Environmental Justice Policy

I know policy can be one of the most boring and arduous parts of any issue for some. Not to brag or rub it in, but it’s always been one of my favorite parts of any issue. It informs everything that is done and that has been done in a movement. It is impossible to have a full understanding of any issue without understanding the key policy that is behind it. So, I will try to make this overview as quick and painless as possible, and dare I say it? Maybe even fun.

How does the policy effect the activism that is occurring? What are the gaps in current policy? What policy is the movement trying to achieve or create? These are key questions when considering what a movement is and what it aims to do. Inevitably, every movement is seeking some sort of change, it is its very purpose for existence. Law and policy are both the purpose of the movements and the results of their hard work. Therefore, it is important both to recognize what has been achieved by viewing the roadmap of policy surrounding the issue, in our case environmental justice, and to recognize and understand the framework shaped by law and policy that the current movement must work within to achieve its goals. So here, I am going to create a brief timeline of the different federal and California state laws, policies, and actions that have been key in effecting the advancement of the environmental justice (EJ) framework and that have created the environmental justice regime we see today. In the case of environmental justice, it’s incorporation into the legal framework of the state and nation is still relatively recent and so we are still seeing major developments in the advancement of its agenda on the governmental scale. Here I will walk us through some of the most important pieces of legislation addressing and affecting environmental justice at both the federal and California state level.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is really the first place in federal legislation that environmental justice has an opportunity to appear. It isn't stated explicitly in the Act, but it can be implied from its central holdings. Title VI of the Civil Rights Act is most important for environmental justice. It prohibits "discrimination on the basis of race, color, ad national origin in programs and activities receiving federal financial assistance." Environmental racism, as I explored in the previous blog post, shows us that minority and low-income communities do experience a higher environmental risk and burden than that of the general population. Therefore, this violates Title VI. While this Act doesn't explicitly mention environmental justice, it lays the foundation for the future of environmental justice law and policy.

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1970 is one of the most important pieces of environmental justice legislation. This legislation requires federal agencies to assess the environmental effects of their proposed actions prior to making decisions. Essentially, this Act requires government agencies to take into account potential environmental and environmental justice issues that may arise from their actions. It does this primarily through environmental impact statements (EIS). The EIS is created prior to any decision and lays out the best case (pro-environment or green) scenario, the middle of the road scenarios, and the worst case (anti-environment) scenario. Following the EIS there is a public review process which forms the teeth of the effectiveness of the whole statement. Here, the public and effected communities can get involved through lobbying, raising awareness and support for whichever option they deem most appropriate. The EIS, however, does not require that the organization, company, or agency choose the best case scenario, so public and community participation during the public review process is crucial. NEPA, while a huge step in the right direction and a victory for the environmental justice movement, focusses primarily on the environment and environmental justice is incorporated primarily through the public review process where an affected community can bring up their concerns. So, at this point, there is still no real environmental justice legislation.

The Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Environmental Equity Work Group was established in 1990 in order to addresses allegations that "racial minority and low-income populations bear a higher environmental risk burden than the general population." The creation of this Work Group was a huge step for the environmental justice movement as it recognized issues of environmental racism and other potential environmental justice issues at the federal level. This meant that the movement was being heard across the nation and that action regarding issues of environmental justice were being addressed at the federal level which opened the door and the possibility for environmental justice legislation. This Work Group was really the first time that issues of environmental justice had been addressed at this level and it was a huge accomplishment for the movement. The Office of Environmental Equity was established in 1992 on the recommendation of the Environmental Equity Work Group to address environmental justice concerns. Today, it is known as the Office of Environmental Justice. The creation of this office was the manifestation of the potential held by the Environmental Equity Work Group. It meant that the federal government had discerned the legitimacy and presence of environmental justice issues in the nation. This was the first environmental justice federal agency of its kind, and another huge step for the movement.

The EPA's National Environmental Justice Advisory was established in 1993 as a federal advisory council that provides recommendation and advice on environmental justice issues and facilitates dialogues about the integration of environmental justice into other EPA priority areas. This is an extremely important advancement for environmental justice on the federal level because it, really for the first time, starts seriously thinking about how environmental justice and its specific issues fits into the mission and activities of the EPA and its projects.

President Bill Clinton's 1994 Executive Order 12898, Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations, is one of the most important pieces of federal environmental justice legislation. This order set the goal of achieving environmental protection for all communities, essentially preventing environmental injustice in low-income and minority communities. This order effectively established an Interagency Working Group on Environmental Justice which facilitates the integration of Executive Order 12898 in all federal agencies. This work group facilitates the other directive of the order which was that federal agencies must integrate environmental justice concerns by developing strategies on how to incorporate and address disproportionate human health and environmental effects of agency, or federal, activity on low income and minority populations. This was another huge achievement for the environmental justice movement because it meant that the federal government, and the executive office more specifically, was taking environmental justice concerns seriously and that it was taking steps to address the adverse effects of its agencies actions. Essentially, it again recognized that environmental injustice is a real issue and it took actual steps to preventing it and to identifying areas where it had created issues, and fixing them.

Moving on to state action, California has the reputation as one of the leading progressive states in the nation. This is definitely true when it comes to issues of environmental justice. California Senate Bill 115 (1999) is the first of many important state bills to further environmental justice, but it is primarily an administrative bill which puts into place a structure for addressing these concerns. It placed the Office of Planning and Research as the agency in charge of coordinating all state environmental justice programs. Furthermore, and perhaps more tangibly linked to environmental justice, it mandated that the California Environmental Protection Agency (Cal-EPA) formulate a model environmental justice mission statement for all departments and offices within it. A quick side bar... The EPA is structured so that there is the head, federal, agency and each state has its own EPA which addresses stat-centered concerns. Back to the bill! Essentially, this bill integrated environmental justice as a priority within all departments of the Cal-EPA; California led the march for the integration of environmental justice as an EPA priority. CA was the first state to do this and did so before the federal government and the EPA.

California Senate Bill 828 (2001) added onto what Senate Bill 115 had done and advanced its potential impact by mandating that all offices and departments within the Cal-EPA review its policies and programs to identify any gaps that perpetuate environmental injustice or impede the attainment of environmental justice. This declaration took a step further to integrating environmental justice completely into the Cal-EPA and its mission. This was an important proactive step in ensuring the success and achievement of environmental justice within the state.

California Assembly Bill 2312 (2002) established the Environmental Justice Small Grant Program which would be administered by the Cal-EPA. This is California's version of the previously established (1994) federal Small Grants Program. California's program grants up to $20,000 to local community nonprofits for projects addressing various environmental justice issues. This is an example of another government policy that facilitates environmental justice advancements by groups working directly with communities experiencing environmental injustice. In addition, it also recognizes the value of community and nonprofit organizing in combatting these issues.

It isn't until 2010 that environmental justice is established as an EPA wide priority. This, as I previously mentioned, occurs after the California senate set about integrating environmental justice fully into its framework and mission. This is still a huge success for the environmental justice movement because it officially sets the stage for real environmental justice advancements and fully declares it a real issue and priority that must be addressed by the EPA.

Plan EJ 2014 was released in 2011 as a roadmap to aid the EPA in including environmental justice into all of its programs, policies, and activities. While the policy had the goal of completing this integration by 2014, it still marks an important act for the realization of environmental justice which was only established as an EPA wide priority a year prior to the release of Plan EJ 2014. Therefore, this plan functions as the manifestation of EJ's prioritization and the action to make it an actual part and priority of the EPA's mission.

Back to state policies, California Senate Bill 535 was passed in 2012 and was the first bill of its kind. It set forth to identify disadvantaged communities on the basis of geographic, public health, socioeconomic, and environmental hazard and then proceeded to target them for investment. Among other things, this bill aimed to address environmental justice issues and attempt to alleviate them. This bill pioneered a new road for government intervention in issues of environmental justice.

Finally, the Environmental Justice 2020 Action Agenda was released in 2015 as a roadmap for addressing environmental justice from 2016 to 2020 and it is the current environmental justice regime we are operating under. It identifies three goals and various priority and action areas it seeks to address during its term. Its first goal is to "deepen environmental justice practice within EPA programs to improve the health and environment of overburdened communities" which it plans to do through the areas of making, permitting, compliance and enforcement, and science. Its second goal is to "work with partners to expand our positive impact within overburdened communities" which it plans to do by working with states and local governments, federal agencies, tribes and indigenous peoples, and community-based involvement and action. Its final goal is to "demonstrate progress on significant national environmental justice challenges" which it seeks to do by addressing the following priority areas: lead disparities, drinking water, air quality, and hazardous waste sites.

That's a lot of policy! Clearly, environmental justice law and policy have developed quickly in a short period of time and are still developing. This makes it an interesting subject to follow in terms of policy. Additionally, the exploration of policy are a great exploration of the development of environmental justice politics and the movement itself. However, the developments aren't limited to the realm of government. These policies were all influenced by the environmental justice movement itself which seeks to empower these communities to fight back against environmental justice issues. These policies are supplemental and help the movement do just that. Therefore, it is important to keep them in mind as the framework in which the environmental justice movement is working in and that which they are tying to change and advance.

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Sources

“Environmental Justice Timeline.” EPA, Environmental Protection Agency, 2 June 2017.

“National Environmental Justice Advisory Council.” EPA, Environmental Protection Agency, 29 Mar. 2019.

“National Environmental Policy Act.” EPA, Environmental Protection Agency, 28 Jan. 2019.

“Office of Environmental Justice in Action .” Environmental Protection Agency , Environmental Protection Agency .