
decision support tools, build capacity and better understand the
adverse and cumulative impacts of chemical and nonchemical
stressors in communities. Research will focus on improving
the utility of existing tools for specific applications, such
as the Community-Focused Exposure and Risk Screening
Tool (C-FERST), the Community Cumulative Assessment
Tool (CCAT), EnviroAtlas. and Health Impact Assessments
(HIA). To the extent possible, EJSCREEN and other agency
mapping tools will be enhanced by incorporating additional
types of environmental and health data (e.g., pesticides,
drinking water quality, climate change). EPA will also promote
collaborations between agency programs and regions, as well
as with stakeholders, to facilitate the development and use
of EJSCREEN and other decision support tools. Emphasis
will be placed on community-engaged activities, such as
research conducted in support of the Agency's Making a
Visible Difference program, and studies funded through the
EPA-National Institutes of Health's Centers of Excellence on
Environmental Health Disparities.
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EJ 2020 ACTION AGENDA I 25
Action 1.2: Provide outreach and training on community-
based decision support tools.
By September 2020, EPA will provide internal and external
outreach and training, through webinars, workshops and
other activities, on community-based decision support tools
and approaches designed to characterize, prioritize and
identify possible solutions to environmental problems. This
will include outreach and training on the tools mentioned
in Action 1.1 (C-FERST, CCAT, EnviroAtlas, HIA), and
will involve opportunities for the active participation of the
community in selected community-based research efforts.
STRATEGY 2: INCREASE UNDERSTANDING OF THE FACTORS THAT
INFLUENCE ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH DISPARITIES AND DEVELOP
METHODS AND DATA TO ASSESS ADVERSE AND CUMULATIVE RISKS.
People in disadvantaged, underserved communities may
experience multiple chemical and non-chemical stressors
that, in combination, can have serious impacts on their health
and the quality of the environment in which they live. The
susceptibility of community members to the adverse health
effects of chemicals in the environment may be affected by
multiple chemical stressors.13 While considerable progress
has been made over the years in assessing the cumulative
risks associated with exposure to multiple chemicals, more
still needs to be done. Additionally, less is known about how
these chemical stressors interact with non-chemical stressors
to affect health outcomes. Characterizing these complex
interactions is a long-term and particularly challenging effort.
The knowledge gained can ultimately be used to identify the
most appropriate intervention strategies for preventing or
reducing health disparities.
Research associated with this strategy involves the develop-
ment of approaches and supporting data to assess cumulative
risks from chemical and non-chemical stressors. This includes
laboratory and community studies to evaluate the extent to
which biological, social, spatial and environmental factors
contribute to risks for various health outcomes (e.g., cardio-
vascular disease, asthma). More sophisticated cumulative
risk assessments in the future may use information obtained
from the study of epigenetics,14 which has the potential to
define susceptible populations through an understanding of
the relationship between genes, environmental exposures
and disease.
Action 2.1: Deliver and communicate reports and/or publica-
tions that provide a foundation for cumulative risk assessment.
By September 2020, EPA will deliver and communicate
a series of reports and/or publications that will improve
our understanding of the interrelationships between social
determinants of health, other non-chemical stressors, and
chemical agents, and how they may interact to impact human
health and well-being.
STRATEGY 3: DEVELOP INNOVATIVE MONITORING TOOLS AND
TECHNOLOGICAL SOLUTIONS TO ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS.
Rapid developments in the technology for monitoring pollut-
ants in air, water and other media are transforming the way
that environmental data are collected and measured. These
technologies have important implications for EJ-related decision
making at the federal, state and local levels. For example,
Next Generation Compliance uses new technologies to more
efficiently and effectively identify pollution problems before
they become violations. Considerable progress has been made
in air pollution monitoring in particular. New technologies
and sensors have the potential to supplement regulatory
monitoring, provide information on operating processes
to facility managers and inspectors, and enable community
engagement in the measurement of local pollution through
the use of affordable, easy-to-use analytical tools (citizen
science). In addition, EPA's National Advisory Council for
Environmental Policy and Technology (NACEPT) identi-
fied the development of affordable, cost-effective and easy
to implement technological solutions to EJ environmental
concerns in communities as another important area of need.
Action 3.1: Develop and evaluate innovative environmental
monitoring tools.
By September 2020, EPA will develop and evaluate the
performance of several types of innovative monitoring
tools to assist the Agency and communities in character-
izing exposure to contaminants in various media. Examples
include the development of new mobile systems to measure
emissions at industrial facilities, evaluation of low-cost air
pollution sensors, and the further development and installa-
tion of innovative community-based air quality monitoring
platforms (e.g., Village Green) to monitor air quality and
share data with the public.
Action 3.2: Develop and/or evaluate technologies to control
environmental contamination.
By September 2020, EPA will develop and/or evaluate several
technologies that target specific environmental problems in
communities with EJ concerns. Examples include the devel-
opment and evaluation of small water treatment systems,
particularly for communities in remote areas; community-
based participatory research on point-of-use water treatment
systems in colonias along the US-Mexico border; and the
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26 I EJ 2020 ACTION AGENDA
evaluation of green infrastructure approaches as a means for
preventing or reducing stormwater runoff that can overwhelm
the sewer system and contaminate local waterways.
STRATEGY 4: ADDRESS SPECIAL FOCUS AREAS: (A) PROMOTE
TRIBAL SUSTAINABILITY AND WELL-BEING AND (B) ADVANCE
EFFORTS TO MITIGATE THE EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE IN
VULNERABLE COMMUNITIES.
Promoting tribal sustainability and well-being. Many tribal
communities face a variety of environmental challenges that
have threatened their health and well-being. Tribes may be
disproportionately impacted by climate change, especially
when it disrupts the ability of surrounding ecosystems to
provide for food sources, cultural practices and unique
lifestyles. EPA research to help address these concerns and
promote tribal sustainability is focused in several areas: (1)
the use of traditional ecological knowledge for restoring
and maintaining tribal lands and waterways; (2) adaptation
by tribes to the impacts of climate change; (3) tribal health
issues, including indoor air quality, asthma and use of indoor
cookstoves; and (4) collaborative development of decision
support tools, such as Tribal-Focused Environmental Risk and
Sustainability Tool (T-FERST) and the Local Environmental
Observer (LEO) viewer technology.
Advancing efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change
in vulnerable communities. Climate change-related health
risks are expected to be disproportionately greater for many
communities with EJ concerns. These communities may have
limited resources to mitigate and adapt to the changes in
climate. Climate-related effects maybe exacerbated in some
communities by their proximity to flood zones. EPA research
is focusing on identifying interrelationships between social
determinants of health, other non-chemical stressors, and
chemical agents with respect to climate change-related impacts
for vulnerable populations. The Agency is developing climate
vulnerability and community resilience indices that may be
useful as metrics for identifying and mapping locations at
high risk from a wide range of stressors (e.g., sea level rise,
extreme weather conditions, heat stress, wildfires, and changes
in precipitation patterns leading to drought and/or flooding).
Action 4.1: Characterize cumulative impacts on health of
tribal communities.
By September 2020, in cooperation with tribes, EPA will
plan and conduct studies to characterize the cumulative
impacts of a range of chemical and non-chemical stressors,
integrating cultural and ecological factors, on the health of
several tribal communities.
Action 4.2: Develop tools, indicators and data on community
resilience and climate change impacts.
By September 2020, EPA will develop a suite of tools, indica-
tors and data to understand community resilience in facing
the impacts of climate change. These efforts will involve a
characterization of the interrelationships between social
determinants of health, other non-chemical stressors, and
chemical agents with respect to climate change impacts for
vulnerable communities, and to the extent possible, for groups
within these communities that may be disproportionately
impacted.
MEASURES
• By the end of 2020, EPA and EPA-funded grantees
will pilot the use of community-based research,
including the use of innovative decision support
tools, in 30 communities with environmental
justice concerns.
• By the end of 2020, EPA and EPA-funded grantees
will publish a series of reports and scientific
papers that significantly advance the scientific
foundation for cumulative risk assessments. This
work will support the incorporation of informa-
tion on chemical and nonchemical stressors into
selected Agency health assessments.
• Beginning in 2017 and continuing through 2020,
EPA will produce annual reports that describes
the progress of ongoing research and identifies
new research that will be conducted as part of
ORD's EJ Research Roadmap.
• Beginning in 2016 and continuing through 2020,
EPA will seek input from community representa-
tives and scientific experts on specific EJ science-
related activities, science priorities, and the EJ
research program overall.
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EJ 2020 ACTION AGENDA I 27
ACHIEVE SIGNIFICANT ENVIRONMENTAL RESULTS AND MEANINGFUL PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
IN THE NATION'S MOST OVERBURDENED AND VULNERABLE COMMUNITIES IN PARTNERSHIP
WITH STATE AND LOCAL CO-REGULATORS; AND BUILD THE JOINT CAPACITY OF EPA, STATE
AND LOCAL CO-REGULATORS TO ADDRESS ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE CONCERNS IN OUR
DAY-TO-DAY PROGRAM WORK.
CHAPTER 6: STATES 8 LOCAL GOVERNMENTS
OBJECTIVE
The objectives reflect the shared responsibilities of EPA, states
and local governments to gain significant environmental and
public health improvements in the places and communities
where these are needed most, and to meaningfully involve
people as we set priorities and make decisions. State and local
co-regulators carry out the majority of permitting and enforce-
ment actions under environmental laws, so strong collaboration
and coordination across all levels of government is essential
to build our collective capacity to meet these responsibilities.
EPA must also carry out its oversight responsibilities for
delegated and authorized federal environmental programs.
This will foster a level playing field nationally as we work
toward shared goals, and will reward advances in program
performance.
PROGRAM AND REGIONAL LEADS
Office of Water (OW), Region 5
FRAMEWORK
The strategies and actions below are based on three main
assumptions. First, we should focus on shared values rather
than terminology. Second, we should apply the principles
of joint governance that have been established through the
E-Enterprise initiative.15 Third, there are a range of possible
approaches available to EPA and they all have a place as we
work toward this plan's objectives over the next five years.
Shared Values
Environmental co-regulators share a broad consensus about
reflecting environmental justice (EJ) principles in our work,
despite differences in terminology when we describe them.
EPA calls these principles "fair treatment" and "meaningful
involvement." Many communities experience "dispropor-
tionately high and adverse human health or environmental
effects" and want more complete environmental information
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28 I EJ 2020 ACTION AGENDA
and better engagement in environmental decisions. Environ-
mental regulators at all levels of government respond to these
realities based on shared values. We set priorities that focus
on the most significant impacts, using a range of program
tools to address them, and undertake targeted and innovative
approaches to inform and engage the public.
Joint Governance
At the root of E-Enterprise is the need to improve environ-
mental results and enhance services to the regulated commu-
nity and the public by making government more efficient and
effective. Meeting these needs is essential to achieving this
plan's objectives, so we will emphasize joint governance in
our work with states consistent with E-Enterprise.
Phased Approach
The strategies in this plan are generally designed to make
progress in phases. The timing of phases varies, but generally
follows a common sequence:
• Assess needs and strengths. Through mutual
learning and collaborative partnerships, identify
best practices and where more capacity is needed
in order to adequately address environmental
justice concerns.
• Meet needs and build on strengths. Disseminate
best practices and further develop our program's
tools and approaches, as well as take independent
action to address environmental justice concerns
where needed.
• Establish expectations and accountability. Through
joint planning and other mechanisms, establish
a level playing field of expectations, roles, and
responsibilities for identifying and responding to
using a full range of program tools (including
enforcement and permitting);
• independent action when necessary to prevent
or address significant threats to public health
and the environment; and
• focused oversight of delegated and authorized
federal environmental programs that meets
the most significant and pressing performance
challenges.
STRATEGIES AND ACTIONS
STRATEGY 1: WORK WITH CO-REGULATORS TO REDUCE ADVERSE
IMPACTS AND PROMOTE MEANINGFUL INVOLVEMENT IN OVERBUR-
DENED COMMUNITIES THROUGH OUR REGULATORY WORK.
EPA will invite co-regulators to participate, advise and help
address EJ challenges and areas of work described in other
elements of this plan. For example, under the enforcement
section of this plan, EPA will find appropriate opportunities
to collaborate with state and local jurisdictions in identifying
overburdened communities, and invite a shared undertaking
of inspections and enforcement actions. Also, over the next
five years, EPA will also work with co-regulators to identify
and undertake strategies in at least 100 of the most overbur-
dened communities where data indicate that facilities present
a high likelihood of serious non-compliance issues, and
address serious violations that are found. Co-regulators will
be invited, but not required, to participate with EPA regional
offices in these activities.
Additionally, EJ 2020 identifies a handful of EPA national
outcome measures to address issues that matter to communi-
ties. State and local co-regulators will be invited to participate,
environmental justice concerns.
EPA can take a range of approaches to implement
these strategies, including but not limited to:
• mutual learning to identify best practices
and bring them into wider use;
• working with state and local govern-
ment leaders to build a community of
practice that helps us learn how to better
identify and address environmental
justice concerns;
• building state and local government
capacity to take action on environmental
justice concerns through activities such
as training and technical assistance;
• coordinated and comprehensive response
to environmental justice concerns,
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EJ 2020 ACTION AGENDA I 29
advise and help address these challenges. EPA has committed
to develop additional new measures based on input from
the public. Of the current EJ 2020 national measures, fine
particle air pollution, blood-lead level disparities in children,
and drinking water quality in small systems would benefit
most from a joint governance approach.
Action 1.1: Collaborate with states and local governments
in specific projects to address environmental and public
health challenges in communities through community-based
approaches.
Collaboration will be consistent with EJ 2020's community-
based work objectives and actions, our cross-agency strategy
on Making a Visible Difference in Communities, EJ and
Sustainable Communities programs, Brownfields, and other
efforts. EPA will invite both co-regulators and other federal
agencies to participate in these activities as appropriate.
Action 1.2: Engage with states in joint planning to pursue
compliance and enforcement activities in the nation's most
overburdened and vulnerable areas and leverage limited
resources.
Joint planning efforts will be consistent with EJ 2020's enforce-
ment objectives and actions, which call for EPA to pursue
vigorous enforcement to assure compliance in overburdened
communities, and to leverage limited compliance resources
through working with co-regulators. States conduct a significant
portion of the compliance and enforcement activities across
the country, so shared accountability toward protecting the
most vulnerable necessarily involves strengthening our joint
commitment with states. EPA will work with states and local
governments to strengthen the consideration of environ-
mental justice in compliance and enforcement programs by
environmental regulators at all levels.
Action 1.3: Work with states and local governments to advance
the analytic tools that support action on EJ concerns.
Work under this action will be coordinated with EPA's EJ
Research Roadmap and EJSCREEN and could range from
sharing the tools and information already available, to devel-
oping new tools and sources of information that build our
joint capacity to understand and respond to environmental
justice concerns. Specific actions will be jointly developed,
but may include: EPA assistance to interested state or local
co-regulators that are interested in building their capacity to
screen for EJ concerns; support in applying community-based
analytic and decision tools (including tools that recognize
different ways of understanding the concept of "environmental
justice" and take other factors into account such as afford-
ability of utilities); and collaborating on efforts to advance
environmental monitoring and citizen science.
STRATEGY 2: SUPPORT PEER-TO-PEER LEARNING TO IDENTIFY
BEST PRACTICES ON HOW TO ADDRESS ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
CONCERNS.
EPA will work with co-regulators to identify and promote
best practices and communities of practice, tools and toolkits,
approaches and resources to reduce disproportionate impacts
and promote meaningful involvement.
Action 2.1: Work with the Environmental Council of the States
(ECOS) and other state and local associations of regulatory
agencies to identify and promote best practices, tools,
approaches and resources for reducing adverse impacts and
promoting meaningful involvement.
We will build a network of expertise supported by an
E-Enterprise approach that helps to disseminate best practices.
EPA regional offices will build on existing mechanisms,
including regional meetings at various leadership levels
and programmatic contexts, to foster sharing and mutual
learning. Key areas for this work may include, but are not
limited to:
• Permitting activities (e.g., public engagement,
EJ analysis and permit terms);
• Enforcement activities (e.g., state-level tools that
bring together EJSCREEN and other demographic,
environmental burden, pollution emission, public
health, noncompliance data, and on-the-ground
knowledge, to help focus enforcement efforts to
make a difference to overburdened communities,
Next Generation Compliance);
• Science (e.g., screening and other analytic and
decision tools, research, monitoring and other
data collection, and citizen science); and
• Communities (e.g., community capacity-building,
partnerships and collaborative problem-solving).
Action 2.2: Produce and disseminate information on best
practices that advance environmental justice.
EPA will summarize the best practices and lessons learned
by EPA and state and local co-regulators based on joint work
under Action 2.1, especially how they are implemented,
through Action 2.1 on a regular basis and make them avail-
able to the public. This will be accomplished through a
continuous process that promotes feedback and use. We will
identify these best practices in real time as they emerge and
publicize them through multiple channels.
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30 I EJ 2020 ACTION AGENDA
STRATEGY 3: FOSTER CROSS-PROGRAM DISCUSSION, PLANNING,
AND ACTIONS TO BUILD PROGRAM CAPACITY.
EPA recognizes the need for joint governance that looks
across our programs and builds collective capacity to promote
meaningful engagement, reduce adverse impacts, and improve
the environment and public health.
Action 3.1: Ensure that successes and challenges related to
adverse impacts and meaningful involvement are addressed
in ongoing high-level meetings between EPA and state and
local co-regulators.
EPA will pursue dialogue around issues of long-standing
concern to communities that were raised in EJ 2020's public
comments or through other means, such as how to consider
adverse impacts and meaningful involvement in grant programs
under which co-regulators are eligible for support or delegated
to carry out, water infrastructure investments, voluntary
program deployment, and how to promote use of best tools
and approaches to integrating EJ principles in environmental
governance. We will also explore ways to incorporate these
topics into existing meetings, calls, and conferences.
Action 3,2: Conduct joint planning to establish commitments
for work on priorities and projects.
EPA will work with states to identify commitments that focus on
the most overburdened and vulnerable communities in Perfor-
mance Partnerships Agreements (PPA), State/EPA workplans,
and other mechanisms for high-level joint planning. We will
compile EJ-related commitments and distribute them to inform
future planning and the establishment of expectations for joint
planning in a PPA context. EPA will also work with states to
review and revise or develop other planning processes as needed
to better facilitate environmental justice joint planning.
Action 3.3: Identify and conduct training and capacity
building activities.
EPA will work with those state and local co-regulators
who are interested in receiving EJ training and to identify
training and capacity-building needs. Trainings may include
transferable best tools and approaches identified in mutual
learning. EPA may adapt existing EPA EJ trainings (EJ 101,
EJSCREEN, etc.) for delivery to state or local officials and
staff. EPA will work with states and local co-regulators who
are willing to act as "peer-to-peer" trainers and/or to help
develop and deliver additional modules as needed to focus
on specific topics or program areas, based on needs assess-
ment and in consultation with the state or local co-regulator.
We will disseminate information on EJ activities by states,
local governments and co-regulators.
Action 3.4: Identify opportunities for joint research efforts.
EPA will share the EJ Research Roadmap with states and
local governments, the Environmental Research Institute of
the States (ERIS), Local Government Advisory Committee,
and other organizations, particularly those aspects most
relevant to the EJ 2020 Science plan and other key areas.
We will highlight state and local government efforts in this
area through various means. We will develop collaborations
involving EPA, states and local governments, communities,
academia, and others on research and tools development
and application.
STRATEGY 4: WORK WITH CO-REGULATORS TO ESTABLISH SHARED
PROGRAM EXPECTATIONS AND PERFORMANCE CRITERIA AND
HOLD OURSELVES ACCOUNTABLE TO DRIVE IMPROVEMENT WHERE
NEEDED.
Shared expectations should establish a level playing field that
protects human health and the environment in all communi-
ties. These expectations and program improvement actions
can be set both in the context of state/regional planning
and in the context of setting broader national expectations.
Depending on the context, they may address voluntary actions
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EJ 2020 ACTION AGENDA I 31
or requirements under applicable laws. These expectations
will reflect the availability and scope of funding, including
federal funding that helps co-regulators implement federal
environmental law. They will also reflect, where applicable,
the principles and practices that guide EPA's oversight of
state enforcement and permitting programs.
Action 4.1: Establish process for developing shared expecta-
tions and measuring progress.
EPA will work with states to develop shared general expecta-
tions for programs to address adverse impacts and meaningful
involvement and reflect these shared expectations, as appro-
priate, in National Program Manager (NPM) guidance,
compliance monitoring strategies, other guidance and policy,
and joint planning.
Action 4.2: Incorporate shared expectations when evaluating
program performance.
EPA will refer to these expectations when evaluating EPA
and co-regulator program performance, as well as identi-
fying innovative and exemplary performance that should be
shared and promoted. We will report on progress in these
areas, highlighting innovative and exemplary approaches that
improve program performance in addressing adverse impacts
and enhancing meaningful involvement. We will work with
states to identify opportunities for further progress.
MEASURES
• EPA will offer EJ training to all state and local
agencies that are delegated/authorized to imple-
ment federal environmental laws and to other
state and local agencies as resources allow. In the
annual EJ 2020 progress report, EPA will report
on the number of EJ trainings delivered and the
number of participants, and will periodically
disseminate examples of how trained agencies
have integrated EJ principles into their work.
• Possible joint projects and/or priorities to advance
environmental justice will be discussed in 100%
of PPA/PPG or other joint planning meetings held
at the senior level between state environmental
agencies and EPA Regions. EPA will annually
report on the number of state agencies that have
included joint environmental justice projects or
priorities in PPA/PPGs or other joint planning
documents between state environmental agencies
and EPA regions. EPA will also disseminate infor-
mation on key elements of these joint projects
or priorities (what they are, how they advance
environmental justice, and what results they have
achieved), and will provide more in-depth case
studies of some examples.
• EPA will collaborate with states and local
co-regulators to develop measures of progress
regarding:
¦ Quantitative and qualitative benefits resulting
from joint efforts with co-regulators as
outlined in other chapters (e.g., Permit-
ting, Enforcement); and
¦ Achievements in developing and imple-
menting tools and approaches.
These measures will be supplemented by narrative and
qualitative discussions of progress in the annual EJ 2020
progress report.
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32 ! EJ 2020 ACTION AGENDA
CHAPTER 7: FEDERAL AGENCIES
U
OBJECTIVE
STRENGTHEN COLLABORATION AND COORDINATION ON ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE ISSUES
AMONG ALL FEDERAL AGENCIES TO AMPLIFY OUR COLLECTIVE IMPACT IN OVERBURDENED
COMMUNITIES.
Over twenty years of environmental justice (EJ) practice have
taught us that all federal agencies play a critical role in ensuring
that we make a visible difference in communities burdened
with environmental and economic distress. In 1994, Execu-
tive Order (E.O.) 12898 recognized the multi-faceted nature
of environmental justice issues and called on every covered
federal agency to "identify and address, as appropriate, the
disproportionate human health and environmental effects
of its programs, policies and activities on minority popula-
tions and low-income populations." E.O. 12898 established
the Interagency Working Group on Environmental Tustice
(EJ IWG) to address these multiple concerns.
Since then, EJ practice within communities and government
agencies at all levels has produced further recognition that
environmental justice is more than about ensuring that
environmental impacts do not disproportionately affect areas
of persistent poverty, but also about creating opportunities to
build healthy, wholesome, sustainable and resilient communi-
ties. This means promoting neighborhood amenities such as
better housing, transportation, health care access, economic
development, and green space. Because these benefits fall
under the mandates of our sister federal agencies, EPA will
work to strengthen their capacity to address environmental
justice and bring to bear all appropriate federal resources.
Through EJ 2020, EPA will seek opportunities to catalyze
revitalization of overburdened communities through federal
partnerships that connect protection of public health and the
environment with economic development, land development,
infrastructure investment and resiliency planning.
In 2011, the heads of 17 federal agencies and White House
offices signed the Memorandum of Understanding on E.O.
12898 and the EJ IWG (MOU). The MOU established focus
areas for the EJ IWG: (1) considering EJ under the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA); (2) implementing Title VI
of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended; (3) addressing
impacts from climate change; and (4) addressing impacts
from commercial transportation of freight and supporting
infrastructure ("goods movement"). In 2015, the EJ IWG
adopted the Interagency Working Group on Environmental
Justice Framework for Collaboration, which outlines a plan
for federal agencies to collectively focus on addressing five
priority areas for the next three years:
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EJ 2020 ACTION AGENDA I 33
FEDERAL AGENCIES AND OFFICES UNDER
THE MOU ON E.0.12898:
Department of Agriculture
Department of Commerce
Department of Defense
Department of Energy
Department of Education
Department of Health and Human Services
Department of Homeland Security
Department of Housing and Urban Development
Department of Interior
Department of Justice
Department of Labor
Department of Transportation
Department of Veteran Affairs
General Services Administration
Small Business Administration
White House Council on Environmental Quality
Environmental Protection Agency
• Impacts from Climate Change;
• Impacts from Commercial Transportation (Goods
Movement);
• National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA);
• Native Americans/Indigenous Peoples; and
• Rural Communities.
PROGRAM AND REGIONAL LEADS
Office of Land and Emergency Management (OLEM), Region 4
STRATEGIES AND ACTIONS
STRATEGY 1: ADDRESS KEY ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE CHALLENGES
IN COLLABORATION WITH GOVERNMENT PARTNERS THROUGH THE
IMPLEMENTATION OF THE EJ IWG FY 2016-2018 FRAMEWORK
FOR COLLABORATION.
The EI IWG Framework for Collaboration defines goals
and objectives for the next three years (2016-2018). It will
advance federal agency collaboration to improve the quality
of life and expand economic opportunity in overburdened
and under-resourced communities. Through EJ 2020, EPA
will promote greater integration of environmental justice
across the federal family and better on-the-ground results
in two areas of the EJ IWG Framework for Collaboration -
NEPA and goods movement. EPA will also work with the
Interagency Working Group on Environmental Justice on
enhancing multi-agency support of holistic community-based
solutions to solve environmental justice issues and promote
long-term community revitalization, economic opportunity
equitable development and sustainability.
Action 1.1: Advance consideration of environmentaljustice in
the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review process
by implementing environmental justice and NEPA analytic
methodologies.
The Promising Practices for EI Methodologies for NEPA
Review is an important advance for considering environmental
justice throughout the federal family. It was a significant effort
under EPA's Plan EJ 2014 and we are building on it under EJ
2020. These promising practices for EJ analytic methodolo-
gies are significant beyond the realm of NEPA as they offer
important models and lessons about how to address similar
methodological challenges in EJ analysis for other areas. EPA
will carry out this action by:
• Promoting cross-agency collaboration and
training on NEPA by sharing EJ IWG's NEPA
Training Products with other federal agencies
and governmental partners;
• Producing documents to enhance better under-
standing of EJ analytical methodologies for NEPA
reviews (e.g., supplemental material such as
lexicon, cross-walk with Council on Environmental
Quality regulations, repository of examples);
• Strengthening community and stakeholder engage-
ment and understanding of environmental justice
and NEPA by working with the EJ IWG NEPA
Committee (e.g., outreach, training, technical
assistance, citizens' guide);
• Developing case studies on how EJ analytic
methodologies for NEPA reviews have proven to
be useful, particularly in issue areas of concern
to communities (e.g., goods movement);
• Conducting applied research to evaluate the
effectiveness of the promising practices for EJ
analytic methodologies for NEPA review; and
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34 I EJ 2020 ACTION AGENDA
• Providing training on the Promising Practices
for EJ Methodologies in NEPA Reviews to all
EPA NEPA review staff and EJ Coordinators.
Action 1.2: Identify and address potential adverse impacts
from the commercial distribution of freight (goods movement)
and related infrastructure (e.g., ports, rail yards, distribution
centers) by developing and implementing assessment and
engagement tools and programs that promote emissions
reductions, better planning and sustainable development
practices, and enhance the health, safety, quality of life, and
meaningful engagement of affected communities.
Goods movement has emerged as an important national
issue, as reflected in the EJ 2020 public comments. Goods
movement activity is projected to increase significantly in
the future, with its adverse environmental and human health
impacts falling on already overburdened communities.
EPA is convening a working group with a long-term aim of
developing a goods movement strategy to encompass EPA
objectives and increase coordination within EPA and across
government agencies. This work group is jointly led by the
Office of Transportation and Air Quality, Region 9 and the
Office of Environmental Justice.
Through the development and implementation of this agency-
wide strategy, EPA will strengthen existing work to reduce the
adverse impact of goods movement on community health and
the environment both on a national scale and with a place-based
focus on communities most impacted by goods movement. The
strategy will include a robust outreach component for affected
communities and stakeholder groups, educational initiatives
and pilot projects, among other activities. This strategy will
be informed by stakeholder input and will build on specific
activities including but not limited to the following:
• Producing promising practices and lessons learned
by focusing on community impacts from goods
movement activities identified in NEPA reviews;
• Developing and implementing community
engagement and assessment tools to support
communities impacted by goods movement
activities and an online community of practice for
communities, government partners and others;
• Conducting pilot projects and foster collaborative
problem-solving efforts between communities and
decision-makers at goods movement facilities;
• Continuing to provide funding opportunities
to remove older diesel engines from operation
through the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act
(DERA) grant program; and
• Working with EJ IWG Goods Movement
Committee to select 1-2 communities with
multiple federal agency involvement and apply
successful community-based promising practices,
such as Brownfields to Healthfields, to address
goods movement concerns.
Action 1.3: Strengthen interagency partnerships in the EPA
regional offices through Regional EJ IWG partnerships that
directly support on-the-ground work in communities to
leverage federal agency resources that provide technical
assistance to support overburdened communities.
The EJ IWG will identify and leverage federal resources to
address environmental challenges and build sustainable
communities. EPA's regional offices, in
collaboration with the EJ IWG subcommit-
tees, will identify overburdened communi-
ties, using tools such as EJSCREEN as a
starting point, and work to align efforts
where EPA and multiple agencies will
work together to address environmental
justice concerns. These partnerships will
disseminate relevant tools and strategies
to overburdened communities, including
existing resources and programs that can
be leveraged for specific EPA projects.
STRATEGY 2: SEEK OPPORTUNITIES TO
CATALYZE REALIZATION OF OVERBUR-
DENED COMMUNITIES THROUGH FEDERAL
PARTNERSHIPS THAT CONNECT PROTECTION
OF PUBLIC HEALTH AND THE ENVIRONMENT
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EJ 2020 ACTION AGENDA I 35
WITH ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, LAND DEVELOPMENT, INFRA-
STRUCTURE INVESTMENT AND RESILIENCY PLANNING.
Many communities are asking federal agencies to move
beyond taking singular actions in communities towards a
multi-layered and multi-faceted approach that connects our
investments to larger federal resources. They have moved
beyond simply identifying the threats they wish to remove
or minimize in their neighborhoods to achieving their own
visions of community health, environmental quality and
economic vitality. Community revitalization efforts have
a proven record of success and there are many opportuni-
ties to make progress using this approach. These include
modernization of drinking and wastewater systems, new
economic opportunities through brownfields redevelopment,
career opportunities through the new clean energy economy,
and investments in clean energy, transportation and green
space. Holistic solutions that connect protection of public
health and the environment with economic development,
land development, infrastructure investment and resiliency
planning, can be very valuable.
EPA will work with the Federal Interagency Working Group
on Environmental Justice (EJ IWG) and other partner-
ships, as well as through direct relationships with other
federal agencies to develop and implement an interagency
strategy for promoting the revitalization of overburdened
communities. This strategy will focus on connecting EPA's
community-based work, when and where possible, to other
agencies' statutorily-based programmatic resources and
functions, and will be guided by achieving outcomes that
answer community needs. EPA's role in such a strategy must
be centered on the Agency's mission to protect human health
and the environment. EPA can also play an important role
in identifying opportunities to improve environmental and
public health outcomes by engaging other partners who
may have the tools and resources to help build workforce
skills, enhance economic opportunity, or expand community
entrepreneurship in economically distressed communities.
Action 2.1: OEJ and OSC will develop a community revitaliza-
tion strategy in conjunction with the EJ IWG, communities
and other federal agencies that complements EPA's core
functions and supports communities in achieving their own
vision of healthy, sustainable and equitable communities.
Led by the Office of Environmental Justice (OEJ) and the
Office of Sustainable Communities (OSC), this strategy
will look holistically at community needs as expressed by
the community and seek opportunities to bring in other
GOODS MOVEMENT
Goods Movement: EPA appreciates many of the
concerns about the potential for significant impacts
on communities from ports and other goods
movement operations. EPA is working to address
these issues and is committed to advancing those
efforts. Over the last year the EPA Administrator
and several Regional Administrators met with
community groups to discuss these concerns.
EPA has brought together port stakeholders in a
"National Conversation on Ports"through a series
of webinars that included solutions for sustainable
ports and collaborating with communities. EPA
also hosted a National Port Stakeholders Summit
which served as a venue for port professionals,
experts and stakeholders to address the many
opportunities and challenges faced by our nation's
ports and neighboring communities. In addition,
EPA is reviewing final recommendations that the
Clean Air Act Advisory Committee provided in
September 2016 on (1) how to effectively measure
airqualityand GHG performance of ports and/or
terminals within ports; and (2) design elements
for an EPA-led voluntary program to improve
environmental performance as goods move through
ports. Through these efforts, EPA is working to
reduce the adverse impact of goods movement
on community health and the environment both
on a national scale and with a place-based focus
on communities most impacted by goods
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36 I EJ 2020 ACTION AGENDA
partners to help address community concerns. It will also
explore ways to protect public health and the environment in
a manner that stimulates better economic outcomes such as
job creation, thereby helping to make a visible difference in
environmentally and economically distressed communities.
This strategy will build upon the efforts of the Community
Resources Network (CRN) and the FY 2017 Communities
Cross-Agency Strategy Action Plan. They will involve technical
assistance and support for convening community visioning,
partnership efforts with all groups (especially other federal
agencies), robust public engagement, and better alignment
of EPA's programs as well as those of other federal agencies.
Action 2.2: OEJ will work with multiple public and private sector
organizations to convene the National Funding Resources
and Training Summit.
We will offer information from academia, foundations,
nonprofits, and federal agencies to educate, share, and increase
community understanding of available resources for addressing
their concerns, and will focus on developing partnerships
that will result in the creation of healthy, sustainable and
equitable communities.
Action 2.3: OEJ and OSC will promote the use of best practices
for place-based approaches to achieving community sustain-
ability, equitable development and economic revitalization
in overburdened communities.
We will work through the EJ IWG, CRN and the Office of
Management and Budget Community Solutions Task Force's
Memorandum of Agreement on Place-Based Technical Assis-
tance Mechanisms, and utilize mechanisms such as Region
4s EJ Academy, educational webinars and conferences.
Action 2.4: OEJ and OSC will work with the EJ IWG partner
agencies to engage business and industry organizations to
promote their participation in community-driven efforts to
address environmental and economic concerns.
We will utilize lessons learned from the ReGenesis Environ-
mental Justice Partnership in Spartanburg, SC, the ET Collabo-
rative Problem-Solving Model, and other existing technical
assistance throughout the Agency.
STRATEGY 3: FOSTER THE CAPACITY OF EPA AND OUR SISTER
FEDERAL AGENCIES TO MEANINGFULLY ADDRESS ENVIRONMENTAL
JUSTICE CONCERNS THROUGH THE USE AND CONTINUED DEVEL-
OPMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE TOOLS, RESOURCES AND
WAYS TO INTEGRATE ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE INTO PROGRAMS
AND POLICIES OF ALL AGENCIES.
Since the signing of E.O. 12898 in 1994, federal agencies
have developed tools for considering environmental justice
in our programs and policies. Flowever, these efforts could
benefit from greater coordination. EPA seeks to promote
more consistent consideration of environmental justice tools
across the federal family, to coordinate the development and
usage of tools, and to improve the sharing of information on
available tools with the public.
Action 3.1: Develop environmental justice criteria for inclusion
in the scoring schemes for Federal EJ IWG agencies' grants
and cooperative agreements eligibility processes.
EPA will work with the EJ IWG to instill a culture among all
federal agencies in which environmental justice is a priority
by incorporating EJ language in applicable funding opportu-
nities. The EJ IWG will review, develop, and disseminate EJ
criteria language collected from existing Agency and federal
partner's grants and cooperative agreements. This effort will
emphasize potential federal assistance efforts that focus on
community sustainability and equitable development.
Action 3.2: Promote the use and continued development
of EPA and other federal agencies' analytic and data tools
that enable and encourage our governmental partners and
community members to consider and address environmental
justice issues.
Accessible and user-friendly tools are an important building
block in engaging, understanding and addressing environ-
mental justice concerns. To help build the capacity of our
governmental partners and community members to start
or continue addressing these concerns, EPA will create and
share a centralized inventory online of federal agencies' EJ
tools and databases, such as EJSCREEN. These resources
will not only be accessible to federal, state, tribal and local
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EJ 2020 ACTION AGENDA I 37
government agencies, but to the public as well. To facilitate a
mutual understanding of environmental justice issues, EPA
and our federal partners will further develop and expand
these resources through the EJ IWG. EPA will also seek
opportunities with our federal partners and the community
to gather feedback on ways to improve the utilization and
effectiveness of these EJ tools.
Action 3.3: Partner with other federal agencies through the
EJ IWG to discuss and test new uses for EJSCREEN and other
analytic and data tools, as well as share datasets.
Partnering and sharing data across the federal agencies can
lead to tremendous innovation and accomplishments larger
than could be instituted by a single agency. EPA will work
with other federal agencies through the EJ IWG to discuss and
pilot new uses for EJSCREEN and other data tools. As part of
this effort, federal agencies will look to share environmental
justice-related datasets that could be shared between tools.
Specifically EPA will discuss potential EJSCREEN pilots with
the Department of Transportation, the Department of Housing
and Urban Development, and other agencies. Additionally
the federal agencies will explore ways to better use and share
available datasets between tools such as health information
from the Centers on Disease Control's environmental health
tracking program.
MEASURES
National Environmental Policy Act
¦ Documentation: 100% of EPA's reviews of Environ-
mental Impact Statements (EIS), reviewed pursuant
to Section 309 of the Clean Air Act, will consider
the adequacy of an agency's Environmental Justice
analysis, which includes the implications of climate
change and its effects on communities with EJ
concerns. In reviewing these agency analyses,
EPA will consider Principles and Specific Steps of
the Federal IWG on EJ's Promising Practices for
EJ Methodologies in NEPA Reviews (Promising
Practices) as defined by the National Training
Product (NTP), in addition to other legal, regula-
tory and policy guidance. In EISs where environ-
mental justice has been identified as a potential
concern (e.g., via EJSCREEN or other means),
EPA's comments on the agency's EJ analysis will
be documented in EPA's Section 309 review letter
to the federal agency. EPA will also consider
Promising Practices and NTP, together with other
NEPA and EJ resources, in developing the rating
and the Section 309 review letter.
¦ Training: 100% of all current EPA NEPA reviewers
will complete review of Promising Practices and
the NTP training. New NEPA EIS review staff will
complete review of Promising Practices and the
NTP training within 4 months of being assigned
NEPA review responsibilities.
Number of federal agencies' grants and cooperative
agreements solicitations (and similar funding vehicles)
using EJ Criteria Language, as measured annually begin-
ning in 2017, and achieving a 20% increase above that
2017 baseline between 2018 and 2020.
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38 ! EJ 2020 ACTION AGENDA
CHAPTER 8: COMMUNITY-BASED WORK
OBJECTIVE
ACHIEVE MEANINGFUL AND SUSTAINABLE IMPROVEMENTS IN OVERBURDENED AREAS THROUGH
THE STRATEGIC DEPLOYMENT OF AGENCY COMMUNITY-BASED AND CORE PROGRAMMATIC
RESOURCES IN A CROSS-AGENCY MANNER THAT ESTABLISHES COMMUNITY-BASED WORK
AS A ROUTINE MEANS OF ACHIEVING EPA'S MISSION AND HELPS TO BUILD THE CAPACITY OF
OUR COMMUNITY PARTNERS.
EPA has a significant history of working closely with
communities. This work includes the Superfund Community
Involvement Program, Watershed Protection Approach,
environmental justice and community-based participatory
research grants, compliance and enforcement activities, and
the Brownfields Program. The many powerful and inspiring
results from this work support EPA's continued focus on
overburdened communities. EPA gained many lessons about
how to engage communities in carrying out our mission of
protecting health and the environment. We also learned how
to foster partnerships to build healthier, more prosperous and
sustainable places to live, work and play. Through EJ 2020,
EPA seeks to apply the expertise and knowledge of all parts
of the Agency towards making a more tangible difference in
overburdened communities. To advance these efforts to a new
level, EPA will undertake the following strategies:
• Improve on-the-ground results by incorporating
environmental justice and community-based work
as a part of how EPA core regulatory programs
achieve our mission of protecting public health
and the environment;
• Expand the positive impact of EPA's community-
based efforts by building stronger on-the-ground
partnerships with communities and involving
our federal partners and state, tribal and local
governments, academia, business, philanthropy
and other sectors; and
• Build the capacity of communities to take part in
critical environmental and public health issues
that impact them through the sharing of tools
and other resources.
All areas of EJ 2020 will contribute to improving environmental
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EJ 2020 ACTION AGENDA I 39
and public health results for overburdened communities.
This plan focuses on EPA's community-based work, which is
one aspect of those activities. EPA will support much of its
community-based work by using and building on its existing
efforts and programs, including the Community Resource
Network (CRN),16 Environmental Justice Coordinators,
Superfund Community Involvement Coordinators, Brown-
fields Coordinators, and other efforts that work directly in
and with communities.
For purposes of this strategy, EPA defines community-based
work as any work that EPA performs in partnership with
community organizations, local governments and federal
agencies, to help meet the vision and goals determined by
the affected community itself, with a particular focus on
environmental justice principles. Stakeholders involved
in such a process include all people and groups within
a geographic area affected by the relevant public health
and/or environmental concerns. These include, but are
not limited to, residents, businesses, tribes and indigenous
peoples, and government entities. Community-based works
aims to achieve meaningful and sustainable improvements
in overburdened areas or communities to improve the
health of its stakeholders and minimize the communities'
environmental impacts.
PROGRAM AND REGIONAL LEADS
Office of Land and Emergency Management (OLEM), Region
3, Region 10 will be ongoing leads for this implementation
plan and will work collaboratively on this effort.
STRATEGIES AND ACTIONS
STRATEGY 1: IMPROVE ON-THE-GROUND RESULTS BY INCORPORATING
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE AND COMMUNITY-BASED WORK AS A
PART OF HOW EPA CORE REGULATORY PROGRAMS ACHIEVE OUR
MISSION OF PROTECTING PUBLIC HEALTH AND THE ENVIRONMENT.
EPA will institutionalize environmental justice and commu-
nity-based work throughout the Agency to achieve greater
community-level collaboration, leveraging of resources and
visible on-the-ground differences. In our regulatory work,
EPA will be guided by the EI Legal Tools document, which
outlines the many ways in which EPA's authorizing statutes
connect to environmental justice goals. EPA will promote
lessons learned from the work in overburdened communities
within EPA's strategic planning framework to successfully
incorporate EJ into the core work of permitting, regulating
chemical use, enforcement, environmental cleanup, and
emergency response.
Action 1.1: Strengthen on-the-ground results in overburdened
communities by applying best practices of our community-
based work.
EPA will highlight and build on the best practices from
previous and ongoing work, which have produced the most
positive and meaningful results in overburdened communi-
ties. These practices will be promoted through the work of the
Community Resources Network and the EJ Coordinators. The
Community Resources Network, which includes staff from
across the Agency involved in community-based work and
the tools created to support their work, will actively work
to address issues of concern to overburdened communities.
The Community Resources Network will also update best
practices as internal and external feedback on additional,
more effective and innovative practices are documented,
developed and evaluated. Best practices range from ways to
connect community-based efforts with technical assistance
and training, leveraging resources, to promoting opportunities
for teaching and learning between EPA staff, communities
and other governmental partners. Through this process,
EPA will continue to incorporate best practices into regular
day-to-day core program and regulatory work.
EPA will also promote the routine use of best practices by
its core programs through our strategic planning framework
throughout the agency, including those identified through the
FY 2017 Communities Cross-Agency Strategy Action Plan.
EPA will report on the results of this effort and will include
public feedback and an independent evaluation of how well
environmental justice and community-based work has been
incorporated into the Agency's core programs. This may employ
the method used for evaluating the former EPA Community
Action for a Renewed Environment (CARE) program, as well
as the methods used in evaluating the cross-agency strategy
on Working to Make a Visible Difference in Communities.
The Community Resources Network will make its external
best practices available to communities and other federal
agencies to not only affirm and continue our commitment to
Executive Order 12898, but also showcase how community-
based work makes a visible difference to communities.
Action 1.2: Strengthen the procedures and practices associ-
ated with collecting, following-up on and responding to
citizen tips and complaints.
EPA will strengthen its procedures and practices associated
with citizen tips and complaints and will elevate matters of
critical public health concern. EPA will promote the use of
existing citizens' concerns reporting systems (e.g., www.epa.
gov/tips, regional tips and complaints hotlines, EJ hotline)
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40 I EJ 2020 ACTION AGENDA
community-based approach, collaborating with local, state,
tribal and federal partners to address a community's identi-
fied goals, priorities, needs and challenges. These partner-
ships can start from already established community-driven
collaborative efforts or help to establish such, with the goal of
more effectively aligning resources and technical assistance
to improve human health and the environment in these
communities. EPA also understands and appreciates that
local economic conditions correlate with local environmental
and human health conditions, and that economically vibrant
communities are healthier communities. Therefore, EPA will
act as convener where appropriate, and support community
revitalization in America's economically distressed cities and
neighborhoods by partnering with federal agencies, states,
and other entities that support sustainable economic develop-
ment approaches. (See Federal Agencies Chapter, Strategy 2)
STRATEGY 3: BUILD THE CAPACITY OF COMMUNITIES TO TAKE
PART IN CRITICAL ENVIRONMENTAL AND PUBLIC HEALTH ISSUES
THAT IMPACT THEM THROUGH THE SHARING OF ENVIRONMENTAL
JUSTICE TOOLS AND OTHER RESOURCES.
Action 3.1: Strengthen awareness and utilization of EPA's
and other federal agencies'grant and technical assistance
programs.
EPAs program and regional offices will work with community-
based grant, cooperative agreement and technical assistance
programs such as the Technical Assistance Services for
Communities, environmental justice grants. Urban Waters.
in regional and headquarter offices,
public meetings and other community
involvement activities. EPA will develop
and distribute outreach on these tools
so that communities know that they
exist and understand how to use them.
Action 1.3: EPA will collaborate inter-
nally to support community-based
approaches.
EPA's national programs will maintain
and support strategic community-based
work. This work includes support for
EPA's regulatory activities, such as
enhanced outreach including resources
for translation and interpretation where
needed. For example, Flexible National
Program resources will continue to be
prioritized to support EPAs community-
based partnerships in Activity 2.1,
through targeted technical assistance
mechanisms.
STRATEGY 2: EXPAND THE POSITIVE IMPACT OF EPA'S EFFORTS
BY BUILDING STRONGER 0N-THE-GR0UND PARTNERSHIPS WITH
COMMUNITIES AND MULTIPLE PARTNERS TO TACKLE SOME OF
OUR COUNTRY'S GREATEST COMMUNITY CHALLENGES.
When community-based organizations lead collaborative
partnerships, they are better able to address the challenges
they often face by partnering with a wide array of stakeholders.
This strategy is intended to complement and promote the
work of such community-driven collaborative partnerships
and increase opportunities for meaningful community
engagement, problem-solving and revitalization.
Action 2.1 Address environmental quality and human health
challenges in America's most overburdened communities.
By better integrating community-based work into EPAs core
programs, EPA will help to implement a community-based
approach in support of its mission of protecting human health
and the environment. EPA will focus on vulnerable communi-
ties with some of the most difficult environmental and human
health challenges. Applying best practices on coordinating
and leveraging community-based work, and building upon
the ongoing efforts of the Community Resources Network and
the EJ Coordinators, EPA will seek to infuse a community-
based approach throughout the Agency's work. First, we
will develop an open and transparent community-driven
engagement process. Second, EPA will focus on extending its
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EJ 2020 ACTION AGENDA I 41
Building Blocks for Sustainable Communities, and Brown -
fields to identify areas for increased outreach and training
on EPA's grants and technical assistance programs. EPA will
develop and annually update a guide of resources available
to communities (e.g., financial, educational, informational,
technical, etc.), which will include other federal resources
through the assistance of the EJ Interagency Working Group
(EJ IWG).
Action 3.2: Support the establishment of a network of past and
current recipients of EPA community-based grants through
formal networking and information-sharing opportunities.
Through existing avenues, such as the EJ Small Grantee
Workshop and the Brownfields Conference, EPA will offer
workshops and sessions to bring together past and current
recipients of the EJ, CARE, Urban Waters and other community-
based grant programs. The purpose of each workshop will be
to share inspirational accomplishments, promising practices
and mutual learning from each EPA grantee. In addition,
other regional offices, federal, state and local partners will
be able to provide information on their programs and better
understand community challenges. These opportunities can
serve as a regular forum for EPA personnel, community
leaders and other partners (e.g. foundations) to gather for
networking, strategic planning, cross-fertilization of ideas
and training.
Action 3.3: Strengthen use of social media and other
communications tools to promote the replication of real-life
models of success and network building and the wider use
of promising practices.
EPA will use social media and other online tools to promote
real life stories of environmental justice stakeholders from
across the country that educate, inspire, and offer lessons to
improve community practice. These tools will include blogs
and videos on the Environmental Justice in Action Blog,
and webinars and trainings on key issues. Through existing
networks, EPA will create a more interactive, innovative,
collaborative tool to engage overburdened communities on
existing resources and assistance.
Action 3.4: Promote youth engagement and the develop-
ment of the next generation of leaders proficient in meeting
environmental justice challenges.
EPA will put a special emphasis on engaging youth on the
intersection of environmental justice and climate change.
The Federal Interagency Working Group on Environmental
Justice will focus on developing the next generation of climate
justice leaders and expanding partnerships with Minority
Serving Institutions. EPA will work with the National Environ-
mental Justice Advisory Council to expand youth perspec-
tives, including ways to address climate change impacts on
overburdened and vulnerable communities. EPA will use
programs like the Community University Partnership and
others, which connect EPA program resources with academic
and community-based organizations.
MEASURES
• Report the number of tips/complaints received,
broken out by program and/or location through
regional and headquarter office websites.
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42 I EJ 2020 ACTION AGENDA
CHAPTER 9: TRIBES & INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
OBJECTIVE
FULFILL EPA'S COMMITMENT TO PROTECT THE ENVIRONMENT AND HEALTH OF FEDER-
ALLY RECOGNIZED TRIBES AND INDIGENOUS PEOPLES, AND PROVIDE THEM ACCESS TO THE
AGENCY'S DECISION-MAKING PROCESSES, SO THAT EVERYONE HAS A SAFE AND HEALTHY
ENVIRONMENT IN WHICH TO LIVE, LEARN, WORK AND PLAY.
The Agency recognizes the right of tribal governments to
self-determination and acknowledges the federal govern-
ment's trust responsibility to federally recognized tribes and
affirms the strong connection that many tribes and indig-
enous peoples have to the environment, as well as their past
and present roles in the protection and sustain ability of the
environment and public health.
Through the EJ 2020 Action Agenda, EPA seeks to maximize
environmental and public health protection in Indian country
and for indigenous peoples throughout the United States. This
work will be guided by our full implementation of the EPA
Policy on Environmental Justice for Working with Federally
Recognized Tribes and Indigenous Peoples, and conducted
in accordance with the EPA Policy for the Administration of
Environmental Programs on Indian Reservations, the EPA
Policy on Consultation and Coordination with Indian Tribes.
EPA Guidance for Discussing Tribal Treaty Rights. Executive
Order 12898 - Federal Actions to Address Environmental
Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Popula-
tions, and relevant statutes, regulations and other policies.
The EPA Policy on Environmental Justice for Working with
Tribes and Indigenous Peoples affirms EPA's commitment to
provide fair treatment and meaningful involvement in EPA
decisions that may affect the health or environment of tribes
and indigenous peoples in all areas of the United States and its
territories and possessions, the District of Columbia, Puerto
Rico, Marina Islands, and others living in Indian country. The
policy clarifies and integrates environmental justice principles
in the Agency's work with all parties covered and focuses
on EPA's direct implementation of federal environmental
programs in Indian country, work with federally recognized
tribal governments on environmental justice, work with indig-
enous peoples on environmental justice, and coordination
and collaboration with U.S. federal agencies and others on
environmental justice i ssues of interest to tribes, indigenous
peoples, and others living in Indian country.
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EJ 2020 ACTION AGENDA I 43
A major evolution in EPA's understanding of environmental
justice and tribal rights, has been in the area of treaty rights.17
The U.S. Constitution defines treaties as part of the supreme
law of the land, with the same legal force as federal statutes.
EPA recognizes the importance of respecting tribal treaty rights
and its obligation to do so. EPA is addressing its obligation
through the implementation of tribal treaty rights guidance
and the institutionalization of these efforts through federal
coordination and collaboration that considers treaty rights
in decision-making processes.
In addition to the work described in this chapter of EJ 2020,
there are actions described in other chapters of EJ 2020 that
involve and benefit tribes and indigenous peoples. For example,
the Permitting chapter speaks of working with tribes along
with states and other co-regulators on tools, practices and
approaches for considering EJ in permitting. The Compliance
and Enforcement chapter commits to improving coordination
with tribes to focus vigorous enforcement and compliance
activities in Indian country. The Science chapter announces
a strategy to focus special attention on promoting tribal
sustainability and well-being through research into the use
of traditional ecological knowledge and further development
of the Local Environmental Observer network. And the EJ
2020 Action Agenda identifies tribal and small drinking water
systems as one of four significant national EJ challenges that
EPA is committing concentrated efforts to address. These
actions also serve to fulfill the objective of this chapter.
PROGAM AND REGIONAL LEADS
Office of International and Tribal Affairs (OITA), EPA Region 6
STRATEGIES AND ACTIONS
STRATEGY 1: STRENGTHEN CONSIDERATION OF TRIBES' AND
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES' ISSUES, THEIR INVOLVEMENT IN EPA'S
DECISION-MAKING PROCESSES, AND RESPONSIVENESS TO
THEIR CONCERNS WHEN EPA DIRECTLY IMPLEMENTS FEDERAL
ENVIRONMENTAL PROGRAMS.
Action 1.1: EPA will seek to identify and work to address
tribes'and indigenous peoples' EJ concerns when directly
implementing environmental programs in Indian country
and throughout the United States.
EPA will seek to identify the environmental and public health
concerns of tribes and indigenous peoples, and work to address
these concerns in coordination with tribes and indigenous
peoples, including when EPA directly implements environ-
mental programs in Indian country. This includes increasing
opportunities for training to build the awareness of the EPA's
environmental justice tools, and provide training to meet the
identified environmental and public health needs of tribes
and indigenous peoples in Indian country and throughout
the United States. EPA will also work with tribes and indig-
enous peoples to effectively implement the strategies, actions
and measures identified in each of the other areas of the EJ
2020 Action Agenda: Enforcement and Compliance, State
and Local Government, Rulemaking, Communities, Science,
Federal Agencies, and Permitting.
STRATEGY 2: HELP FEDERALLY RECOGNIZED TRIBAL GOVERN-
MENTS BUILD CAPACITY AND PROMOTE TRIBAL ACTION ON
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE.
Action 2.1: EPA will encourage tribes to develop written
procedures to ensure meaningful involvement and fair treat-
ment of the public in the development and implementation
of federally authorized environmental programs (Indian
General Assistance Program Indicator B.2.6), as well as their
own environmental and public health programs.
EPA will develop a program measure for Indian General
Assistance Program (GAP) Indicator B.2.6, to include written
procedures similar to the Administrative Procedure Act to
ensure tribes provide opportunities for meaningful involve-
ment in and fair treatment through the public participation
process. Specifically, EPA will encourage tribes to develop
procedures for the public's involvement in the development
and implementation of their environmental programs. EPA
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44 I EJ 2020 ACTION AGENDA
will report, by October 2016 and annually thereafter to 2020,
on the tribes who choose to produce such procedures. Support
can come from the Indian Environmental General Assistance
Program (GAP) funding, and potentially EJ Small Grants
and other federal or tribal resources. Tribes seeking federal
environmental program authorization are subject to public
participation requirements in applicable EPA regulations
and EPA encourages tribes to adopt such public participa-
tion requirements for their own environmental programs.
To foster the implementation of this program measure,
EPA program and regional offices will provide advice and
recommendations on the integration of environmental
justice principles to the tribes that are seeking or have EPA
authorized environmental program(s), as well as to tribes that
have their own environmental and public health programs.
In addition, EPA will help tribes build capacity and promote
tribal action on environmental justice through activities such
as training and technical assistance.
STRATEGY 3: ADDRESS DISPROPORTIONATE IMPACTS, IMPROVE
ENGAGEMENT, PROMOTE MEANINGFUL INVOLVEMENT, AND
IMPROVE RESPONSIVENESS TO THE ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
CONCERNS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES.
Action 3.1: EPA will provide training to increase public
participation and input in EPA's work.
EPA will identify existing opportunities and/or develop new
training to increase public participation, and offer training
sessions to meet the identified needs of indigenous peoples.
As part of this effort, EPA will conduct outreach on the
existence of the EPA Policy on Environmental Justice for
Working with Federally Recognized Tribes and Indigenous
Peoples and the EJ 2020 Action Agenda to indigenous peoples
(e.g., indigenous grassroots organizations, state recognized
tribes, tribal members), identify their environmental and
public health concerns, and work to address their concerns.
Action 3.2: EPA will improve its responsiveness to the environ-
mental and public health concerns of indigenous peoples.
EPA will annually report on the concerns raised by tribes and
indigenous peoples, progress made to resolve the concerns,
and the barriers and challenges to doing so. EPA will develop
and implement a set of indicators to monitor the Agency's
efforts to address indigenous peoples' environmental and
public health concerns.
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES.
Action 4.1: EPA will seek to work with other government
agencies (federal, state and local), in partnership with inter-
ested tribal governments, to effectively respond to the EJ
concerns of tribes'and indigenous peoples.
In collaboration with tribal governments, including those
serving on Regional Tribal Operations Committees and the
National Tribal Caucus, EPA will engage with other govern-
mental agencies in order to address tribal EJ concerns. In
response to the EJ concerns of indigenous peoples, EPA will,
in collaboration with tribal governments on an issue-specific
basis, reach out to other state and federal agencies.
MEASURES
• By the end of 2017, EPA will have identified
tribes and indigenous peoples' organizations
interested in working with EPA to address their
environmental justice concerns.
• Starting in 2016 and completing by 2020, EPA
will report on the number of tribes that have
developed and incorporated public participation
procedures into their environmental programs,
and that have used the procedures for environ-
mental program implementation.
• By the end of 2017, EPA will have conducted
outreach and have offered training in each region
on EJSCREEN, the EPA Policy on Environmental
Justice for Working with Federally Recognized
Tribes and Indigenous Peoples, and the EJ 2020
Action Agenda to tribes and identified indigenous
peoples' organizations.
• By 2018, EPA will have developed and implemented
a set of indicators to monitor the Agency's efforts
to address indigenous peoples' environmental
and public health concerns.
• Starting in 2016 and completing by the end of
2020, EPA will have developed best practices for
its engagement with other federal agencies, states
and local governments, and in collaboration with
interested tribal governments, regarding how to
address the environmental and public health
concerns of tribes and indigenous peoples.
STRATEGY 4: PROMOTE INTERGOVERNMENTAL COORDINATION AND
COLLABORATION TO ADDRESS ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE CONCERNS
IN INDIAN COUNTRY AND IN AREAS OF INTEREST TO TRIBES AND
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EJ 2020 ACTION AGENDA I 45
CHAPTER 10: SIGNIFICANT NATIONAL
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE CHALLENGES
Demonstrating progress on significant national environmental
justice (EJ) challenges is the third major goal of EJ 2020.
EPA recognizes the need for a more systematic approach to
reducing environmental and health disparities for minority,
low-income and tribal populations and improve the air, water
and land in the nation's most overburdened communities.
Addressing complex and continuing national environmental
problems of concern to overburdened communities is a long-
term endeavor that goes beyond EJ 2020. EPA will take a
two-phased approach.18 In the first phase, EPA will employ
a comprehensive suite of programs and actions and work
closely with our state, tribal and other co-regulatory partners
with authority and opportunity towards achieving progress
in four key areas for which EPA has existing measures. These
areas, which will be described in detail in the ensuing sections
of this chapter, are highlighted below.
• Lead: Work to eliminate disparities in child-
hood blood lead levels as an integral part of
reducing lead exposure for all people. EPA will
convene partners to identify geographic areas
with greatest lead exposures, reduce sources of
lead contamination, and take national action to
reduce lead in drinking water.
• Drinking Water: Work to ensure all people served
by community water systems have drinking
water that meets applicable health based stand-
ards. In working toward this goal, we will place
special emphasis on addressing drinking water
challenges in underserved communities.
• Air Quality: Achieve air quality that meets the
fine particle pollution national ambient air quality
standards in all areas of the country, with special
emphasis on communities with poor air quality
and low-income populations. Working with
our co-regulator states, we will achieve this as
soon as practicable and no later than the statu-
tory attainment date. Low-income populations
are among those most at-risk to adverse health
effects from exposure to fine particle pollution.
• Hazardous Waste Sites: Reduce human exposure
to contamination at hazardous waste sites, with
emphasis on minority, low-income and vulner-
able communities.
In the second phase, we will evaluate progress on achieving our
current goals, enhance measures as appropriate, and explore
potential development of additional national environmental
justice measures and associated strategies. We anticipate
focusing particular attention on issues of concern to overbur-
dened commxmities that may warrant attention at the national
level. These issues include pesticide impacts on farmworkers,
goods movement (commercial transportation of freight), water
infrastructure, air pollution and climate change, among others.
EPA is already undertaking significant ongoing work in all of
these areas. We also anticipate working closely with federal,
state, tribal and local government partners, communities, and
other stakeholders through our second phase efforts.
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46 I EJ 2020 ACTION AGENDA
LEAD DISPARITIES
In order to enhance the implementation of our current areas
of focus and lay a foundation for the development of new
measures, EPA will incorporate the following approaches:
• Strengthening environmental justice measurement:
EPA will strengthen its analytic foundation for
national EJ measures, which are meaningful to
overburdened communities and provide important
information to guide EPA's work. Key areas of
work include: disaggregating data to better track
progress in reducing environmental and related
health disparities; using tools such as EJSCREEN
and appropriate spatial units of analysis; and
better integrating demographic information
into our data collection and reporting systems,
• Incorporating a systems approach: A "systems
approach" involves comprehensive strategies
that embrace and utilize all available authorities
and organizational resources. It is premised on
the acknowledgement that the many parts of
the framework ensuring environmental health
protection must be optimized simultaneously to
achieve a healthy environment for populations
with environmental injustices. This approach
supplements regulatory authorities, which alone
may be insufficient to reduce any given disparity
and achieve sustainable and meaningful change
in communities. Our strategies recognize limita-
tions in EPA's authorities and/or ability to fully
achieve an aspirational goal. Addressing these
limitations will involve leadership at all levels,
inclusion of all stakeholders, and harmonized
understanding across all groups.
GOAL: Eliminate disparities in childhood blood lead levels
as an integral part of reducing lead exposure for all people.
MEASURE
Reduction of disparities of blood lead levels in low-income
children compared to non-low-income children, so that EPA
can track progress toward its long-term goal of eliminating
disparities in childhood lead levels for vulnerable populations.
BACKGROUND
Lead is highly toxic, especially to young children. Children
can be exposed to lead from a wide variety of environmental
sources. Lead can leach into drinking water through the
corrosion of lead-containing pipes and plumbing fixtures. It
can pollute our air and soil through the burning of aviation
fuels, the past use of leaded gasoline, and other industrial
releases. Lead can even be found inside our own homes
- on walls coated with lead-based paint, and in everyday
consumer products like toys, cosmetics, ceramics, solders,
gasoline, and batteries. Lead from paint, including lead-
• Stakeholder partnerships: EPA
recognizes that addressing these
significant EJ challenges may require
expertise, resources, and authorities
outside of EPA's direct control. EPA
will use these national measures to
draw attention to these important
issues and to promote partnerships,
coordination and collaboration
with other federal agencies, states,
tribes, local government, affected
communities and stakeholders. EPA
will convene a series of meetings
with government partners, affected
communities, stakeholders' groups,
and advisory committee representa-
tives to discuss ways to refine and
implement current measures and
develop new ones.
The following four sections describe EJ 2020's four national
environmental justice challenges, including their goals,
programs and actions, measures and reporting. Detailed
descriptions of all measures identified in this chapter can
be found on a separate online National Measures Technical
Appendix.
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EJ 2020 ACTION AGENDA I 47
contaminated dust, is one of the most common causes of
lead poisoning.
Lead exposure among young children has dramatically
reduced over the last three decades due to federal and state
regulatory efforts to reduce the amount of lead in air, drinking
water, soil, paint, household dust, consumer products, food,
and occupational settings. Unfortunately, that progress has
not been realized equally across the United States and lead
exposure remains one of the top childhood environmental
health problems that impacts minority and/or low-come
populations. For example, the average blood-lead levels
remain unequally high among non-Hispanic Black children
when compared to Mexican-American and non-Hispanic
White children.19
Low-income and minority children tend to live in areas which
still face tremendous risk to lead exposure. Non-Hispanic Black
children and children living in families below the poverty
level have significantly higher risk factors for higher blood
lead levels. Low-income, minority communities still face
aging plumbing infrastructure that could contaminate their
drinking water; older housing that is more likely to contain
lead-based paint; and are more likely to live near ongoing
industrial activity or abandoned facilities.
The continued problems of lead exposure in America will
never be solved with a one-size-fits-all regulatory approach.
Together with EPA's federal partners, states, tribes, and local
communities, we will work collaboratively to eliminate risks
from lead exposures in all children.
To eliminate disparities in childhood blood lead levels, EPA
will convene partners to:
• Identify concentrated geographic areas with the
most overburdened communities where lead
exposures are highest;
• Create collaborative strategies and approaches to
take action to reduce sources of lead contamina-
tion; and
• Take national action to reduce lead in drinking
water.
ACTIONS
Develop partnerships to identify the most overburdened
communities.
In collaboration with partners (e.g., all levels of govern-
ment, the private sector, non-governmental organizations,
and community organizations), EPA will take the following
steps to address disparities in blood lead levels in children
————m , .
by focusing on communities where these disparities are most
pronounced. EPA will define a subset of the most overbur-
dened communities where lead exposures are highest, based
on factors such as:
• Household income;
• Age of housing in the community;
• Proximity to a Superfund site containing lead;
• Proximity to other sources oflead contamina-
tion such as industrial sites and highways;
• Drinking water supplied by utilities that exceed
the Lead and Copper Rule action level for lead;
• Non-attainment of the lead National Ambient
Air Quality Standards (NAAQS); and
• Additional evidence of factors that contribute
to elevated blood lead levels among children.
The identification of areas with the highest risk oflead
exposure to children will better allow EPA and its partners
to focus specific resources aimed at ultimately eliminating
harmful exposures. This, in turn, will aid in the elimination
of disparities in lead exposure currently seen in the United
States.
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48 I EJ 2020 ACTION AGENDA
Reduce sources of lead contamination.
EPA will take action to address childhood lead exposures
and health disparities in a holistic manner in order to focus
Agency resources, technical assistance and comprehensive
solutions to reduce sources of lead contamination in overbur-
dened communities. With partners, EPA will establish new
projects in areas with the highest risk of lead exposures to
children as well as leverage existing projects and coalitions
to take action.
To reduce sources of lead contamination, EPA will develop
strategies and unique approaches with all levels of govern-
ment, the private sector, non-government organizations and
community partners to:
• Educate communities on sources of lead contami-
nation and the health effects of lead;
• Raise awareness of lead-based paint exposure
and prevention tactics;
• Increase efforts to ensure adequate lead-based
paint workforces (e.g., inspectors, contractors,
trainers, etc.);
• Increase technical assistance to states and public
water systems to optimize corrosion control
treatment and remove lead service lines, if lead
in drinking water is a source contributor;
• Raise awareness of actions residents and the
community can take to reduce lead in drinking
water;
• Develop community-based sampling programs
to test soil, paint and drinking water for elevated
lead levels;
• Identify best practices and transfer lessons
learned;
• Facilitate data-sharing between health and
environmental agencies;
• Improve the use of data from screening programs;
and
• Increase financial assistance to address lead
hazards at the community level, to the extent
resources are available.
National actions to reduce lead in drinking water.
Lead can enter drinking water when service pipes that contain
lead corrode, especially where the water has high acidity or low
mineral content that corrodes pipes and fixtures. Addition-
ally, brass or chrome-plated brass faucets and fixtures with
lead solder can contribute significant amounts of lead in
drinking water, especially when it is hot water. Corrosion is
a dissolving or wearing away of metal caused by a chemical
reaction between water and plumbing. Homes built before
1986 are more likely to have lead pipes, fixtures and solder.
A number of factors are involved in the extent to which lead
enters the water, including:
• The chemistry of the water and the types and
amounts of mineral in the water;
• The amount of lead it comes into contact with;
• The temperature of the water;
• The amount of wear in the pipes;
• How long the water stays in pipes; and
• The presence of protective scales or coatings
inside the plumbing materials.
The Safe Drinking Water Act requires EPA to determine the
level of contaminants in drinking water at which no adverse
health effects are likely to occur with an adequate margin of
safety. These non-enforceable health goals, based solely on
possible health risk, are called maximum contaminant level
goals. EPA has set the maximum contaminant level goal for
lead in drinking water at zero because lead is a toxic metal
that can be harmful to human health even at low exposure
levels. EPA plans to take actions to reduce lead in drinking
water by strengthening protections provided by the Lead and
Copper Rule. EPA will:
• Work closely with states and public water systems
to enhance oversight and provide guidance
beyond historical implementation assistance
levels on tap water sampling;
• Improve guidance and implementation for
corrosion control and lead mitigation;
• Identify best practices that can be applied to
communities; and
• Enhance public sharing of sampling results.
In addition, EPA plans to consider long-term revisions to the
Lead and Copper Rule to improve public health protection
and enhance transparency by making substantive changes
to strengthen the rule. EPA's primary goals in considering
Lead and Copper Rule long-term revisions are to:
• Improve the effectiveness of the corrosion
control treatment in reducing exposure to lead
and copper, and
• Trigger additional actions that equitably reduce
the public's exposures to lead and copper when
corrosion control treatment alone is not effec-
tive.
The Lead and Copper Rule treatment technique requires
state and local water systems to monitor drinking water at
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EJ 2020 ACTION AGENDA I 49
customer taps and to take action if lead concentrations exceed
an action level of 15 ppb or copper concentrations exceed an
action level of 1.3 ppm in more than 10% of customer taps
sampled. If the action level for lead is exceeded, the system
must inform the public about steps they should take to protect
their health and replace lead service lines.3 Water systems
must offer to replace the privately owned portion of the lead
service lines but are not required to pay for that portion of
the replacement. To help shape an updated Lead and Copper
Rule, EPA engaged multiple stakeholders representing a wide
range of expertise, to form the Lead and Copper Rule Working
Group (NDWAC). EPA is considering the NDWAC's recom-
mendations, recommendations made by other stakeholders,
and lessons learned from our experience in Flint, Michigan
and implementation of the rule across the nation to develop
those proposed revisions.
REPORTING
To make progress towards eliminating lead exposures and
health disparities in overburdened communities, EPA will
create an internal team to ensure the Agency takes action to
address these disparities in a holistic manner. This team will
focus Agency resources, technical assistance and compre-
hensive solutions to reduce sources of lead contamination.
In addition, the team will assist with convening all levels of
government, the private sector, non-government organiza-
tions and community partners.
On an annual basis, the team will assess EPA's progress and
report out on efforts to:
• Identify concentrated geographic areas with the
most overburdened communities where lead
exposures are highest;
• Create collaborative strategies and approaches to
take action to reduce sources of lead contamina-
tion; and
• Reduce lead in drinking water by strengthening
protections provided by the Lead and Copper
Rule.
SMALL AND TRIBAL DRINKING WATER SYSTEMS
GOAL: All people served by community water systems21 have
drinking water that meets applicable health based standards.
In working toward this goal, we will place special emphasis
on addressing drinking water challenges in underserved
communities.21
MEASURES
A key environmental justice priority for EPA is ensuring
that all people served by small community and tribal water
systems have drinking water that meets applicable health-
based standards. EPA will work to improve performance
in small community and tribal water systems by assessing
progress annually on the following measures and working
to implement the actions below:
• Number and percent of small community water
systems and non-transient non-community water
systems with repeat health-based violations of
key contaminants.
• Percent of population in Indian country served
by community water systems with drinking water
that meets all applicable health-based drinking
water standards.
BACKGROUND
Safe, reliable drinking water is essential for the health and
well-being of all individuals. EPA has made significant
progress towards this goal since enactment of the landmark
Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) more than 40 years ago.
Yet, serious challenges remain. Many small drinking water
systems are particularly challenged by the need to improve
and maintain infrastructure and develop the capacity to
comply with new and existing standards.
Of the more than 51,500 community water systems nation-
wide that supply drinking water to more than 95% of the U.S.
population, the vast majority (82%) are small community water
systems which serve fewer than 3,300 people. Many of these
small drinking water systems serve disadvantaged commu-
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50 I EJ 2020 ACTION AGENDA
nities. In addition, these small community water systems
and tribal systems are often disproportionately impacted
by technical, managerial, and financial capacity challenges.
ACTIONS
EPA recognizes that assuring safe drinking water for all
people, including those served by small and tribal drinking
water systems, requires critical input and action from multiple
stakeholders. To assure progress towards our goal, EPA will
take a systems approach that embraces collaborative and
collective action to identify parts of the system that can be
strengthened, strategies for addresses the identified weaknesses,
and opportunities to innovate around key issues. Some of
EPA's initial proposed activities include:
For all systems: EPA, working appropriately with primacy
agencies, regulatory partners and communities, will take
action to address threats to public health from drinking
water. These actions may include:
• Develop a national drinking water action plan
to further advance the safety and reliability of
the nations drinking water (Focus areas will
include: oversight of SDWA implementation;
transparency, public information and risk
communication; prioritization of regulated and
unregulated/emerging contaminants; infrastruc-
ture financing and management in low income,
small and disadvantaged communities; and
revising the Lead and Copper Rule);
• Engage with the National Environmental
Justice Advisory Committee to identify tools
and best practices to assist communities with
environmental justice concerns in developing
water system technical, financial and managerial
capacity, and to address funding and financing
needs for infrastructure planning, design and
construction;
• Issue health advisories and communicate with
the communities to ensure they are aware of any
risks and what action they can take to keep safe;
• Conduct online training for states and systems
on regulations, treatment technologies and
system sustainability;
• Utilize EPA's laboratory network and scientific
expertise to conduct sampling and analysis to
identify and characterize the source and magni-
tude of the problem; and
• Coordinate with government at all levels to
help ensure the public is provided with alterna-
tive sources of safe drinking water, with health
monitoring, and that underlying problems are
addressed quickly and effectively.
For small community systems:
• Assist small communities in developing technical,
managerial, and financial capacity through
activities of EPA's Capacity Development and
Asset Management Program, and State circuit
riders;
• Strengthen small system financial sustainability
through activities of the Water Infrastructure
and Resilience Finance Center, regional Environ-
mental Finance Centers; and
• Disseminate and deliver "Building the capacity
of drinking water systems" information and
training.
For tribal systems: Unlike states, most tribes are not author-
ized for implementation of the drinking water program, so
EPA has direct implementation authorities over most tribal
drinking water systems.
• Increase training and technical assistance to
strengthen the technical capacity of the tribal
public water systems;
• Host managerial and financial management
seminars for tribal officials;
• Work with the USD A-Rural Development and
other Interagency Task Force members to identify
a strategy to increase funding and technical
assistance for tribal systems that have been out
of compliance for a minimum of three years;
• Increase the number of certified tribal operators;
and
• Use enforcement authority, as appropriate, to
ensure accountability.
REPORTING
The Office of Water will report annually on progress towards
achieving identified actions and measures.
FINE PARTICLE AIR POLLUTION
GOAL: Achieve air quality that meets the fine particle pollu-
tion national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) in all
areas of the country, with special emphasis on communities
with poor air quality and low-income populations. Working
with our co-regulator states, we will achieve this as early as
practicable and no later than their statutory attainment date
(which for most areas will be 2021 or sooner). Low-income
populations are among those most at-risk to adverse health
effects from exposure to fine particle pollution.
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EJ 2020 ACTION AGENDA I 51
MEASURES
We will track progress using three program measures calcu-
lated each year:
• Percentage of low-income people in counties with
monitors measuring concentrations of Pi\12.5
that meet the 2012 annual and 2006 24-hour
PM2.5 NAAQS.23
• The average county-level design value for counties
with monitors measuring PM2.5 concentrations
not meeting the PM2.5 NAAQS.24
• The difference in attainment of the standard
between low-income and non-low-income areas.
BACKGROUND
Particle pollution, also called particulate matter or PM, is a
complex mixture of extremely small particles and liquid droplets
in the air. When inhaled, these particles - especially, particles
equal to or smaller than 2.5 micrometers in diameter (i.e.,
PM2.5) - can reach the deepest regions of the lungs. Exposure
to particle pollution is linked to a variety of significant health
problems. Fine particle pollution is monitored throughout the
country to identify whether an area is meeting the NAAQS.
Low-income populations are among those most at-risk
to adverse health effects from exposure to PM2.5. They
have been generally found to have a higher prevalence of
pre-existing diseases, limited access to medical treatment,
and increased nutritional deficiencies, which can increase
their risk of particle pollution-related effects. In addition,
low-income populations often suffer from low educational
attainment or disadvantageous residential location, and these
factors can also contribute to an individual's higher exposure
to air pollution.
EPA revised the PM2.5 NAAQS most recently in 2012, and
in 2015 the EPA designated several areas as not attaining
the standard.25 The Clean Air Act specifies planning and
control requirements to be implemented by states in these
"nonattainment" areas. All PM 2.5 nonattainment areas
are initially classified as "Moderate," and are required to
attain the standard by the end of the 6th calendar year after
designation. Any area that cannot attain the standard by
that date will be reclassified as "Serious" and required to
attain the standard by the end of the 10th calendar year after
designation. For the 2006 24-hour standard, the Moderate
and Serious area attainment dates are 2015 and 2019. For
the 2012 annual standard, the Moderate and Serious area
attainment dates 2021 and 2025 (with possible extension
to 2030). EPA will work with those state, local and tribal
governments who have nonattainment areas to provide for
timely attainment of the 24-hour and annual standards by
the applicable attainment dates, with the latest possible
date being 2030.
This measure would calculate annually the percentage of
low-income populations living in counties with air monitors
measuring concentrations of PM2.5 that meet the 2012 annual
and 2006 24-hour PM2.5 NAAQS.26 The baseline period for
the measure will be 2006-2008 (i.e., the 3-year period used for
designations for the 2006 24-hour PM2.5 NAAQS). Changes
since that time will reflect the effectiveness of strategies
designed to reduce particle pollution.
The goal is for this percentage to increase over time and reach
100 percent by 2025. Based on current (2012-2014) air quality
data, among the low-income population that live in counties
with PM2.5 monitors, about 83 percent live in counties that
meet the 2012 annual and 2006 24-hour PM2.5 NAAQS.
This compares to about 85 percent of the total population
living in counties that meet the PM2.5 NAAQS and reflects
a 40 percent improvement since 2006-2008.
Many nonattainment areas contain a high number of low-income
residents. The proportion of low-income populations to the
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52 I EJ 2020 ACTION AGENDA
other people in the remaining nonat-
tainment counties has risen slowly,
but steadily from 32:68 percent
(low-income: non-low-income) in
the 2006-2008 base period to 36:64
percent (low-income: non-low-
income) in the 2012-2014 period.
Thus, as more counties come into
attainment, the remaining (more
severe) nonattainment areas highlight
a disparity in health protection.
To make progress towards the goal of
100 percent, more attention should be
placed on areas of severe nonattain-
ment. This can be accomplished by
providing more community involve-
ment in the air quality planning
process, more community education
and outreach, and other effective
actions, such as those identified
below, in these areas.
ACTIONS
The Clean Air Act prescribes a federal-state partnership to
address air quality problems. Steps being taken by EPA to
increase our support for state, local and tribal governments
in their planning efforts and to increase our involvement in
all areas that are not meeting the PM2.5 standards include:
• Providing assistance for PM2.5 nonattainment
area State Implementation Plan (SIP) develop-
ment for the 2006 and 2012 NAAQS;
• Providing assistance for SIP development for
other pollutants which may affect PM2.5, such
as S02;
• Awarding Diesel Emission Reduction Act (DERA)
grants;
• Awarding Targeted Airshed grants:
• Implementing EPA's Ports Initiative which is
intended to develop and implement environ-
mentally sustainable port strategies;
• Issuing national stationary source rules;
• Issuing national mobile source rules;
• Considering appropriate opportunities in
enforcement settlements to encourage Supple-
mental Environmental Projects that will benefit
overburdened communities impacted by sources
emitting PM2.5;
• Providing targeted trainings and outreach
meetings, especially in low-income areas not
attaining the standards; and
• Providing assistance for focused community-
level PM reductions strategies.
REPORTING
The Office of Air and Radiation will report annually on
the actions taken and progress towards achievement of the
measures.
HAZARDOUS WASTE SITES
GOAL: Reduce human exposure to contamination at hazardous
waste sites, with emphasis on minority, low-income and
vulnerable communities.
MEASURE
Number and percent of Resource Conservation Recovery Act
(RCRA) Corrective Action Program facilities and Superfund
Remedial Program contaminated sites in communities where
human exposures to contamination are under control.
BACKGROUND
The plight of overburdened communities surrounded by
hazardous waste sites has been an important issue in the
history of environmental justice. Minority and low-income
populations are more likely to be located in neighborhoods
with hazardous waste facilities and are more vulnerable to
0D ANTIFREEZE ONLY
2 SScwS WASTES-NO SOLVENTS
j-jDOiPAiiSPn.LS
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EJ 2020 ACTION AGENDA I 53
the negative impacts from such facilities. A key finding of
the report Toxic Wastes and Race at Twenty 1987 - 20 0727
found that minority populations make up the majority of
those living in host neighborhoods within 3 kilometers (1.8
miles) of the nation's hazardous waste facilities.
Developing a measure on hazardous waste sites under control
for human exposure to environmental toxins is an important
part our goal of protecting the health of all communities.
Sites are defined as Human Exposure Under Control when
assessments for human exposures indicate there are no
unacceptable human exposure pathways and the EPA region
has determined the site is under control for current condi-
tions site-wide. The criteria for determining the Site-Wide
Human Exposure status at a site are found in the Superfund
Environmental Indicator Guidance Human Exposure Revisions
(March 2008). By applying an environmental justice lens to
this measure, EPA can better focus our efforts on the most
vulnerable areas.
ACTIONS
EPA's goal is to increase the number of RCRA Corrective
Action Program facilities and Superfund Remedial Program
sites where human exposure is under control. Together, the
two programs have established a 2015 baseline of 799 facilities
and sites where human exposures to toxins are not yet under
control as of the end of FY 2014. Between FY 2015 and FY
2020 these two programs plan to bring 344 of the 799 facilities
and sites into the Human Exposure Under Control category.
On a biennial basis, EPA will examine each of the 799 baseline
facilities and sites where human exposure is not under control
using EJSCREEN. EPA will report on the number of facilities
and sites with human exposures under control, the number
remaining, and the percent with human exposures under
control in communities with environmental justice concerns
as well as in these communities as a proportion of the totals
for all sites and facilities.
Office of Superfund Remediation andTechnology Innovation
• EPA site experts will review data on Superfund
sites and make the Human Exposure determina-
tions.
• During cleanup activities, the Agency takes
actions to provide alternative means to protect
the community while the removal/remedial
action is taking place.
• EPA also works to eliminate unacceptable exposure
by using controls such as fencing, warning signs,
and significant community outreach.
• Superfund sites are considered Human Exposure
Under Control when assessments for human
exposures indicates there are no unacceptable
human exposure pathways and EPA has deter-
mined the site is under control for current
conditions site wide.
Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery
• The RCRA Corrective Action Environmental
Indicators are a means of evaluating and reporting
on the acceptability of RCRA site conditions.
• These sites include current and former chemical
manufacturing plants, oil refineries, lead smelters,
wood preservers, steel mills, commercial landfills,
and a variety of other types of entities.
• If a RCRA Corrective Action site is determined to
be human exposure not under control by a RCRA
state program or EPA, then sites presenting the
greatest risk to human health and the environ-
ment receive the highest priority for cleanup.
• Given the complex nature of this work, the facility
is cleaned as fast and efficiently as possible, until
assessments for human exposures indicate there
are no unacceptable human exposure pathways
and EPA has determined the site is under control
for current conditions.
REPORTING
The Office of Land and Emergency Management, through its
Office of Superfund Remediation and Technology Innova-
tion and Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery will
report annually on progress made in achieving this measure.
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54 I EJ 2020 ACTION AGENDA
APPENDIX A: PLAN EJ 2014 ACCOMPLISHMENTS
ELEMENT
MAJOR ACCOMPLISHMENTS
STATUS
Incorporate EJ
in Rulemaking
Finalize Guidance on Considering EJ During the Development of a Regulatory Action
Issue Draft EJ Technical Guidance for Assessing EJ in Regulatory Analysis for Public Comment/
Science Advisory Board Review
Finalize Technical Guidance for Assessing EJ in Regulatory Analysis
Develop EJ and Rulemaking Cross-Agency Team work products
COMPLETE
COMPLETE
COMPLETE
COMPLETE
Consider EJ
in Permitting
Institute Regional Implementation Plans for enhanced community engagement
Implement Regional Implementation Plans
Issue recommended practices on community engagement for EPA permit applicants
Develop draft framework and test tools for EJ analysis for EPA permits for internal review
COMPLETE
ONGOING
COMPLETE
Advance EJ through
Compliance and
Enforcement
Issue multiple guidances and policies on considering EJ in enforcement life-cycle
Issue guidance requiring EJ review for all initiated enforcement cases, tracking cases in
ICIS database and transitioning to EJSCREEN
Incorporate ACS measure for EJ in OECA FY 2014 NPM Guidance
Achieve and communicate results benefiting overburdened communities
COMPLETE
COMPLETE
COMPLETE
ONGOING
Support
Community-Based Programs
Implement Community KPI; lessons inform current priority on communities
Identify promising community-based practices
Develop land use and equitable development resources
COMPLETE
COMPLETE
COMPLETE
Foster Administration-Wide
Action
Reconvene Interagency Working Group on EJ (IWG) at cabinet level
Conduct White House Forum and community listening sessions
Issue Memorandum of Understanding on EO 12898 and IWG codifying structured
and focus areas, signed by IWG secretaries
Issue Promising Practices for EJ Methodologies in NEPA Review
COMPLETE
COMPLETE
COMPLETE
COMPLETE
Science Tools
Develop assessment and mapping tools, including C-FERST/T-FERST
Implement community cumulative assessment grants and Centers of Excellence
in Health Disparities
Convene NEJAC research workgroup; respond to recommendations by initiating develop-
ment of cross-cutting EJ Research Roadmap
ONGOING
COMPLETE
COMPLETE
Legal Tools
Issue EJ Legal Tools document
COMPLETE
Information Tools
Develop EJSCREEN V1.0 for internal use
Issue public version of EJSCREEN
COMPLETE
COMPLETE
Resources Tools
Establish one-stop "Resources for Communities" web portal
Develop technical assistance contract (TASC) and training enhancements
COMPLETE
COMPLETE
Tribal Policy
Issue EPA Policy on EJ for Working with Federally Recognized Tribes and Indigenous Peoples
COMPLETE
Training
Complete mandatory EJ training for all employees
COMPLETE
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EJ 2020 ACTION AGENDA I 55
APPENDIX B: GLOSSARY
Disproportionate Effects - Term used in Executive Order 12898 to describe situations of concern where there exists significantly higher and
more adverse health and environmental effects on minority populations, low-income populations or indigenous peoples.
Environmental Justice (EJ) - The fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, culture, national origin,
income, and educational levels with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of protective environmental laws, regula-
tions, and policies.
Fair Treatment - The principle that no group of people, including a racial, ethnic or a socioeconomic group, should bear a disproportionate share
of the negative environmental consequences from industrial, municipal and commercial operations or the execution of federal, state, local and
tribal programs and policies. In implementing its programs, EPA has expanded the concept of fair treatment to include not only consideration of
how burdens are distributed across all populations, but the distribution of benefits as well.
Indian Country - As defined at 18 U.S.C. § 1151, (a) all land within the limits of any Indian reservation under the jurisdiction of the United States
Government, notwithstanding the issuance of any patent, and, including rights-of-way running through the reservation; (b) all dependent Indian
communities within the borders of the United States whether within the original or subsequently acquired territory thereof, and whether within
or without the limits of a state; and (c) all Indian allotments, the Indian titles to which have not been extinguished, including rights-of-way
running through the same.
Indigenous Peoples - The term "indigenous peoples" includes state-recognized tribes; indigenous and tribal community-based organizations;
individual members of federally recognized tribes, including those living on a different reservation or living outside Indian country; individual
members of state-recognized tribes; Native Hawaiians; Native Pacific Islanders; and individual Native Americans.
Low-Income - A reference to populations characterized by limited economic resources. The US Office of Management and Budget has designated
the Census Bureau's annual poverty measure as the official metric for program planning and analysis, although other definitions exist.
Meaningful Involvement - 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 decision-making process; the decision makers seek out and facilitate the involve-
ment of those potentially affected.
Minority Populations - According to the U.S. Census Bureau, population of people who are not single-race white and not Hispanic. Populations
of individuals who are members of the following population groups: American Indian or Alaskan Native; Asian or Pacific Islander; Black, not of
Hispanic origin; or Hispanic.
Overburdened Community - Minority, low-income, tribal, or indigenous populations or geographic locations in the United States that potentially
experience disproportionate environmental harms and risks. This disproportionality can be as a result of greater vulnerability to environmental
hazards, lack of opportunity for public participation, or other factors. Increased vulnerability may be attributable to an accumulation of negative
or lack of positive environmental, health, economic, or social conditions within these populations or places. The term describes situations where
multiple factors, including both environmental and socio-economic stressors, may act cumulatively to affect health and the environment and
contribute to persistent environmental health disparities.
Tribes - When used in this document, "tribes" refers to federally recognized tribes. Federally recognized tribes include any Indian or Alaska Native
tribe, band, nation, pueblo, village, or community that the Secretary of the Interior acknowledges to exist as an Indian tribe pursuant to the
Federally Recognized Indian Tribe List Act of 1944,25 U.S.C.479a.
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56 I EJ 2020 ACTION AGENDA
APPENDIX C: ACRONYMS
EPA Headquarter Offices
OA Office of the Administrator
OAR Office of Air and Radiation
OCFO Office of the Chief Financial Officer
OCR Office of Civil Rights
OCSPP Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention
OECA Office of Enforcement and Compliance
OEJ Office of Environmental Justice
OGC Office of General Counsel
OITA Office of International and Tribal Affairs
OLEM Office of Land and Emergency Management
OP Office of Policy
ORD Office of Research and Development
OSC Office of Sustainable Communities
EPA Regional Offices
Region 1 Boston - serving CT, ME, MA, NH, Rl and VT
Region 2 New York City - serving NJ, NY, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands
Region 3 Philadelphia - serving DE, DC, MD, PA, VA and WV
Region 4 Atlanta - serving AL, FL, GA, KY, MS, NC, SC and TN
Region 5 Chicago - serving IL, IN, Ml, MN, OH and Wl
Region 6 Dallas - serving AR, LA, NM, OK and TX
Region 7 Kansas City - serving IA, KS, MO and NE
Region 8 Denver - serving CO, MT, ND, SD, UT and WY
Region 9 San Francisco - serving AZ, CA, HI, NV, American Samoa, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands,
Federated States of Micronesia, Guam, Marshal Islands and Republic of Palau
Region 10 Seattle - serving AK, ID, OR, WA and 271 native tribes
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TERMS
CARE Community Action for a Renewed Environment
CCAT Community Cumulative Assessment Tool
C-FERST Community-Focused Environmental Risk Screening Tool
CPBR Community-Based Participatory Research
CRN Community Resource Network
DERA Diesel Emissions Reduction Act
ECHO Enforcement and Compliance History Online
ECOS Environmental Council of the States
EIS Environmental Impact Statement
EJ Environmental Justice
EJ ADP Guidance on Considering Environmental Justice During the Development of an Action
EJ 2020 Environmental Justice 2020 Action Agenda
ETEPs EPA Tribal Environmental Plans
E012898 Executive Order 12898
GAP Indian Environmental General Assistance Program
HIA Health Impact Assessment
EJ IWG Interagency Working Group on Environmental Justice
LGAC Local Government Advisory Committee
MVD Making a Visible Difference in Communities
NEJAC National Environmental Justice Advisory Council
NEPA National Environmental Policy Act
NPM National Program Manager
PPA Performance Partnership Agreement
PPG Performance Partnership Grant
PM Particulate Matter
SEP Supplemental Environmental Project
T-FERST Tribal-Focused Environmental Risk and Sustainability Tool
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58 I EJ 2020 ACTION AGENDA
ENDNOTES
1. A summary of the accomplishments of Plan EJ 2014's accomplishments can be found in Appendix A.
2. EPA often uses the term "overburdened" to describe situations where multiple factors, including both environmental and socio-economic
stressors, act cumulatively to affect health and the environment. This concept is particularly useful for understanding the stressors that
contribute to persistent environmental health disparities. See Glossary (Appendix B).
3. Notable state tools and approaches include: California's CalEnviroScreen, South Carolina's community engagement processes, Connecticut's
community engagement program for permitting and New York's Brownfields area-wide planning program.
4. Next Generation Compliance is EPA's initiative to increase compliance with environmental regulations by using advances in pollutant monitoring
and information technology combined with a focus on designing more effective regulations and permits to reduce pollution. See: https://
www.epa.gov/compliance/next-generation-compliance.
5. Native people have been accumulating and valuing Traditional Ecological Knowledgefor thousands of years. Traditional Ecological Knowledge
can help confirm, support orfurther define scientific research forthe benefit of the environment and human health.
6. In February 2016, the United States Supreme Court stayed the Clean Power Plan pending judicial review. States and stakeholders are under
no obligation to comply with the Clean Power Plan while the stay is in effect. EPA firmly believes the Clean Power Plan will be upheld when
the courts address its merits because the Clean Power Plan rests on strong scientific and legal foundations.
7. Available at https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2016-04/documents/ejscreencpp.pdf
8. Next Generation Compliance - a modern approach to compliance, taking advantage of new tools and approaches while strengthening
vigorous enforcement of environmental laws to improve the effectiveness of our compliance program. It includes five strategies: 1) Design
regulations and permits that are easier to implement, with a goal of improved compliance and environmental outcomes; 2) Use and promote
advanced emissions/pollutant detection technology so that regulated entities, the government, and the public can more easily see pollutant
discharges, environmental conditions, and noncompliance; 3) Shift toward electronic reporting to help make environmental reporting more
accurate, complete, and efficient while helping EPA and co-regulators better manage information, improve effectiveness and transparency;
4) Expand transparency by making information more accessible to the public; and 5) Develop and use innovative enforcement approaches
(e.g., data analytics) to achieve more widespread compliance.
9. National Environmental Justice Advisory Committee, 2004. Ensuring Risk Reduction in Communities with Multiple Stressors: Environmental
Justice and Cumulative Risks/Impact.
10. National Research Council, 2009. Science and Decisions: Advancing Risk Assessment. (Washington, DC: National Academy Press).
11 U.S. EPA. 2014. Frameworkfor Human Health Risk Assessment to Inform Decision Making.
12. Air, Climate and Energy, Safe and Sustainable Water Resources, Chemical Safety for Sustainability, Sustainable and Healthy Communities,
Human Health Risk Assessment, and Homeland Security.
13. Researchers have also noted the importance of social determinants of health to community susceptibility, such as access to health care,
affordable food, safe housing and green space, and stress due to poverty, overcrowding, noise and proximity to violence.
14. The study of heritable changes in gene function that occur without a change in the DNA sequence. EPA Terms and Acronyms
15. E-Enterprise for the Environment is a new model for collaborative leadership among environmental co-regulators. Working together,
environmental leaders at EPA and states are utilizing the E-Enterprise model to simplify, streamline and modernize the implementation of
our environmental programs, http://www.epa.gov/e-enterprise/about-e-enterprise-environment
16. The Community Resources Network, established as a key component of the Agency's Making a Visible Difference in Communities cross-agency
strategy, is an internal network that promotes the development and coordination of community-based resources and best practices across
all EPA programs and regions. It seeks to provide EPA staff with the tools needed to work effectively with and in communities.
17. EPA Policy on Consultation and Coordination with Indian Tribes: Guidance for Discussing Tribal Treaty Rights (February 2016)
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EJ 2020 ACTION AGENDA I 59
18. The Office of the Chief Financial Officer and Region 9 are the program and regional leads for this area.
19. U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2011. Healthy Homes and Lead Poisoning Prevention Program (Report No. CS223978-C).
20. Lead service line replacement requirements in the Lead and Copper Rule extend to those lines that the public water systems controls. Lead
service lines: any service line made of lead which connects the water main to the building inlet and any lead pigtail, gooseneck or other
fitting connected to such a lead line. (40 CFR § 141.2). EPA defined control as equating to ownership of the line (65 Fed. Reg.; January, 12
2000; p. 1963). While public water systems are responsible for replacing the lead service lines they own, they are not required to replace
privately-owned portions. For these portions, they must notify the owner that the system is replacing its portion, and offer to replace the
owner's portion of the line at the owner's expense. Public water systems are not required to replace privately-owned portions if owners refuse
to pay for their portion of the replacement. (Notification and Reporting Requirements for Partial Lead Service Line Replacement under the
Lead and Copper Rule. April 2000. EPA 815-R-99-022).
21. Community Water Systems supply water to the same population year-round; https://www.epa.aov/dwreainfo/information-about-public-water-
svstems
22. Does not include private drinking water wells, as EPA does not have regulatory authority in this area; https://www.epa.gov/privatewells/
about-private-water-wells
23. Based on current (2012-2014) air quality data, almost 40% of the percentage of low-income people living in counties with air quality above
PM2.5 standards are in one county (Los Angeles County, CA). Given the dominance of this one county, it may be appropriate to report the
results for Los Angeles County separately.
24. This second measure provides information on the improvement in air quality in counties not meeting the PM2.5 NAAQS. It relies on the
calculated design value, which is a statistic that describes the air quality status of a given location relative to the level of the NAAQS.
25. EPA's prior review and revision of the PM NAAQS was completed in 2006 which resulted in strengthening the 24-hour PM2.5 standards. On
November 13,2009, EPA designated 31 areas as nonattainment forthe 2006 24-hour PM2.5 standards based on 2006-2008 data.
26. The PM standards will be reviewed and potentially revised again (if appropriate) before 2025. Any potential revision will not be included in
this goal, but incorporated into potential future measures.
27. Bullard, Robert D., Mohai, Paul, Saha, Robin, Wright, Beverly. 2007. Toxic Wastes and Race at Twenty: 1987-2007. (Cleveland, OH: United
Church of Christ).
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¦ Office of Enforcement and Compliance
Office of Environmental Justice
1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20460
(202) 564-2515
environmental-justice@epa.gov
A pnA United States
Environmental Protection
I M % Agency
EPA-300-B-1-6004
October 2016
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