About the Environmental Justice Interagency 

Working Group

The Environmental Justice Interagency Working Group (EJ IWG) was established in 1994 under 

Executive Order (EO) 12898. It is comprised of 17 federal agencies and White House offices to 

guide, support, and enhance federal environmental justice and community-based activities. 

In September 2010, the EPA and the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) 

reconvened the EJ IWG for the first time in more than a decade. The Cabinet-level meeting was 

one of a series of steps taken by the Obama Administration to elevate environmental justice and 

address the inequities in low-income communities. 

Engaging Agencies to Understand and 

Address EJ Issues

Following the announcement of seven top EPA priorities in 2010, the agency’s Administrator, 

Lisa P. Jackson directed EPA programs and regional offices to address the needs of overburdened 

communities by reducing environmental problems, expanding environmental benefits, and by 

working alongside communities as they aim to become healthier, greener and more sustainable. 

As an important element of the agency’s environmental justice strategy (Plan EJ 2014), EPA 

seeks to facilitate the active participation of federal agencies in a coordinated approach that 

acknowledges the disproportionately high and adverse human health and environmental impacts 

on overburdened communities, while providing access to the environmental, public health, and 

economic benefits of their programs. 

On August 4, 2011, EJ IWG agencies took a landmark step to support environmental justice by 

signing the Memorandum of Understanding on Environmental Justice and Executive Order 12898 

(EJ MOU). The EJ MOU serves as a formal agreement between federal agencies to recommit to 

environmental justice through a more collaborative, comprehensive, and contemporary effort. It is 

a formal commitment to: 

1. Declare continued importance of identifying and addressing environmental justice 

considerations in agency programs, policies, and activities; 

2. Agree to provide environmental justice strategies and implementation progress reports; 

3. Adopt an EJ MOU charter that establishes structures and procedures to ensure a more 

effective and efficient EJ IWG; and

4. Identify particular areas of focus.

These commitments, in coordination with Plan EJ 2014, ensures a strong and sustained effort 

to integrate environmental justice into programs, policies and activities across the federal 

government. 

White House EJ 

Forum Success Story

Less than four months after reconvening 

in December 2010, the White House, 

EJ IWG members, cabinet secretaries, 

senior officials and representatives 

from a wide range of federal agencies 

would work collaboratively to convene 

the first-ever White House Forum 

on Environmental Justice. The forum 

brought together administration 

officials, community leaders and officials 

from state, local and tribal governments 

to discuss issues that were important 

to communities overburdened with 

pollution. 

Administration leaders shared their 

vision for healthier and more sustainable 

communities and their proposed 

approaches for their agencies to 

achieve them. Administration officials 

also engaged community leaders in 

discussions on federal agency initiatives 

that were underway and encouraged 

feedback on those initiatives. 

The forum reinvigorated federal 

environmental justice action under 

EO 12898 at the Administration level 

and led to a successful exchange of 

information between federal agencies 

and external environmental justice 

advocates. 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Office of Environmental Justice

February 2014 marks the 20th Anniversary of Executive Order 

12989, “Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in 

Minoriy Populations and Low-Income Populations.” President 

Clinton Signed the Exective Order on February 11, 1994.

Continued on back

Environmental Justice Federal 

Interagency Working Group

EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson 

speaking at the at the White House 

forum on environmental justice.

EJ IWG Cabinet-level 

officials reconvening for 

the first time in 10 years.
EJ IWG

FACTS

For More Information

To find out more about the EJ IWG, call 202-564-2515

or visit www.epa.gov/environmentaljustice/interagency EPA 300F12004

July 2012

Resources

IWG Compendium: Contains a list of EJ 

IWG federal agencies and strategies, 

policies, guidance documents and plans 

for implementing EO 12898.

Environmental Justice Federal 

Interagency Directory: Information 

about federal agency roles, organization 

charts and key contact information for 

agency program areas.

The Community-Based Federal 

Environmental Justice Guide: 

Information on federal programs that 

may assist communities in reducing 

toxic exposures by providing technical 

assistance, federal funding or a 

combination of both.

These resources can be accessed at epa.

gov/environmentaljustice/interagency.

 Fostering Administration-Wide Action

As each federal agency works to advance its environmental justice integration efforts, EPA helps 

agencies participate in a coordinated approach as a part of Plan EJ 2014. The EJ IWG focuses on 

these four strategies:

Assist other federal agencies to integrate environmental justice into their programs, 

policies, and activities. EPA leads federal efforts to better integrate environmental justice 

as chair of the EJ IWG. Each federal agency’s committments have been articulated in 

environmental justice strategies which are available publicly. To monitor this progress, the 

EJ MOU requires each federal agency to release implementation progress reports. These 

implementation reports include performance measures to better ensure that agencies 

meet their environmental justice responsibilities and goal, including any updates or 

revisions to the agency’s environmental justice strategy. 

Foster healthy and sustainable communities. EPA, in conjunction with other federal 

agencies, coordinates agencies actions to improve the health and sustainability of 

overburdened communities, including looking at climate adaptation and goods movement. 

For example, the Sustainable Communities Partnership, a partnership between the 

Department of Housing and Urban Development, Department of Transportation, and EPA 

improves access to affordable housing, transportation options, and lower transportation 

costs while protecting the environment in communities nationwide. 

Stakeholder listening session 

in Albuquerque, NM

Strengthen community access to federal agencies.

In order to strengthen the ability of communities to 

access federal programs and expertise, the EJ IWG 

acts to eliminate barriers, make connections, and 

reduce duplication so that communities are better 

able to access federal resources. To implement this 

strategy, the EJ IWG began holding Stakeholder 

Dialogue Sessions, providing an opportunity for 

stakeholders to identify community concerns, discuss 

best practices and model programs. Since 2012, the 

IWG has held 19 dialogue sessions and continues to 

conduct these meetings across the country.

Connect with EPA

Work with other federal agencies to strengthen use of 

interagency legal tools. National Environmental Protection 

Act (NEPA) and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 are 

important tools that can be used to help advance the goals 

of environmental justice. EPA works internally and across all 

agencies to strengthen their programs, enhance their abilities to 

incorporate environmental justice into major federal activities 

and to understand the legal tools available to them to promote 

environmental justice.

EJ IWG Timeline

Federal agencies sign EJ 

MOU and adopt EJ IWG 

charter

August 

2011

Community Stakeholder 

Dialogue Sessions begin

December 

2010

EPA and CEQ host 1st 

White House Forum on EJ

December 

2010

White House reconvenes 

EJ IWG meetings

September 

2010

Agencies release 

environmental justice 

strategies

February 

2012