&EPA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Office of Environmental Justice (OEJ)
Enforcement and
Compliance
(2201A)	
September 2008
Environmental Justice Fact Sheet
National Environmental Justice
Advisory
BACKGROUND
EPA's commitment to environmental justice began in 1992, as a
response to public concerns, when the Agency created an Office of
Enviromnental Justice and implemented a new organizational
infrastructure to integrate enviromnental justice considerations into
EPA's policies, programs, and activities. In 1993, the Agency
established the National Enviromnental Justice Advisory Council
(NEJAC) in order to obtain independent advice and
recommendations from all stakeholders involved in the
enviromnental justice dialogue.
integrating enviromnental justice considerations into EPA's
programs, policies, and day-to-day activities.
The NEJAC consists of members from community-based groups;
business and industry; academic and educational institutions; state
and local governments; tribal governments and indigenous
organizations; and non-governmental and enviromnental groups.
The Council meets once each year and provides a forum focusing
on human health and environmental conditions in all communities,
including minority populations and low-income populations.
Obtaining Stakeholder Advice
The NEJAC was established by charter pursuant to the Federal
Advisory Committee Act (FACA) on September 30, 1993. On
August 8, 2006, EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson approved
the renewal of the charter for the NEJAC, which provides the
Administrator with advice and recommendations with respect to
The issues around enviromnental justice are often complex and
involve strongly divergent viewpoints. The NEJAC provides an
enviromnent for all parties to express their concerns and to
formulate independent, cogent, and timely advice and
recommendations to EPA on major public policy issues. In this
way, the NEJAC assists in integrating enviromnental justice into
EPA's policies, programs, and activities.
NEJAC ACCOMPLISHMENTS
As a committee consisting of representatives of broad spectrum of
stakeholders, the NEJAC has developed consensus proposals to the
Agency for creative and collaborative strategies to better address
the human health and environmental protection needs of
disadvantaged and underserved communities and to ensure that the
goal of environmental justice is being integrated in Agency policies,
programs, and priorities.
From 1993 to 1996, the NEJAC produced a number of products and
provided consensus advice to help the Agency focus its
enviromnental justice agenda. For example, the initial draft of
EPA's Enviromnental Justice Strategy required by Executive Order
12898 was reviewed and substantive recommendations made; the
Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response's Facility Siting
Criteria document was reviewed; the Model Plan for Public
Participation was published and distributed widely; and a public
forum protocol was developed and subsequently used as the model
for the first Interagency Public Meeting on Enviromnental Justice
held January 19 and 20, 1995, in Atlanta, Georgia. During the
summer of 1995, public dialogues were conducted in five major
cities concerning possible solutions to urban crises resulting from
the loss of economic opportunities caused by pollution and the
relocation of businesses. These dialogues were intended to provide
an opportunity, for the first time, for enviromnental justice
advocates and residents of impacted communities to systematically
provide input regarding issues related to the EPA's Brownfields
Economic Redevelopment Initiative. In May 1996, the NEJAC and
EPA co-sponsored a Roundtable on Superfund Relocation issues in
Pensacola, Florida, to help EPA determine how relocation should be
considered during any cleanup decision. The first NEJAC/EPA
Enforcement Roundtable was held in San Antonio, Texas.
EPA's Commitment to Environmental Justice
In his June 9, 2008, Memorandum, "Strengthening EPA's
Environmental Justice Program," Administrator Stephen
Johnson noted that the advice and recommendations of the
NEJAC will be especially pertinent to the Agency as it seeks
to place greater emphasis on implementation and the
integration of environmental justice considerations into all
programs, policies, and activities. In this memo, the
Administrator stated that continued progress requires a
management and implementation infrastructure that utilizes
internal staff and expertise as well as external advice and
recommendations. This infrastructure includes the NEJAC,
whose advice also will assist in EPA's implementation of the
Administrator's priorities. These national priorities include:
reducing asthma attacks; reducing exposure to air toxics;
increasing compliance of regulations; reducing incidence of
elevated blood lead levels; ensuring that fish and shellfish are
safe to eat; ensuring that water is safe to drink; and using
collaborative problem-solving to address environmental
and/or public health concerns.
In recognizing that minority and/or low-income communities
frequently may be exposed disproportionately to
environmental harms and risks, EPA works to protect these
and other burdened communities from adverse human health
and environmental effects of its programs, consistent with
existing environmental and civil rights laws, and their
implementing regulations, as well as Executive Order 12898
("Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in
Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations," Feb. 11,
1994).
EPA will continue to fully implement its programs, policies,
and activities to ensure that they do not adversely affect
populations with critical environmental and public health
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During the 1997 to 1999 period, the second NEJAC/EPA
Enforcement Roundtable was held in Durham, North Carolina; the
US-Mexico Border XXI program proposal was reviewed; and the
Agency's enforcement and compliance work plan was commented
on. In an effort to provide guidance to EPA regarding international
issues related to environmental justice, the first Roundtable on
Environmental Justice on the U.S. /Mexico Border was held August
19 to 21, 1999 in National City, California. The objectives of that
Roundtable were to define and trace the evolution of the national
and international environmental justice issues; identify
environmental justice issues along the joint U.S./Mexico border;
provide an overview of current border programs and explore ways
to address concerns; develop environmental justice border policies;
and identify existing enforcement and cleanup processes.
During the 1999 to 2008 period, NEJAC restructured its meetings
from addressing site-specific issues to addressing national policy
issues. In recent meetings, the following issues have been
discussed and reports of recommendations submitted to the
Administrator:
¦ Permitting: What factors should be considered by a federal
agency, as well as state or local agencies with delegated
permitting authority in the decision making process prior to
allowing a new facility to operate in a community that already
may have a number of such facilities?
•	Community Based Health Models: Is there a direct
correlation between the environment and the public health
problems of the resident of communities that are located in
close proximity to multiple pollution-generating facilities?
•	EJ Integration in Federal Programs: How have the Federal
agencies succeeded in integrating environmental justice into
their programs, operations, policies, and activities pursuant to
Executive Order 12898?
•	Fish Consumption: How should the EPA improve the quality,
quantity, and integrity of our Nation's aquatic ecosystems in
order to protect the health and safety of people consuming or
using fish, aquatic plants, and wildlife?
•	Pollution Prevention: How can EPA promote innovation in
the field of pollution prevention, waste minimization, and
related areas to more effectively ensure a clean environment
and quality of life for all peoples, including low-income,
minority and tribal communities?
•	Cumulative Risk: To ensure environmental justice for all
communities and tribes, what short- and long-term actions
should the Agency take in proactively implementing the
concepts contained in its Framework for Cumulative Risk
Assessment?
•	Enhancing Stakeholder Involvement: What mechanisms will
most effectively: ensure continuation of timely, relevant and
cogent public policy advice on environmental justice
issues/concerns; enable impacted communities to continue to
raise concerns to government agencies; support continued
partnership-building and problem-solving capacity among
EPA's regulatory partners and other environmental justice
stakeholders; and promote opportunities for training and
sharing lessons learned for all stakeholders involved in the
environmental justice dialogue?
•	Goods Movement and Air Quality - How can the Agency
most effectively promote strategies, in partnership with federal,
state, tribal, and local government agencies, to identify,
mitigate, and/or prevent the disproportionate burden on
communities of air pollution resulting from goods movement
activities.
•	Green Business and Sustainability: How can the EPA
enhance its efforts to engage the private sector - business and
industry - in a meaningful dialogue to strengthen the links
between environmental justice, green business, and
sustainability.
•	State EJ Assistance: What mechanism can EPA use select,
fund, and implement State Cooperative Agreement projects
that will result in meaningful and measurable environmental
and/or public health improvements in communities
disproportionately exposed to environmental harms and risks.
In 2007, the NEJAC incorporated public teleconference calls as a
way to expand public participation at its meetings. In addition to its
public face-to-face meetings, the NEJAC has held four public
meetings via teleconference call in 2007 and 2008. It anticipates it
will hold two such calls each year.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
Because NEJAC is chartered under FACA, it is required to hold
public meetings to receive comments, questions, and
recommendations regarding environmental justice issues. Each
NEJAC meeting includes a minimum of two hours for members of
the public to register and make statements before the NEJAC. Time
for public comment also has been allotted during public
teleconference calls. All comments are recorded and maintained as
a part of the public record of each meeting. Each meeting record is
available to the public on the Internet (see box below) or in Room
2224, Ariel Rios Building, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW,
Washington, D.C. 20004. In some cases, hard copies are available.
Call the OEJInformation Line at 1-800-962-6215.
MEMBERSHIP
Careful consideration is given to the appointment of each member
to ensure that the point of view of every stakeholder group is
represented. Members have staggered terms, and the membership is
rotated to provide the widest participation possible by the greatest
number of stakeholders.
INTERNET ACCESS
Information about the NEJAC, including reports and publication is
available on the Internet (see the box below), where you will be
prompted to select a variety of options for information about
NEJAC. You will be given an opportunity to add your name to the
Office of Environmental Justice's mailing list and be able to "link"
to other sites of interest.
NEJAC KEY POINTS OF CONTACT
Chair	Mr. Richard Moore
Designated Federal	Mr. Charles Lee 202-564-2597
Officer (DFO)
Program Manager	Ms. Victoria Robinson 202-564-6349
To receive the most
UP-TO-DATE INFORMATION about the NEJAC:
Go online at:
http://www.epa.gov/compliance/environmentaljustice

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