v>EPA EPA REGION 2 DRAFT CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION United States IMPLEMENTATION PLAN FACT SHEET Environmental Protection Agency June 2022 Background To address the impacts of climate change, President Biden issued Executive Order (EO) 14008, "Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad", requiring every federal agency to develop Climate Action Plans. In response, EPA finalized an Agency-wide Climate Adaptation Action Plan in October 2021. • "Climate change adaptation or climate adaptation means taking action to prepare for and adjust to both the current and projected impacts of climate change." The Agency-wide Plan directed the Regional Offices to update their 2014 Regional Climate Action Plans Region 2's Draft Adaptation Implementation Plan This updated 2022 draft plan builds off our 2014 plan and provides an overview of climate impacts in New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, and US Virgin Islands; identifies regional programmatic vulnerabilities in relation to those climate impacts; provides a list of 36 Climate Adaptation Priority Actions to respond to those programmatic vulnerabilities; identifies regional climate science needs and establishes a training plan. We welcome all feedback and are particularly interested in your feedback on Section 3 - Climate Vulnerability Assessment, Section 4 - Priority Actions, and Section 6 - Climate Science Needs Section 3 - Regional Climate Vulnerability Assessment Overall Impacts on people, Ecosystems and R2's Geographic Area: PRECIPITATION AND INLAND EFFECTS HURRICANES OTHER EXTREME EVENTS SUCH AS TORNADOES AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORM SEA LEVEL RISE, WATER TEMPERATURE AND pH • Programatic Vulnerabilities 1. AIR QUALITY 2. WATER QUALITY HUMAN HEALTH AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS VULNERABLE POPULATIONS CLIMATE CHANGE-RELATED CONFLICT AND COLLABORATION CHALLENGE 3. CONTAMINATED SITES 4. CHEMICAL SAFETY AND POLLUTION PREVENTION Section 4 - Priority Actions Themes (See Table on pg. 2 for details) 1. Advance Research, Systems and Guidance that Support Climate Adaptation in Region 2 2. Leverage Partnerships & Conduct Outreach to Enhance Adaptative Capacity in Region 2 3. Seek Opportunities to Integrate Environmental Justice into Each of Our Climate Change Priority Actions, to the Extent Practicable 4. Support the Use of Disaster Recovery Resources and Mitigation Strategies to Assist States, Local Communities, Indian Nations, and Territories in their Adaptation Efforts 5. Use our Authorities to Innovate and Expand our Work on Climate Adaptation Section 6 - Climate Science Needs Region 2 requires these research/tools to support adaptation • Geospatial tools that incorporate simultaneous flood hazards, such as rainfall, sea level rise, and storm surge • Mapping and tools for wetland and stream restoration and preservation • Analytical methods for measuring/monitoring/treatment of harmful algal blooms (HABs)/water quality • Research on green infrastructure lifecycle costs, design efficiency and valuation of co-benefits • Green remediation metrics and flood mapping for our Superfund program • Inventory and evaluate modeling methods on climate change impacts to support our programs Opportunity to Provide Input - We welcome your input on the draft Plan by June 30, 2022. Email: Region2_Climate@epa.gov EPA REGION 2 DRAFT CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION IMPLEMENTATION PLAN FACT SHEET 1 ------- SECTION 4 - PRIORITY ACTIONS TABLE Theme 1 Advance Research, Systems and Guidance that Support Climate Adaptation in Region 2 1.1) Update the Climate Change portion of the Five-Year Review Guidance to provide additional guidance to Remedial Project Managers (RPMs) on screening sites for climate vulnerabilities, update Green Remediation metrics and expanding collection of data, and develop tools RPMs can use to evaluate Climate Risks, such as remedy database and best practices. 1.2) Conduct a vulnerability assessment of existing remedies using various screening tools available and prioritize those that need further evaluation. 1.3) Develop and implement changes to regional compliance monitoring and enforcement processes to strengthen the Region's adaptive capacity and resiliency such as e-workflows, e- reporting, and electronic recordkeeping. 1.4) Determine the impacts of increased residential electrification (non-gas homes), vehicle electrification, and cryptocurrency on electrical grid resilience in the face of extreme heat events, and on increased climate-related ozone formation 1.5) Modeling and demonstration of the increased impacts of increased cooling degree days (CDD) and High Electric Demand Day (HEDD) emissions by out of region sources to quantify and demonstrate the impacts on the NY metro area 03 nonattainment area. 1.6) Monitor/review the identified biannual Regional Science Needs and research proposals to ensure climate adaptation needs are recognized, where applicable 1.7) Finalize the EPA/FEMA, NYS DOS RISE Tool and expand the number of communities the Region is supporting in the TA Workshops provided and in the number of communities we are able to support in follow-up steps 1.8) Identify opportunities to evaluate site locations and incorporate green cleanup techniques and more resilient cleanup approaches as part of the long-term stewardship of RCRA corrective action and PCB cleanup approvals. Theme 2 Leverage Partnerships & Conduct Outreach to Enhance Adaptative Capacity in Region 2 2.1) Organize and promote wide participation at the proposed 3rd Climate Change in the Caribbean Conference: Promoting Climate Resilience in the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. This conference is an educational tool that, in addition to climate adaptation and mitigation, will include discussions related to Indigenous Engagement, Climate Justice including Equity and Environmental Justice, and will promote more collaboration among the federal and the U.S. Caribbean territorial governments (PR and USVI), community organizations, academia, philanthropy entities, among others. 2.2) Partner with state and federal agencies to include climate resiliency in all Bipartisan Infrastructure Law- related projects such as water infrastructure. National Solid Waste for Recycling Infrastructure Grants, Brownfields, Pollution Prevention and Source Reduction Assistance Grants and incorporate climate justice considerations to the extent practicable. 2.3) Increase water-related climate literacy and information exchange, this includes the development of workshops and presentations where the WD highlights climate change as a significant component 2.4) Incorporate climate change language into new releases and social media content, as appropriate, and plan and execute public events and elected official briefings that support Region 2 Climate change related programs and activities. Distribute existing climate change literature and tools the public can take and/or use 2.5) Advance adaptation in Region 2 through the Mid-Atlantic Federal Climate Partners (CCWG) 2.6) Partner with Indian nations, through collaboration and consultation, on their current and future resiliency efforts. 2.7) Partner with Indian Nations to identify techniques for addressing invasive species impacting biodiversity and crop harvesting. 2.8) Partner with Indian Nations to identify shoreline stabilization techniques. 2.9) Promote Integrated Pest Management Practices (IPM) and Compliance Assistance to Schools in EJ Areas by collaborating with them through IPM assessments. 2.10) Expand the monthly "Resource Newsletter" that currently focuses on community development to include adaptation and recovery resources to the extent possible. We will also work to expand the audience to ensure communities most at risk to disaster impacts are able to access the newsletter. 2.11) Region 2 will leverage its partnerships with ORD and other agencies and institutions to address the mental health impacts of climate change using our respective programs and authorities. 2.12) Advance the use of Environmental Collaboration and Conflict Resolution (ECCR) within Region 2 and/or with our partners and stakeholders to support collaborative processes on climate change adaptation. Theme 3 Seek Opportunities to Integrate Environmental Justice into Each of Our Climate Change Priority Actions, to the Extent Practicable 3.1) Region 2 will integrate environmental justice into our adaptation work and, in part, accomplish this priority through coordination of the Region 2 Climate Change Workgroup and Region 2 Environmental Justice Workgroup. 3.2) Showcase in Region 2 Water Division's annual report our grantees' and partners' efforts to implement climate change adaptation activities, especially in vulnerable populations. 3.3) Continue to integrate the concept of climate justice into our programs and activities. Theme 4 Support the use of disaster recovery resources and mitigation strategies to Assist States, Local Communities, Indian Nations, and Territories in their Adaptation Efforts 4.1) Work with our inter-agency partners to identify how disaster funding could be used to support state and local mitigation activities. 4.2) Integrate Climate Change Adaptation in Disaster Recovery by supporting energy resiliency efforts and natural based solutions in watershed management, storm water and flood control, coastal erosion, and flooding in the Caribbean and other impacted states and communities in Region 2 through coordination with the Disaster Recovery and Mitigation Workgroup. 4.3) Support and develop internal capacity/workforce to develop and implement disaster mitigation, response, and recovery initiatives in Region 2, in particular, for the Caribbean. 4.4) Expand inter-agency partnerships to support disaster mitigation activities in those communities and facilities most at risk to climate impacts. 4.5) Work along with Puerto Rico and US Virgin Islands governments and federal partners such as FEMA and HUD to recognize coral reefs, beaches, wetlands, mangroves, dunes, and seagrass meadows as critical infrastructure Theme 5 Use EPA's Authorities to Innovate and Expand our Work on Climate Adaptation 5.1) Research statutes and regulations that provide discretion for Region 2 to advance adaptation and feed the knowledge we gain/lessons-learned into the broader national effort on climate change. 5.2) Focus regional compliance monitoring activities on sources where compliance with new and/or existing regulations will have the co-benefit of mitigating/adapting to a changing climate (e.g., volatile organic compound inspections in non-attainment areas, CAA New Source Performance Standard inspections at landfills, orstormwater inspections in flood zones), especially where such activities will advance environmental justice. 5.3) Factor in climate change adaptation into enforcement actions/settlements, such as promoting green infrastructure as part of injunctive relief in NPDES stormwater cases. 5.4) Advance adaptation in our permitting actions 5.5) Coordination with state and federal agencies to ensure consideration of hazards and vulnerabilities resulting from climate change are adequately incorporated in NEPA documents. Various adaptations can range from behavioral, management/operations to infrastructural/physical. The range of alternatives should be expanded to include such recommendation EPA REGION 2 DRAFT CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION IMPLEMENTATION PLAN FACT SHEET 2 ------- |