Effective Methods for Environmental Justice Assessment (2004) / Chapter Skim
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This guidebook is intended to simplify that process. One key purpose of the guidebook is to advance the state of the practice by presenting a broad range of effective environmental justice assessment techniques.
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A disproportionate share of adverse effects in turn implies that the distribution of benefits to a protected population is not commensurate with the costs that this particular population would bear. It is important to keep in mind that the value of a benefit or the adversity of a cost may vary among population groups.
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A definition used by many environmental justice proponents stresses the comprehensive array of environmental justice concerns involving both physical and human environments: Environmental justice is the right to a safe, healthy, productive, and sustainable environment for all, where "environment" is considered in its totality to include the ecological (biological) , physical (natural and built)
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So, for example, degradation of surface water quality becomes an important environmental justice issue in situations where protected populations use impaired water bodies for sustenance or recreation. THE ROLE OF ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE IN TRANSPORTATION PLANNING AND POLICY DEVELOPMENT Beginning in 1994, environmental justice was elevated to greater importance in transportation planning when President Clinton issued Executive Order 12898, Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations (President, Proclamation 1994)
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Environmental justice fits into transportation planning by introducing consideration of distributive effects -- how the benefits and costs of a proposed project would be experienced by different populations. Good transportation planning has both a technical component and a participatory component.
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The size of the population and its demographic characteristics need to be determined. Important demographic characteristics for identifying protected populations include race, national origin, age, sex, disability, English-speaking ability, and income.
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To assess the temporal distribution of effects, one must develop measures of (a) changes in population characteristics through time and (b)
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In this scenario, the needs of the disadvantaged community would be given priority. TYPES OF EFFECTS ADDRESSED The common environmental justice concerns that are often raised in regard to transportation were used to develop the basic structure of the guidebook.
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The methods presented in the chapters to follow were selected because they meet the following criteria. • They can be used to evaluate distributive effects to protected populations.
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These protected populations include social groups defined by age, disability, gender, limited English proficiency, and religion in addition to the categories of class, race, and low-income commonly considered in the context of environmental justice. The methods in this guidebook can be used to evaluate distributive effects on these protected populations and to other social groups.
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– Impaired water quality may have environmental justice implications if it affects public or private water supplies or resources more highly valued by protected populations. Drainage issues are commonly social or economic, but are discussed here because they are related to water quality.
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Finally, Appendix D provides information on use of current U.S. Census data products.
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If the environmental justice evaluation is performed as part of an environmental assessment (EA) or environmental impact statement (EIS)
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That said, it must be kept in mind that long-range transportation plans can have great potential to improve or worsen the circumstances facing protected populations, so environmental justice definitely is highly relevant to these plans, as well.
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The methods in this guidebook can be used to structure objective, highly informative environmental justice assessments that can be readily communicated to the general public and to decision-makers. In many cases, especially with several of the technical methods that require Census data, GIS, databases, or statistical analysis, certain criticisms cannot be overcome entirely.
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, focusing on modifying existing methods or developing new methods as necessary to evaluate a much broader range of effects. In addition, this guidebook is intended to be a concise reference to a broad environmental justice assessment body of knowledge.
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Whereas the Citizen's Handbook is intended for the general public, this guidebook has been written for the practitioner. The guidebook therefore assumes a certain level of background and experience with transportation planning processes and environmental justice concepts.
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1998. "FHWA Actions to Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations." Order 6640.23.
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