Environmental Justice
Environment Justice (hereafter EJ) Studies provide assessments of the environmental and socioeconomic consequences of federal polices and projects on low-income and minority populations. Environmental justice is achieved when everyone, regardless of race, culture, or income, 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.
The U.S. Environment Protection Agency (EPA) defined 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. Fair treatment means that no group of people, including a racial, ethnic, or a socioeconomic group, should bear a disproportionate share of the negative environmental consequences resulting from industrial, municipal, and commercial operations or the execution of federal, state, local, and tribal programs and policies. Meaningful involvement means that: 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; and the decision makers seek out and facilitate the involvement of those potentially affected.
Energy Policy & Economics (EP&E) Staff regularly provide assessments of the environmental and socioeconomic consequences of federal polices and projects on low-income and minority populations for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). We have developed guidance for Environmental Justice analysis for both DOE and NRC. We have our own in-house Arcview GIS mapping capability to identify potentially vulnerable minority and low-income populations.
Some recent EP&E staff involvements in environmental justice studies and projects include: the Environmental Impact Statements (EIS) projects and Path 15 project.
The EIS projects are statements and studies EP&E staff implement for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, Spent Fuels Project Office Licensing and Inspection Directorate, Washington DC. In these project EP&E staffs provide an assessment of environmental justice issues including; potential loss of property values for houses owned by tribal or minority members; potential groundwater conflicts with wells supplying water to tribal or minority members; and or potential loss of opportunity to collect, or potential airborne or waterborne contamination of, plant and animal resources near the proposed site.
Path 15 Project was a response to President Bush's national energy policy and the Secretary of Energy to correct power transmission congestion between northern and southern California in the area known as Path 15. Transmission congestion in this bottleneck contributed to rolling blackouts in northern California. EP&E staff evaluated the adequacy of environmental documentation for project to solve problems that have been in planning for nearly two decades. The analysis, including field work and additional assessment, gave the client the environmental support they needed to comply with federal regulations and form a partnership with private investors to build the project.
The EP&E - Path 15 Environmental Justice study identified the locations of minority and low income populations, and proceeded to evaluate whether any of the environmental impacts of the proposed action could affect these populations in a disproportionate manner.
For further information on Environmental Justice, contact Dave M. Anderson, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), at (509) 375-6781.