Environmental Justice Advances into Federal Policymaking

On Feb. 27, several federal agencies released environmental justice strategies that outlined steps they will take to address and reduce the disproportionate health and environmental harms that affect low-income, minority, and indigenous communities. This release is part of the Obama administration’s ongoing efforts to integrate environmental justice into all areas of federal policymaking, including transportation, labor, health services, and housing.

Background

Environmental justice emerged as a policy issue in the 1980s as indigenous, minority, and low-income community groups witnessed an increasing number of hazardous and polluting industries locate in their neighborhoods. In 1994, President Bill Clinton issued an Executive Order (E.O. 12898, "Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations") that called for federal agencies to make environmental justice part of their missions and to develop a strategy for implementation.

Environmental justice, as defined by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), is 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…It will be achieved when everyone enjoys the same degree of protection from environmental and health hazards and equal access to the decision-making process to have a healthy environment in which to live, learn, and work.

However, under President George W. Bush, even the EPA failed to integrate environmental justice issues into its policymaking. In fact, a 2004 report of the EPA’s Inspector General charged that the Bush administration had watered down the definition of environmental justice so much that it excluded minority and low-income populations.

The Obama administration has tried to reinvigorate the issue. In 2010, for the first time in more than a decade, the White House reconvened the Interagency Working Group on Environmental Justice. The administration also organized an Environmental Justice Forum, which brought more than 100 environmental justice leaders from across the country to meet with cabinet secretaries and senior administration officials.

Most recently, in August 2011, 17 federal agencies signed a "Memorandum of Understanding on Environmental Justice and Executive Order 12898" (MOU EJ). The MOU EJ committed each agency to finalizing and releasing an environmental justice strategy by February 2012.

The Release of Agency EJ Strategies

Seven federal agencies hit the target and released their environmental justice strategies in February 2012, including the Department of Labor, Department of Housing and Urban Development, and Department of Transportation. The EPA published its Plan EJ 2014 and an annual implementation plan in September 2011. The Department of Energy, which had released an EJ strategy and a five-year implementation plan in 2008, published a second progress report in August 2011. Both agencies are still accepting public comments.

Here are selected highlights of a few of the agency initiatives that will help improve outreach, participation, and planning for environmental justice:

  • The Department of Labor is translating educational materials and hazard alerts into Spanish, Chinese, and Vietnamese to ensure that minority workers have access to information to avoid environmental hazards on the job.
  • Through its Pueblo Project in Los Alamos, NM, the Department of Energy will enable four tribal governments to run pollution monitoring programs and provide technical input on the National Nuclear Security Administration's decisions.
  • The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, part of the Department of Health and Human Services, is using Health Impact Assessments to evaluate the potential impacts its policy or projects might have on disadvantaged communities.

However, despite the February deadline, some agencies do not have final strategies or implementation reports. The EPA hosts a website containing a listing and links to all the agencies’ policies, strategic plans, and implementation reports.

Federal agencies were required to gather public input when developing their strategies, so in 2011, more than 15 listening sessions with stakeholders were held across the country asking how the federal government should work with communities to strengthen public processes designed to improve environmental health and safety.

Reactions

Environmental justice, environmental, and public health organizations welcomed the administration’s efforts to elevate these issues. "The Administration deserves praise for recognizing that these complex problems require a holistic approach," said Elizabeth C. Yeampierre of the United Puerto Rican Organization of Sunset Park.

Jeannie Economos of the Farmworker Association of Florida called last week’s release a first step but said there is still “a long way to go.” Economos "hopes the administration’s environmental justice efforts do more to address communities at risk of pesticide exposure, specifically those most vulnerable, which includes farmworkers."

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