The following section discusses Executive Order 12898, EPA’s framework for integrating environmental justice into the agency’s missions, key environmental justice stakeholders, and leading practices in strategic planning. On February 11, 1994, the President signed Executive Order 12898 to address environmental justice concerns in minority and low-income populations. The executive order requires federal agencies to, among other things:  make achieving environmental justice part of their missions by identifying and addressing, as appropriate, disproportionately high and adverse human health or environmental effects of programs, policies, and activities on minority and low-income populations;  develop an agencywide environmental justice strategy that should (1) promote the enforcement of health and environmental laws in low- income and minority population areas; (2) ensure greater public participation in agency decision making; (3) improve research and data collection associated with environmental justice issues; and (4) identify minority and low-income patterns of consumption of natural resources; submit their environmental justice strategies to the Federal Interagency Working Group on Environmental Justice convened by the EPA Administrator, which is then to report governmentwide progress to the Executive Office of the President; and  undertake certain activities, such as ensuring that documents are concise, understandable, and readily accessible and translating documents, where appropriate, to support public participation. Executive Order 12898 calls on EPA and other federal agencies to address disproportionately high human health and environmental impacts on minority populations and low-income populations. The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), in the Executive Office of the President, oversees the federal government’s compliance with the executive order, as well as with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). In enacting NEPA in 1970, Congress declared that “it is the continuing responsibility of the Federal Government to use all practicable means, consistent with other essential considerations of national policy, to improve and coordinate Federal plans, functions, programs, and resources” to, among other things, “assure for all Americans safe, healthful, productive, and aesthetically and culturally pleasing surroundings.” Further, Congress mandated that before federal agencies undertake a major federal action significantly affecting the environment, they must consider the environmental impact of such actions on the quality of the human environment, such as cultural, economic, social, or health effects including those on populations and areas with environmental justice concerns. To accomplish this mandate, NEPA regulations require, among other things, that federal agencies evaluate the likely environmental effects of proposed projects using an environmental assessment or, if the projects would likely significantly affect the environment, a more detailed environmental impact statement evaluating the proposed project and alternatives. In its 1997 NEPA guidance, CEQ suggested definitions for key environmental justice terms to help federal agencies identify and address environmental justice concerns in fulfilling their NEPA responsibilities. For example, CEQ’s guidance proposed that agencies identify low-income populations by using the annual statistical poverty thresholds from the Bureau of the Census Current Population Reports. Further, the CEQ guidance identified two definitions for minority population: (1) the minority population of the affected area exceeds 50 percent; or (2) the minority population percentage of the affected area is meaningfully greater than the minority population percentage in the general U. S. population. Moreover, in discussing whether human health or environmental effects are disproportionately high, CEQ’s guidance suggests that agencies consider three factors: (1) whether effects of proposed actions are significant or above generally accepted norms; (2) whether effects of proposed actions on minority, low-income, and tribal population are significant and appreciably exceed risk to the general population; and (3) whether minority, low-income, or tribal populations are affected by the cumulative impacts of pro posed actions. EPA’s framework for integrating environmental justice into the agency’s missions includes four major plans: (1) EPA’s Fiscal Year 2011-2015 Strategic Plan, (2) Plan EJ 2014, (3) Plan EJ 2014’s Implementation Plans, and (4) Plan EJ 2014 Outreach and Communications Plan. EPA’s Fiscal Year 2011-2015 Strategic Plan. EPA’s strategic plan provides a blueprint for how the agency expects to accomplish its priorities, including environmental justice. In addition to outlining strategic goals for advancing EPA’s mission to protect the environment and human health, it also outlines cross-cutting fundamental strategies that lay out specifically how EPA is to conduct its work over the next 5 years. These strategies include (1) expanding the conversation on environmentalism, which will involve engaging and empowering communities and partners— including those who have been historically under-represented—to support and advance environmental protection and human health, and (2) working for environmental justice and children’s health, which will involve reducing and preventing harmful exposures and health risks to children and underserved, disproportionately impacted low-income, minority, and tribal communities. EPA officials said that they expect that both strategies will influence the work of every program and regional office throughout the agency, especially with respect to environmental justice. Plan EJ 2014. Named in recognition of the 20th anniversary of Executive Order 12898, Plan EJ 2014 is EPA’s overarching strategy for implementing environmental justice in the agency’s programs, policies, and activities. Plan EJ 2014 is a 4-year plan designed to help EPA develop stronger relationships with communities and increase the agency’s efforts to improve environmental conditions and public health in overburdened communities. According to EPA officials, the activities outlined in the plan are aligned with and support EPA’s commitments in the 2011-2015 strategic plan. Plan EJ 2014 defines three elements that are to guide EPA’s actions to advance environmental justice across the agency and the federal government: (1) cross-agency focus areas, (2) tools development efforts, and (3) program initiatives. The cross-agency focus areas are meant to address issues or functions that require work by all programs or agencies and serve to promote environmental justice across EPA and the federal government. The five cross-agency focus areas are  Rulemaking—providing guidance and support for all agency rule writers and decision makers so they can better include environmental justice concerns in rules being written throughout the agency.  Permitting—initially emphasizing EPA-issued permits that provide opportunities for helping overburdened populations; in the future, focusing on permits that would enable EPA to address the cumulative impacts of pollution on these populations.  Compliance and enforcement—targeting pollution problems that tend to affect disadvantaged communities, and providing these communities with opportunities for input into the remedies sought in enforcement actions.  Community-based action—engaging with overburdened communities and providing grants and technical assistance designed to help them address environmental problems.  Administrationwide action on environmental justice—establishing partnerships and initiatives with other federal agencies to support holistic approaches to addressing environmental, social, and economic burdens of affected communities. EPA’s four tools development efforts focus on developing the scientific, legal, and resource areas, as well as data and information areas that support environmental justice analysis, community work, and communications and stakeholder engagement. For example, in March 2010, EPA held a symposium on the science of disproportionate impact analysis. In June 2010, the agency followed with an environmental justice analysis technical workshop. According to EPA officials, the agency is also working to develop a computer-based screening tool, known as EJ SCREEN, to assist with identifying the location of communities with potential environmental justice concerns. The program initiatives focus on specific EPA programs, mainly the national programs. Plan EJ 2014 calls on EPA national program managers to identify relevant programmatic items that could benefit communities with environmental justice concerns. For example, according to EPA program documents, the Community Engagement Initiative in EPA’s Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response (OSWER) could benefit communities with environmental justice concerns. This initiative focuses on identifying steps EPA can take to encourage communities and stakeholders to participate in developing and implementing hazardous materials policy and in evaluating the effectiveness of the agency’s actions. The initiative also focuses on identifying ways to institutionalize policy changes that aim to improve community engagement and environmental justice in the long-term, day-to- day operation of OSWER program activities. In addition, according to EPA program documents, the U.S. Mexico Border Program, managed in the Office of International and Tribal Affairs, seeks to address environmental justice issues along the border shared by the two countries. This program is a cooperative effort designed to address pollutants that enter shared waterways, affecting the health of border residents as well as degrading the environment in both nations. Plan EJ 2014 Implementation Plans. As guides for program and regional offices, EPA has developed implementation plans for every cross-agency focus area and developmental tool in Plan EJ 2014. Each implementation plan establishes unique goals and lays out strategies designed to meet those goals, and identifies national program offices and regional offices accountable for meeting plan goals within specified time frames. For example, the permitting plan outlines goals for providing disadvantaged communities with access to the agency’s permitting process, and ensuring that permits address environmental justice issues to the greatest extent practicable. Its strategies call for EPA to develop the necessary tools and recommendations to enhance communities’ abilities to participate in permitting decisions and to enable agency staff to incorporate environmental justice into permits. According to the plan, EPA will decide on how to best transmit and implement the permitting tools and recommendations by January 2012. Plan EJ 2014 Outreach and Communications Plan. In June 2011, EPA provided GAO a draft of its EJ 2014 Outreach and Communications Plan. The plan reiterates EPA’s commitment to continuing many of its outreach and communication activities, such as environmental justice listening sessions, as the agency moves forward. The plan identifies four principal goals for conducting outreach and communicating both with EPA staff and external stakeholders, such as states, on Plan EJ 2014.