P U B L I C W E B I N A R M A Y 2 9 , 2 0 1 3

B Y U . S . E N V I R O N M E N T A L P R O T E C T I O N A G E N C Y O F F I C E O F E N V I R O N M E N T A L J U S T I C E

O F F I C E O F P O L I C Y O F F I C E O F R E S E A R C H A N D D E V E L O P M E N T 1 

# Draft Technical Guidance for Assessing Environmental Justice in 

# Regulatory Analysis

# Webinar Agenda

 

## Administrative issues for the webinar

 

## Presentation of the draft Technical Guidance

 

## Question and answer segment

 

## Wrap

- up with announcements and next steps 2

# Administrative Announcements

1. Please mute your phone lines when you are not presenting or asking a question

2. The interface for the webinar should feature four screens

 Share; Attendees; Notes; and Chat

3. Please use the “set status” feature (and drop

- down menu) in the tool bar when attempting to alert us about a question.

4. Please save your queries for the Q and A segment.

5. Several administrative points have been typed into the “Notes Window”.

6. This webinar is for the public. 3

# Purpose of Webinar

4



###  

## Provide an overview of the draft guidance

 

## Highlight development and review process

 

## Answer questions

# Outline

5



###  

## Executive Order 12898

 

## Background

 

## Development of draft guidance

 

## Content

 

## Review process

 

## Questions?

# Executive Order 12898

6



###  

## E.O. 12898 (1994), Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low

- income Populations

 

## “...each Federal agency shall make 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 populations...”

# Background

7



###  

## Plan EJ 2014 is EPA’s overarching EJ strategic plan

 

### Rulemaking is one of the priority areas



###  

## Two significant products

 

### Interim Guidance on Considering Environmental Justice During the Development of an Action (EJ Process Guide)

 Issued in July 2010

 

### Technical Guidance for Considering Environmental Justice in Regulatory Analysis (EJ Technical Guidance)

 Under development; subject of this webinar

# EJ Technical Guidance

8



###  

## Provides guidance on how to conduct analyses to assess potential environmental justice concerns for 

## rules

 

## Audience

 

### EPA analysts, including risk assessors, economists, and other analytical staff



###  

## Important to note that this guidance pertains to rules only

# Development

9



###  

## Core writing team led by Office of Environmental Justice, Office of Policy, and Office of Research and Development

 

## Sub

- groups for Risk Assessment and Economics/Regulatory Analysis involved at least 30 

## technical experts from 12 program offices and 5 regions

# Table of Contents

10

 

### Overview and Background

 

### Section 1: Introduction

 

### Section 2: Key Analytic Principles and Definitions

 

### Section 3: Contributors and Drivers of Environmental Justice

 

### Section 4: Consideration of Environmental Justice when Planning a Human Health Risk Assessment

 

### Section 5: Conducting Regulatory Analyses to Assess Environmental Justice Concerns

 

### Section 6: Research Gaps ( to be drafted following peer

review )

 

### Glossary

 

### References

 

### Appendices

## Section 1: Introduction

Overview

11



###  

## Identify overarching analytic questions for the analyst and decision maker

 

## Provide key analytic steps to guide assessments

 

## Recommendations to guide assessments

## Section 1: Introduction



## Key Analytic Questions

12



###  

## 1. Is a potential EJ concern associated with the affected environmental stressors prior to the 

## rulemaking?

 

## 2. For each of the regulatory options under 

## consideration, is a potential EJ concern created or mitigated for these affected environmental stressors?

### At Baseline: For Each Regulatory Option:

3. Assess exposures, relevant health and environmental outcomes, and other relevant effects by population group for each option; 4. Assess differences in these exposures, relevant health and environmental outcomes, and other relevant effects across population groups for each option; and 5. Assess how estimated differences in these exposures, relevant health and environmental outcomes , and other relevant effects across population groups increase or decrease as a result of each option compared to the baseline. 13 

## Section 1: Key Analytic Steps

1. Assess exposures, relevant health and environmental outcomes, and other relevant effects by population group in the baseline; and

2. Assess differences in these exposures, relevant health and environmental outcomes, and other relevant effects across population groups in the baseline.

## Section 1:



## Recommendations

14

 

### For rules where impacts or benefits are quantified, some level of quantitative analysis for EJ is recommended

 

### When impacts or benefits will not be quantified or disaggregated by race/ethnicity or income, present 

### information that is insightful with regard to potential EJ
concerns

 

### Integrate scoping questions at the planning stage of a risk assessment

 

### Use the same baseline and regulatory scenarios as the other types of regulatory analyses

 

### Analysts should follow identified best practices

 

### Consider distribution of costs when appropriate

## Section 2: Key Analytic Principles and Definitions

15



###  

## Key Analytic Principles

 

## Analyses should:

 

### Be designed to inform the pending decision

 

### Rely on generally accepted procedures for conducting risk assessment and economic analysis

 

### Integrate consideration of EJ into existing analytical efforts

 

### Use existing frameworks and data from other parts of the regulatory analysis

 

### Be transparent with regard to data sources, assumptions, analytic techniques, and results

 

### Use the best available science and data

# Section 2 (continued)

16

 

### Key Definitions

 Minority and indigenous populations

 Low

- income populations

 Populations that primarily subsist on fish and wildlife

 

### Differences versus Disproportionate

 For this guidance document, the terms “differential risks” or “differences in impacts” refer to a distinct concept from “disproportionate” impacts or risks.

 Specifically, the terms difference or differential are used to indicate an analytically measurable distinction in impacts or risks across population groups.

 The term disproportionate is used to refer to differences in impacts or risks that are substantial enough that they may merit Agency action.”

## Section 3: Contributors and Drivers

17



###  

## Key scientific reasons health risks may be unevenly distributed across social groups in the population

 

## Some key contributors to and drivers of the uneven distribution of health risks that are of concern in 

## environmental justice

## Section 4: Considering EJ When Planning a 

## Human Health Risk Assessment (HHRA)

18



###  

## Key elements of planning a HHRA

 

### Ensuring it is “Fit for Purpose”

 

### Planning and Scoping

 

### Problem Formulation

 

### Developing a conceptual model and analysis plan



###  

## Examples of assessments that analysts can plan for when conducting a risk assessment for rule 

## development

## Section 5: Conducting Regulatory Analyses to

Assess EJ Concerns

19

 How to evaluate the feasibility of conducting a quantitative assessment of EJ concerns

 Defines baseline and incremental changes for an analysis of EJ
concerns

 Summarizes quantitative methods for assessing disproportionate impacts

 Key analytic issues, including how to define comparison groups and geographic issues

 Discusses costs, non

- health impacts, and analytic recommendations when information on emissions, risk, exposure and health impacts is not available

# Review Process

20

 

### Internal Agency Review

 Completed in November 2012

 Almost 800 comments from across the Agency and regions

 

### Public Comment Period

 Runs May 9

- July 8, 2013

 Two webinars: May 29 and June 6

 Comments will be posted on regulations.gov

 

### Tribal Outreach

 Outreach to 565 Tribes

 Runs May 10

- June 24, 2013

 Two webinars: May 22 and June 3

 

### External Peer Review

 Conducted via special panel of EPA’s Science Advisory Board

 Panel meeting June 19

- 20, 2013 in Washington, DC

# Question and Comments

 

### Please click “raise your hand” to ask a question. 21

 

### Please “lower your hand” once the question has been addressed.

# Final Announcements and Next Steps

 Thank you for participating in the Public Information Webinar for the draft EJ Technical Guidance.

 The second Public Information Webinar on the guidance will be Thursday, June 6 from 3:00 pm to 4:30 pm EST.

 The public comment period runs through July 8. Comments may be submitted via regulations.gov (docket # EPA

- HQ

- OA

- 2013

- 0320), by email or fax to Kelly Maguire (contact information below), or hand delivered.

 If you have questions, please contact:

 Kelly Maguire Carlton Eley

 202

- 566

- 2273 (phone) 202

- 566

- 2841

 maguire.kelly@epa.gov eley.carlton@epa.gov

 202

- 566

- 2363 (fax) 22