1 MEMORANDUM

To : Kraft Pulp Mills Docket ( EPA

- HQ

- OAR

- 2012

- 0640 )

From : Kelley Spence , Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Date: September 18 , 2012 Subject: Environmental Justice Review: Kraft Pulp Mills NSPS

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Executive Order 12898 (59 FR 7629, February 16, 1994) establishes federal executive policy on environmental justice. Its main provision directs federal agencies, to the greatest extent practicable and permitted by law, to make environmental justice part of their mission by identifying and addressing, as appropriate, disproportionately high and adverse human health or environmental effects of their programs, policies, and activities on minority populations and low income pop ulations in the United States.

A key element of environmental justice is ensuring that all people have an opportunity for meaningful involvement in decision

- making. Certain groups may not have participated in the decision making process historically because of economic (e.g., income), social (e.g., language barriers, education levels, distrust of government), and structural reasons. A critical concern is whether, and the extent to which, communities have the ability to influence the types and number

o f regulated activities taking place in their community, as well as the requirements, conditions, and parameters by which they must operate (e.g., permit conditions).

The EPA aims to notify and engage the public in a variety of ways. Each rule is reviewed to identify the appropriate methodology and meaningful involvement may consist of one or more of the following: notices on the EJAir website, community call discussions, fact sheets, community meetings, and/or webinars.

2.0 DEMOGRAPHICS

EPA has concluded tha t it is not practicable to determine whether there would be disproportionately high and adverse human health or environmental effects on minority, low income, or indigenous populations from this proposed rule as it is unknown where new facilities

will be l ocated. However, the Agency has reviewed the areas surrounding existing facilities to determine if there is an overrepresentation of minority, low income, or indigenous populations near the sources such that they may currently face disproportionate risks f rom pollutants.

To gain a better understanding of the source category and near source populations, the U.S. EPA conducted a demographic analysis on the source categor y for this rulemaking. This analysis only gives some indication of the prevalence of sub populations that may be exposed to air pollution

from the sources and

, therefore

, would be those populations that may be exp ected to benefit most

from this regulation; it does not identify the demographic characteristics of the most highly

affected individ uals or communities, nor does it quantify the level of risk faced by those

individuals or communities.2 The demographic data in Table 1 shows that while most demographic categories are below or

within 2 0 percent of their corresponding national averages, th e African American population percentage within 3 miles of any source affected by this rulemaking exceeds the national average by 5 percentage points ( 18 percent versus 1 3 percent), or + 38 percent

.

The analysis of demographic data used proximity

- to

- a

- sou rce as a surrogate for exposure to identify those populations considered to be living near affected sources, such that they have notable exposures to emissions from these sources. The demographic data for this analysis were

extracted from the 20 1 0 census d ata, which were provided to the EPA by the United States Census Bureau. Distributions by race were based on demographic information at the census block level, and all other demographic groups were based on the extrapolation of census block group level data to the census block level. The socio

- demographic parameters used in the analysis included the following categories: Racial (White, African American, Native American, Other or Multiracial, and All Other Races); Ethnicity (Hispanic); and Other (n umber of pe ople below the poverty line, n umber of people with ages between 0 and 18, n umber of people greater than or equal to 65, n umber of people over age 25 without a high school diploma )

.

In determining the aggregate demographic makeup of the communities near affected sources, the

EPA focused on those census blocks within 3 miles of affected sources, determined the demographic composition (e.g., race, income, etc.) of these c ensus blocks, and compared them to the corresponding compositions nationally. The radius of 3 miles (or approximately 5 km) is consistent with other demographic analyses focused on areas around potential sources 1 2 3 4
however, not necessarily associated with the distance health risks are seen.

1 U.S. GAO (Government Accountability Office). Demographics of People Living Near Waste Facilities. Washington DC: Government Printing Office; 1995.

2 Mohai

, P

. , Saha

, R. “Reassessing Racial and Socio

- economic Disparities in Env ironmental Justice Research”. Demography. 2006;43(2): 383

– 399.

3 Mennis

, J. “Using Geographic Information Systems to Create and Analyze Statistical Surfaces of Populations and Risk for Environmental Justice Analysis”. Social Science Quarterly, 2002;83(1):2 81

- 297.

4 Bullard

, RD

, Mohai

, P

. , Wright

, B

. , Saha

, R

. , et al. Toxic Waste and Race at Twenty 1987

- 2007. United Church of Christ. March, 2007.3 Table 1. Summary of D emo g raphic A nalysis for Kraft Pulp Mills

DEMOGRAPHIC

SUMMARY 1 NEAR

SOURCE

TOTAL % OF NEAR

SOURCE

TOTAL NATIONAL

TOTAL % OF NATIONAL

TOTAL

POPULATION 757,564 312,861,256

WHITE 556,248 73% 226,405,205 72%

AFRICAN

AMERICAN 139,782 18% 39,475,216 13%

NATIVE AMERICAN 9,613 1% 3,646,995 1%

OTHER OR

MULTIRACIAL 51,921 7% 43,333,840 14%

MINORITY 2 201,316 27% 86,456,051 28%

HISPANIC OR

LATINO 3 39,585 5% 54,181,245 17%

AGE 0

- 4 50,745 7% 20,465,068 7%

AGE 0

- 17 179,398 24% 75,217,176 24%

AGE 65+ 107,183 14% 40,830,262 13%

NO HIGH SCHOOL

DIPLOMA 71,271 9% 32,060,510 10%

BELOW POVERTY

LINE 116,904 15% 43,616,850 14%

>= 1.2 of National Average

Sources: The demographics are from the U.S. Census Bureau, 2010. Information on the facilities is from U.S. EPA.

1. Where facility study areas overlap, the census block populations are only counted once in this table. Therefore, a facilit y level total may not match this summary total.

2. The “Minority” population is the overall population minus white population.

3. The Census Bureau defines “Hispanic or Latino” as an ethnicity rather than as a racial category, Hispanics or Latinos may belong to any

race. All of the races noted in the table m ay include Hispanics.