## 1



# OAQPS ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE ANALYTICAL TEAM REPORT
**RULE / ACTION** Pulp and Paper


# OBJECTIVE This report aids rule writers in draft ing required environmental justice preamble lang uage for E.O. 12898, as well as addressing the Agency’s three Final Agency Review (FAR) EJ questions: (1) How did your public participation process provide transparency and meaningful participation for minority, low

- income, and indigenous populations, and tribes? ( 2) How did you identify and address existing and new disproportionate environmental and public health impacts on minority, low

- income, and indigenous populations, and tribes? (3) How did actions taken under #1 and #2 impact the outcome or final decision?



# SCOPE
 Total # of unique facility locations = **174**
 Data Source: ICR (contact Jim Hirtz)


# EJ ASSESSMENT **Meaningful Involvement**  **(FAR question #1)** To promote meaningful involvement, EPA has held public webinars (www.epa.gov/air/ej/announce.html) and held discussions during its 2011 Environmental Justice Conference. Stakeholder meetings were also held with Sierra Club, Earth Justice, and with organizations that participated in EPA Environmental Justice outreach efforts. Further stakeholder and public inpu t is expected through public comment and follow

- up meetings with interested stakeholders.

## 2

**Demographic Results (FAR question #2) Method(s)**   Proximity
-to
- Source : Comparative analysis of 3 mile or 5 km radius demographics to national averages. **Source(s)**  CenRANK (proximity) **Proximity -**  **to -** **Source** The sector

- wide analysis of near source populations reveals that while most demographic categories are below or within 10 percent of their corresponding national averages, the African American population percentag e within 3 miles of any source affected by this rulemaking exceeds the national average by 3 percentage points (15 percent versus 12 percent), or +25 percent, and those age 65+ exceed the national average by 2 percentage points (14 percent versus 12 percen t) or +17 percent. Table 1



## A facility

- level review of near source populations shows that the densely populated area surrounding the **Wisconsin Paperboard Corp. ,**  **WI** facility is a main contributor to the African American total with **69,292 , or**  **1 9**  **%**, of the total Pulp and Paper sector African American population ( 69,292 / 365,077 )
. Other locations making significant contributions to the sector’s total African American population are **Rock -** **Tenn Company Mill Division In c**  **., OH (**  **37,416 )**  **, Newman & Company,**  **PA (30,480) and**  **PaperWorks Industries Inc., PA (**  **20,630 ).**  The four area s combined make up **43 %**  of the sector’s total African American population ( 157,818 / 365,077 ). Additionally, the **Wisconsin Paperboard Corp. ,**  **WI** area has a high percentage of people living below the poverty line at **3 0**  **%**, which is 17 percentage points above the national average of 13%, or **+1 3**  **1 %.**  In the sector summary (table 2) we highlight the top three regions and states by number of facilities, and the top three facilities with the highest near source population totals. The excel file that accompanies this report contains the near source demographic data for all facilities.

POPU LATI ON 1 WHI TE AFRICAN AM ERI CAN NAT IVE

AM ERI CAN OTHER OR

MULTI RA CIAL MI NORITY 1 HI SPANIC OR LATI NO 2 AG E 0 - 17 AG E 65+ NO HI GH SCHOOL DI PLOMA BELOW

POVE RTY LI NE 2, 437, 688 1, 929, 157 365, 077 20, 449 123, 005 508, 531 78, 804 604, 248 343, 439 314, 843 353, 183

79% 15% 1% 5% 21% 3% 25% 14% 13% 14% 285, 339, 128 214, 539, 706 35, 043, 873 2, 489, 515 33, 265, 937 70, 799, 422 39, 083, 760 77, 245, 364 35, 491, 274 36, 660, 464 37, 181, 029

75% 12% 1% 12% 25% 14% 27% 12% 13% 13% Sources : Th e demog ra phics ar e fr om the U.S. Census Bu reau, 2000. Inf orma tion on the fa cilities is fr om U.S. EP A. 1. Ra cial an d ethnic categories overla p an d cannot be su mmed.. 2. Th e “M inorities” popula tion is the overa ll popula tion (i n the fi rs t column)m inus white popula tion (i n the second column)
. 3. Th e Census Burea u defines “Hispanic or Latino” as an e thnicity ra ther tha n as a ra cial category, Hispanics or Latinos ma y belongt o an y ra ce. DEM OG RA PH IC SU MMA RY NEARS OU RCE TOTA L NAT IONAL TOTA L % OF NEARS OU RCE TOTA L % OF NAT IONAL

TOTA L

## 3 Table 2 **Sector Summary Totals**  **# of Facilities Near Source (3 mi)**  **Population Sector**  **174 2,437,688** **T o** **p T** **h r** **e e**  **Regions** 4 60 388,546 5 43 1,011,870 6 19 103,226 **States** WI 22 490,785 GA 16 110,963 AL 12 22,335 **Facilities** PA NEWMAN & COMPANY 230,474 WI WISCONSIN PAPERBOARD CORP 148,451 OH ROCK
-TENN COMPANY MILL DIVISION

INC 118,269



## To evaluate potential areas of environmental justice concern, the EPA highlights the near source areas that are equal to or exceed a threshold factor of 1.25 times national averages for race, ethnicity and/or poverty demographic categories. 1 

## (The EPA acknowle dges that environmental justice areas may exist in areas below this threshold.) Analysis of this data shows **71 facilities**  with a near source population of **855,587** that are equal to, or exceed, this increased threshold
. This is 41% of all facilities, and 35 % of the near source population in the sector. The facility with the largest near source population in this subgroup is the **Wisconsin Paperboard Corp.**  facility with a total of 148,451. The area surrounding this facility is comprised of 54% minority ( **+ 116**  **%** the national average of 25%), and 30% of people living below the national poverty line ( **+1 31**  % the national average of 1 3 % ). Table 3 provides a snapshot of the top three regions, states and facilities.

Table 3 **Potential Areas of**  **Concern Summary**  **Exceeding Threshold Factor**  **# of Facilities Near Source (3 mi) Population**  **Sector 71**  **855,587 T** **o p** **T h** **r e** **e Regions**  4 39 275,336 6 14 86,064 10 6 110,593 **States** GA 11 92,388 AL 11 15,384 LA 6 50,832 **Facilities**

1 

### The demographic categories evaluated on whether they meet or exceed the threshold are: Minority Only; Hispanic Only; Poverty Only; Minority & Hispanic; Minority & Poverty; Hispanic & Poverty; Minority, Hispanic & Poverty.

## 4 WI WISCONSIN PAPERBOARD CORP 148,451 OH ROCK
-TENN COMPANY MILL DIVISION INC 118,269 WA SIMPSON TACOMA KRAFT CO LLC 68,557 

## Additionally, the EPA provides a summary of “facility clusters.” For the purposes of this report, a facility cluster is defined as an area where multiple facilities are in close proximity to each other such that the study areas overlap, and a census block can be attributed to one or more facilities. The following population totals are the combined near source populations for all facilities notated. Facilit y C lusters Four facility cluster s o Georgia Pacific Consumer Products LP

- Green Bay Broadway Mill , WI + Thilmany Papers Nicolet Mill , WI + Green Bay Packaging Inc

- Green Bay Mill , WI + Georgia Pacific Consumer Products LP

- Green Bay Day Street Mill , WI = **127,855 total**  **population**

o [Three] NewPage Wisconsin Systems Inc, WI + NewPage Corp
- Biron Mill , WI = **21,999** Three facility cluster o Longview Fibre paper & Packaging Inc., WA + Weyerhaeuser Co., WA + North Pacific Paper Corporation (NORPAC) (Longview Mill), WA = **43,329 2**  

## Two facility cluster s (Seven areas

- see excel file)
**Charge to Project Lead (FAR question #3)**  How did actions taken under [ FAR questions ] #1 and #2 impact the outcome or final decision?

2 

### This cluster has one or more facilities exceeding the 1.25 * national average threshold.