Considering Ej in Rule Making Guide 07 2010

UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCYWASHINGTON,D

.C.

20460

JUL

22

1010

OFFICE

OF

POLICY,ECONOMICS

AND

INNOVATION

MEMORANDUM

SUBJECT: 

Transmittal

of

interim GuidanceonConsidering Environmenral

Juslice

Duringlhe

Developmenr

of

an AClion

,I'

FROM: 

Li

saHeinzerling,)

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.

IL

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~

Associate

A d m i n i s t r a

t

o~~

'V""

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Y

CynthiaGiles,Assistant

Admini

str

ate 

Office

of

Enforcement

and

Co

m

pi

iane

"'''A''''''

'



~

Li

saGarcia,SeniorAdvisor

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e

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n

trator for

Env

ironmentalJustice

Office

of

the

Adm

inis

trato

r

~

-

,

TO: 

AssistantAdministrators

General

Counse

lR

eg

ional

Adm

inis

tr

atorsA

sso

ciate

Adm

inis

tr

atorsDeputyAssistant

Adm

inis

tr

at

ors

DeputyGen

era

lCounselD

ep

utyRe

giona

lAdministratorsDeputy

Assoc

iate

Adm

inistrat

ors

We are pl

eased

to

announce

thereleaseof

EPA's

InterimGuidanceonConsidering EnvironmentalJus

/i

ceDuring theDevelopment

of

anAction.

This step-by-step

Gu

ide willhelp EPAsta

ffdetenninc

whether

act

ionsraise

po

ssible

env

ironmental

ju

stice concernsandwi

ll

enco

uragepublicparticipation in therul

ema

kingprocess.Furth

er

,

the

Guide

willsupport usin meeti

ng

ourresponsibilitiesunder Executive

Order

12898,

Federal

Ac

tions

To

AddressEnvironmental Justicein Minority Populations

and

Low-lncomePopulations,

and

EPA's

r

egu

latory authoritiesto considertheneeds

of'minority

,low-income,

and

indigenous populationsoverburdenedbypollutio

n.

The Guide

ca

n

be

accessedthrough

EPA

'sAction

Deve

l

opme

ntProcess

(ADP)

Libr

ary

athttp:

//int

ranet.epa.gov/adplibrarylstatutes/12S9S.

htm

.ThisGuide isal

so

an

imp

ortantand

po

sitives

tep

towardmeetingEPA Administrator

Jackson's

priorityto

work

for environmental

jus

ticebyexplicitlyintegratingenvironmental

ju

sticeconsidera

ti

onsintothe

fa

bric

of

EPA

's

proce

ss

fo

rdevelopi

ng

actionsunder

our

Ac

tion

In

temetAddress (URLl•hUp:ftwww_epa.gov Recycledll'lecycleble•Prinled wilh VegetableOilBased Inkson 100%Postconsumer.Process ChlorineFree Recycled Paper 

Development Process.TheGuidestarts

at

the beginning

of

the rulemaking processandcontinuesthrougheachstep

of

arule's development, including promulgation andimplementation. Thiswillprovidearoadmap that workgroups can use to meaningfully engage with, and consider disparate impactson,minority,low-income,and indigenouspopulationsor tribes.The Guideshouldbe used by participantson actiondevelopmentworkgroups and

by

themanagerswho willneed to be engaged and provide direction

at

key points throughout theActionDevelopment Process.As your organizationsbegin to implement thisGuide,

we

inviteyou and your stafftoshareyourpractical knowledge,experience,and lessons learned to help ensure thatthisGuide

is

ausefulandeffective tool. By learning fromeach

of

you,

we

can capturebestpractices andintegrate them into a finalguidancedocument within the nextyear. Aspart

of

this effort,

we

have developedadiscussion forum for users

of

this Guide where they can ask questions and share their experiences(http://epaguickplacel.rtp.epa.gov/ejinrulemaking).

We

askthatyouencourageyour staffto use thissite,

by

logging

in

using their LotusNoles Username andPasswo

rd

,to help raisetheAgency'scapacity toaddressenvironmental justiceconcerns

in

theActionDevelopment Process.TheOffice

of

Policy, in consultationwiththeOffice

of

EnvironmentalJustice,will supporttheAgencyin the implementation

of

thisguidancedocument.

Pl

easecontact EileenMcGovern

of

the Office

of

Policy(mcgovern.eileen@epa.gov or 202-566-2881)

if

youneedadditionalassistance. A criticalnextstepwillbe the development

of

guidancethat will help workgroupsconduct appropriate technicaland scientific analyses

of

environmental

ju

sticeissues.That guidancecurrently is under development. We hope to provide

yo

u with thisanalyticalsupport

by

earlyin the next calendaryear.Please join us inadvancing Administrator LisaJackson

's

prioritytoexpandthe conversationonenvironmentalismandwork for environmentaljustice byassuringthatyour managers andstaffunderstand and implement this newguidance. Attachmentcc: RegulatorySteering CommitteeRepresentatives Regional RegulatoryContacts