PLAN EJ 2014
 

CONSIDERING ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
 

IN PERMITTING
 

DRAFT IMPLEMENTATION PLAN
 

Led by
 

Office of Air and Radiation, Office of General Counsel
 

and Region 1
 

Plan EJ 2014 is EPA’s roadmap to integrate

environmental justice (EJ) into its programs and policies.

2014 represents the 20th anniversary of the signing of

Executive Order 12898 on environmental justice.
           

                 

                             

   

Comments regarding the Considering Environmental Justice
 

in Permitting Draft Implementation Plan can be submitted on Regulations.gov.
 

For more information on Plan EJ 2014, visit the US EPA’s Office of Environmental Justice

website at: http://www.epa.gov/environmentaljustice/plan‐ej/index.html.
                                                  

                                 

                               

                             

                                

                             

                       

                           

                       

     

                             

                     

                           

                           

                     

                              

                             

                

                             

                           

           

                                   

           

   

                       

                         

           

                               

                     

                               

                   

   

         

                     

                     

                     

                       

                  

                   

                     

Plan EJ 2014: Considering Environmental Justice in Permitting Draft Implementation Plan, March 1, 2011

1.0 INTRODUCTION

The intent of this cross‐Agency element (EJ Permitting Initiative) of Plan EJ 2014 is “to ensure that

environmental justice concerns are given as full consideration as possible in the decision to issue a

permit and the terms of the permits issued under [existing] federal environmental laws,” as stated

in Plan EJ 2014. It contemplates a focus on both EPA‐issued permits, as well as permits issued

pursuant to existing federal environmental laws (i.e., federal, state, or tribal), and seeks to identify

“the best current opportunities for taking environmental justice concerns into consideration” and

“enable EPA to address the complex issue of cumulative impacts from exposure to multiple

sources and existing conditions that are critical to the effective consideration of environmental

justice in permitting.”

The proposed activities outlined in this Draft Implementation Plan rely heavily on the advice and

recommendations presented by the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council (NEJAC) from

both their most recent response to EPA’s permitting charge and numerous relevant prior NEJAC

reports. We recognize that there has been considerable amount of work − particularly on the

NEJAC’s part − advocating for earlier and more effective public participation in the permitting

process, but that these practices have not been widely adopted. We also recognize that although

environmental justice can be incorporated into the permitting process in a variety of ways, there

are significant challenges − particularly related to cumulative/multi‐media impacts. We therefore

seek to truly create a culture within EPA − and among our federal, state, local, and tribal

permitting partners – in which engaging on issues of environmental justice more readily translates

into greater protections for disproportionately burdened communities.

Below is a DRAFT Implementation Plan to be discussed and revised by EPA staff over the next few

months, with additional input from external stakeholders.

1.1 Goals

Our overarching goals are for disproportionately burdened communities to have full and
 

meaningful access to the permitting process and for permits to address environmental justice
 

issues to the greatest extent practicable.
 

To achieve our goals, the EJ Permitting Initiative will “[i]dentify and develop tools to support the
 

consideration of environmental justice during implementation of permitting programs” to reduce
 

“exposures for those at the greatest risk,” as stated in the FY 2011‐2015 EPA Strategic Plan, Cross‐

Cutting Fundamental Strategy: Working for Environmental Justice and Children’s Health (Strategic
 

Plan).
 

Our goals help to fulfill:
 

 Executive Order 12898, “Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice In Minority
 

Populations and Low‐Income Populations,” which tasks each federal agency with “achieving

environmental justice part of its mission by identifying and addressing, as appropriate,

disproportionately high and adverse human health or environmental effects of its programs,

policies, and activities on minority populations and low‐income population;”

 The Administrator’s priority of Expanding the Conversation on Environmentalism and Working

for Environmental Justice, which heralds “a new era of outreach and protection for

1 
                                                  

                   

                 

                           

                           

             

                       

  

                     

                 

             

                               

         

                              

                                     

                         

                           

                   

                         

                             

                               

                             

                         

                              

             

   

Plan EJ 2014: Considering Environmental Justice in Permitting Draft Implementation Plan, March 1, 2011

communities historically underrepresented in EPA decision‐making” and calls for “including

environmental justice principles in all of our decisions;” and

 EPA’s mission to protect human health and the environment, and specifically to ensure that:

o	 all people in America are protected from significant risks to human health and the

environment where they live, learn and work,

o	 federal laws protecting human health and the environment are enforced fairly and

effectively, and

o	 all parts of society − communities, individuals, businesses, and state, local and tribal

governments − have access to accurate information sufficient to effectively participate

in managing human health and environmental risks.

1.2 Organizational Structure

The success of this effort will depend on participation from many offices within EPA, both at

Headquarters and the Regions.

The Office of Air and Radiation has been designated the Headquarters lead. The Office of General

Counsel has agreed to act as co‐lead. Region 1 is the lead Region. Staff and managers from these

three offices, with guidance from the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance/Office of

Environmental Justice, have formed a Steering Committee to manage the EJ Permitting Initiative.

The Steering Committee is chaired by Janet McCabe, Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator,

Office of Air and Radiation; Carol Ann Siciliano, Associate General Counsel, Cross‐Cutting Issues

Law Office, Office of General Counsel; and Ira Leighton, Deputy Regional Administrator, Region 1.

The EJ Permitting Initiative will have a small group composed of key senior EPA Headquarters and

Regional leaders (Senior Leaders) to determine expected outcomes and the scope of work as well

as a cross‐agency workgroup of EPA Headquarters and Regional staff (Workgroup) that will

develop tools and recommendations. The EPA staff lead is Michelle Roos, Office of Policy Analysis

and Review, Office of Air and Radiation.

2 
                                                  

                           

                                  

                         

                          

                         

      

                      

                   

                         

                         

                         

                         

             

                      

               

  

                       

                             

                

                       

     

                         

                        

                         

                         

           

                                 

                     

                       

                         

           

   

Plan EJ 2014: Considering Environmental Justice in Permitting Draft Implementation Plan, March 1, 2011

2.0 IMPLEMENTATION

The draft strategies and activities outlined below describe the intended charge to the Workgroup

over the next several years. They are not intended to stop or prevent offices or individuals at EPA

from continuing their ongoing practices of furthering integration of environmental justice into the

permitting process (e.g., regional review of state permits). Rather, we encourage offices and

individuals to share new issues, potential tools, and recommendations with the Workgroup and

communicate lessons learned.

2.1 Strategies

Strategy 1: Develop tools and recommendations that will enhance the ability of

disproportionately burdened communities to participate fully and meaningfully in the

permitting process. 

These tools and recommendations will focus on ensuring that affected communities are fully

informed about the potential effects of permitted activities and understand the information they

receive. In addition, we will explore ways of promoting regular dialogue between affected

communities and the facilities at all stages of the permitting process, including early involvement

and after a permit has been issued.

Strategy 2: Concurrently with Strategy 1, develop tools and recommendations to assist

permitting authorities to meaningfully address environmental justice in permitting

decisions.

These tools and recommendations will focus on how environmental justice can be incorporated

into the permitting process, including the range of potential permitting measures that can be used

to avoid or reduce potential environmental justice impacts.

Strategy 3: Implement these tools and recommendations at EPA and work with others

to do the same. 

We will first focus on implementing tools and recommendations related to EPA permitting

decisions and decisions regarding permits issued by states pursuant to delegated programs.

Subsequently, we will engage in supporting and encouraging other federal agencies, as well as

state, local and tribal permitting authorities, to develop environmental justice strategies for their

permit decisions pursuant to existing federal environmental laws. 

2.2 Activities

All of the activities below are in support of our goal to develop and implement tools and

recommendations (including templates, guidance, best practices, policy decisions, and clarity on

statutory authority) to better enable disproportionately burdened communities to have full and

meaningful access to the permitting process and for permits to address environmental justice

issues to the greatest extent practicable.

3 
                                                  

                          

                   

   

                        

                         

         

                        

                                     

     

                            

                             

   

                        

               

                          

                    

       

                             

                 

                        

                       

                            

                     

               

                      

           

                        

   

                       

                       

                      

       

                  

 

                               

                                 

       

Plan EJ 2014: Considering Environmental Justice in Permitting Draft Implementation Plan, March 1, 2011

Activity 1: Conduct initial internal research to begin to create a preliminary list of

potential tools and recommendations and finalize the draft implementation plan

(March­June 2011).

Activity 1.1: Conduct a initial literature review − including a review of previous NEJAC papers,

publications and other recommendations − to identify an initial list of existing and needed tools

and recommendations (completed, see Appendix A).

Activity 1.2: Convene a cross‐agency workgroup (Workgroup). The Workgroup met for the first

time on March 7, 2011 and will staff the completion of all of the proposed activities in this draft

implementation plan (On‐going).

Activity 1.3: Review and evaluate the permitting process for at a minimum three federal permits

with EJ considerations to use as case studies to identify existing and needed tools and

recommendations1 (March/April/May 2011).

Activity 1.4: Coordinate overlapping strategies with other EJ Plan 2014 Elements and consider

integrating and leveraging activities between them (March/April/May 2011).

Activity 1.5: Finalize this Draft Implementation Plan (after the May 10‐11, 2011 NEJAC meeting).

Activity 2: Solicit existing and recommended tools and recommendations from internal

and external stakeholders (March/April/May 2011).

Individual EPA programs and regions, as well as other federal agencies, states, local agencies and

tribal governments, have already developed and implemented numerous tools and

recommendations. In addition, these government entities as well as community and advocacy

groups, industry and trade organizations, and experts have first‐hand experience and knowledge

about these issues and ideas for what tools and recommendations are needed. This outreach

provides the Workgroup an important opportunity to gather these tools and recommendations,

and begin to identify the most effective and replicable.

Activity 3: Create an initial list of priority tools and recommendations and

corresponding deliverables for Year 1 (March/April/May/June 2011).

Activity 4: Develop, test, and finalize priority tools and recommendations for use at

EPA (June­November 2011).

Activity 4.1: Develop priority tools and recommendations that need to be developed, amend

existing resources, and identify those ready for potential immediate use at EPA (June/July/August

2011).

Activity 4.2: Identify opportunities to test the draft tools and recommendations through on‐going

permit activities (June‐October 2011).

Activity 4.3: Solicit comments both internally and externally (October/November 2011).

1 The Strategic Plan charges the EJ and Permitting Initiative to “Convene a cross‐agency workgroup on the

consideration of EJ in federal EPA permits and review at a minimum three federal permits with EJ

considerations (by September 2011).”

4 
                                                  

                    

   

                        

           

   

                   

   

                 

                      

                 

        

                     

                    

                         

                     

          

       

                           

                        

                                

                             

                          

                    

   

             

                 

                   

       

           

     

           

         

             

             

         

             

           

      

            

Plan EJ 2014: Considering Environmental Justice in Permitting Draft Implementation Plan, March 1, 2011

Activity 4.4: Incorporate comments and revise tools and recommendations as necessary

(November/December 2011).

Activity 5: Determine the best format(s) or vehicle(s) to convey and implement the

tools and recommendations (finalization, policy, rulemaking, etc.) (December

2011/January 2012).

Activity 6: Create a more detailed timeline for 2012­2014 deliverables for the

Workgroup (2012).

Pending funding availability, potential activities for 2012‐2014 may include:
 

 Implement first set of tools and recommendations via trainings at EPA;
 

 Implement “train‐the‐trainers” seminars to help train community organizations on newly
 

developed tools and recommendations;

 Continually review the effectiveness of the tools, recommendations and trainings, develop

additional tools and recommendations, and update and revise trainings; and

	 Engage in supporting and encouraging other federal agencies as well as state, local and tribal

permitting authorities to achieve environmental justice goals for their permit decisions

pursuant to existing federal environmental laws.

2.3 Community Engagement and Stakeholder Partnership Plan

The Workgroup will develop a stakeholder involvement and outreach plan in order to engage
 

stakeholders throughout the process. We will also consult with the Small Business Ombudsman
 

and the Office of Environmental Justice to create the plan. The plan may include meetings with
 

external experts and stakeholders to seek their input early in the process on the Draft
 

Implementation Plan and to discuss a process for stakeholder participation. The Workgroup is
 

currently exploring formalizing regular NEJAC participation. Additional external stakeholders may
 

include representatives from:
 

 Association of State Drinking Water Administrators (ASDWA)
 

 Association of State and Territorial Waste Management Officials (ASTSWMO)
 

 Association of State & Interstate Water Pollution Control Administrators (ASIWPCA)
 

 Business organizations and trade associations
 

 Clean Air Act Advisory Committee (CAAAC)
 

 Community advocacy groups
 

 Environmental Council of the States (ECOS)
 

 Ground Water Protection Council (GWPC)
 

 Inter Agency Working Group on Environmental Justice
 

 National Association of Clean Air Agencies (NACAA)
 

 National Association for Clean Water Agencies (NACWA)
 

 National Tribal Operations Committee (NTOC)
 

 North American Hazardous Materials Management Association (NAHMMA)
 

 Northeast Waste Management Officials' Association (NEWMOA)
 

 Other federal agencies
 

 State, local, and tribal permitting agencies
 

5 
                                                  

                         

                               

       

   

Plan EJ 2014: Considering Environmental Justice in Permitting Draft Implementation Plan, March 1, 2011

2.4 Adjustments

The Steering Committee proposes a process whereby this Draft Implementation Plan is discussed

and revised by both the Senior Leaders and the Workgroup over the next few months, with

additional input from external stakeholders.

6 
                                                  

  

   

     

     

       

     

     

             

       

                 

             

          

  

         

           

         

             

           

  

           

       

             

       

     

   

     

           

         

          

       

   

       

   

        

     

         

     

       

  

             

       

   

   

              

         

         

           

       

   

Plan EJ 2014: Considering Environmental Justice in Permitting Draft Implementation Plan, March 1, 2011

3.0 DELIVERABLES

3.1 Schedule of Deliverables

ACTIVITIES DELIVERABLES MILESTONES

Activity 1.1: Conduct an initial

literature review ‐ including a review

of previous NEJAC papers,

publications, and other

recommendations ‐ to identify an

initial list of existing and needed tools

and recommendations

 See Appendix A  Completed

Activity 1.2: Convene a cross‐agency

workgroup

 The Workgroup met for the first time

on March 7, 2011 and will continue

to meet throughout the duration of

this project

 On‐going

Activity 1.3: Review and evaluate the

permitting process for at a minimum

three federal permits with EJ

considerations to use as case studies to

identify existing and needed tools and

recommendations

 Identification of at a minimum three

federal permits with EJ

considerations

 List of existing and needed tools and

recommendations from the case

studies

 March 31, 2011

 May 2011

Activity 1.4: Coordinate overlapping

strategies with other EJ Plan 2014 cross‐

Agency elements and consider integrating

and leveraging activities between them

 Regular meetings with other cross‐

Agency workgroups

 On‐going

Activity 1.5: Finalize this draft

implementation plan

 Final Implementation Plan  After the May 10‐

11, 2011 NEJAC

meeting

Activity 2: Solicit existing and

recommended tools and

recommendations from internal and

external stakeholders

 List of existing and needed tools and

recommendations from internal and

external stakeholders

 May 2011

Activity 3: Create an initial list of priority

needed tools and recommendations and

corresponding deliverables for year 1

 Initial list of deliverables (tools and

recommendations) for year 1

 June 2011

7 
                                                  

         

         

         

         

        

               

         

       

         

     

  

       

         

   

       

       

       

       

         

  

             

          

           

     

       

  

             

       

   

           

         

   

  

      

                         

                         

         

   

Plan EJ 2014: Considering Environmental Justice in Permitting Draft Implementation Plan, March 1, 2011

ACTIVITIES DELIVERABLES MILESTONES

Activity 4.1: Develop priority tools and

recommendations that need to be

developed, amend existing resources, and

identify those ready for potential

immediate use at EPA

 Initial set of developed tools and

recommendations

 August 2011

Activity 4.2: Identify opportunities to test

the draft tools and recommendations

through on‐going permit activities, and

solicit comments and recommendations

 Comments and recommendations on

initial testing of tools and

recommendations

 October 2011

Activity 4.3: Solicit additional comments

both internally and externally

 Additional comments  November 2011

Activity 4.4: Incorporate comments and

revise tools and recommendations as

necessary

 Revise tools and recommendations as

necessary

 December 2011

Activity 5: Determine the best format(s)

or vehicle(s) to convey and implement

the recommendations and tools

(finalization, policy, rulemaking, etc)

 Decision on how best to convey and

implementation the tools and

recommendations

 January 2012

Activity 6: Create a more detailed

timeline for 2012‐2014 deliverables for

the Workgroup

 More detailed timeline  2012

3.2 Reporting

We will report annually on progress in implementing the Strategies outlined in this

implementation plan and will update, as necessary, the Activities and Deliverables outlined here.

For information, please contact: Michelle Roos, 202‐573‐2549, roos.michelle@epa.gov.

8 
                                                  

           

                           

                           

                           

               

                                

                            

               

                   

                   

                     

         

               

   

     

                         

  

                     

   

             

                         

       

                 

                       

  

                       

                 

                         

          

               

                   

       

 

                                 

                         

                             

                           

                           

                  

Plan EJ 2014: Considering Environmental Justice in Permitting Draft Implementation Plan, March 1, 2011

4.0 APPENDICES

Appendix A: Potential Tools and Resources

This Draft Implementation Plan outlines a process by which the Workgroup will determine and

develop a set of tools and resources to better enable disproportionately burdened communities to

have full and meaningful access to the permitting process and for permits to address

environmental justice issues to the greatest extent practicable.

Our initial literature review revealed a short list of potential tools and resources. We are not

committing to develop these, but will use them as a starting point. They include:

	 Environmental Justice Public Participation Plan/Guidelines/Best Practices (step by step

effective public engagement in the permitting process, including pre‐application meetings,

advanced notification, periodic engagement mechanism to inform communities of project

changes, and recommendations on how to make public notification more effective)

 Environmental Justice Public Participation Fact Sheet/Website

 Environmental Justice Public Participation Outreach Template (as a pre‐application

requirement)

 Permit Checklist

 Permit Process Flowchart

 A collective learning forum for EPA staff and managers responding to specific permit

challenges

 Regional open lists of community organizations and tribal government and indigenous

organization contacts

 Community‐based trainings/resources/websites to assist community members on the

permitting process, EJ tools, and/or risk assessment (could include a network of experts

accessible to the public)

 Interim guidance on how to conduct an EJ Analysis2

 Best practices/guidance/trainings on a variety of ways to integrate EJ into permit conditions,

including:

o	 Developing permits to include issues important to local communities such as increased

or enhanced local environmental monitoring, timely public releases of facility‐specific

data, and transparent and corroborated analysis of the data relative to the host

community’s environmental justice priorities and concerns

o	 Developing permit conditions with potential enforcement in mind

o	 Developing permit conditions to better address and protect indigenous peoples’

cultural and subsistence resources

2 The EJ Permitting Initiative will complement other Plan EJ 2014 Elements and will rely on deliverables

from these other Elements, including both the “technical analyses needed to determine when

disproportionate impacts are occurring” by the Rulemaking Element and the development of EJScreen – “a

nationally consistent screening and targeting tool to enhance EJ analysis and decision‐making” by the

Information Element. As such, our proposed activities include developing interim guidance in this arena

until final guidance is issued by these other Elements.

9 
                                                  

         

               

                       

               

       

      

             

               

                   

     

     

   

   

Plan EJ 2014: Considering Environmental Justice in Permitting Draft Implementation Plan, March 1, 2011

o Avoiding issuance of emergency permits

 Guidance/established protocol/trainings for utilizing the Interagency Working Group for

Environmental Justice to work across federal agencies on permits on tribal lands

 Guidance/trainings on using resources/programs outside of permitting including:

o	 Helping communities develop and adopt community‐specific, comprehensive

environmental justice plans

o	 Community Action for a Renewed Environment (CARE)

o	 Supplemental Environmental Projects (SEPs) to address environmental justice concerns

(possibly in addition to being a mitigation tool for violations)

o	 Good Neighbor/Environmental Benefit Agreements

o	 Performance Partnership Agreements

o	 Memoranda of Agreement/Understanding

10 
                                                  

     

         

               

               

         

         

             

       

         

       

                         

                       

   

            

          

         

        

     

         

       

        

         

       

       

         

Plan EJ 2014: Considering Environmental Justice in Permitting Draft Implementation Plan, March 1, 2011

Appendix B: Acronyms

ASDWA ‐ Association of State Drinking Water Administrators

ASTSWMO ‐ Association of State and Territorial Waste Management Officials

ASIWPCA ‐ Association of State & Interstate Water Pollution Control Administrators

CARE ‐ Community Action for a Renewed Environment

CAAAC ‐ Clean Air Act Advisory Committee

ECOS – Environmental Council of the States

EJ – Environmental Justice

EPA ‐ United States Environmental Protection Agency

GWPC ‐ Ground Water Protection Council

NACAA ‐ National Association of Clean Air Agencies, comprised of the State and Territorial Air

Pollution Program Administrators (STAPPA) and the Association of Local Air Pollution Control

Officials (ALAPCO)

NACWA ‐ National Association for Clean Water Agencies

NAHMMA ‐ North American Hazardous Materials Management Association

NEWMOA ‐ Northeast Waste Management Officials' Association

NEJAC ‐ National Environmental Justice Advisory Council

NEPA ‐ National Environmental Policy Act

NSR – New Source Review

NTAA ‐ National Tribal Air Association

NTOC ‐ National Tribal Operations Committee

PSD – Prevention of Significant Deterioration

RCRA ‐ Resource Conservation and Recovery Act

SEPs – Supplemental Environmental Projects

UIC – Underground Injection Controls

11