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Environmental Justice
What
is Environmental Justice?
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines environmental
justice, as fair treatment and meaningful involvment of all people--regardless of race, color,
national origin or income-- with respect to development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations,
and policies. Fair treatment means that no group of
people
should bear a disproportionate share of the negative environmental consequences resulting from industrial, governmental, or commercial operations, or the execution of federal, state, local, and tribal programs and policies. Meaningful involvement means that potentially affected community residents have an appropriate opportunity to participate in decision-making about a proposed acitivity that will affect their environment and/or health.
The National Environmental Justice Advisory Council (NEJAC), established by the EPA in 1993, provides independent advice and recommendations to EPA on environmental justice issues. The NEJAC holds an annual meeting. The 2009 meeting was held in Washington, D.C. in July.
In 1994, President Clinton signed Executive Order 12898, which charged all federal agencies with making the acheivement of environmental justice part of its mission by "identifying and addressing as appropriate, disporportionatly high and adverse human health or environmental effects of its programs, policies, and activities on minority and low income populations". The EO established the Interagency Working Group (IWG) on environmental justice, which is made up of 12 federal agencies and chaired by the EPA.
Environmental justice is an integral part of Region 4's mission. The Region, states, tribes, and affected communities work together to ensure equitable environmental and public health protection through effective implementation of policies and procedures.
In the southeast, the Environmental Justice Program is responsible for integrating environmental justice into the region's programs, policies, and procedures. Also, the Program promotes the integration of environmental justice into local, state, and federal government programs, policies, and procedures. In addition, the Program encourages stakeholder involvement in environmental justice by providing workshops and training.
Other major functions of the Program include managing environmental justice grants and processing environmental justice inquiries and complaints. The grants are awarded on an annual basis to eligible community groups and federally recognized tribal governments that are working on or planning to carry out projects to address environmental justice issues. Inquiries and complaints are reported to the Environmental Violations web site.