Constructing Valid Geospatial Tools for Environmental Justice (2024) / Chapter Skim
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1 Introduction
1 Introduction
Pages 15-22
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From page 15... ...
,1 that will be used to identify the communities across the United States and its territories eligible for Justice40 investment benefits. CEJST represents the first time a tool of this kind has been developed at the federal level to identify the disadvantaged communities in terms of climate, energy, sustainable housing, employment, and pollution burden for the purpose of federal investment.
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The committee and committee processes are described below, as is the report organization. Whereas the committee was explicitly asked to provide recommendations regarding CEQ tools, the good practices described in this report are applicable to the developers of other geospatial tools.
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, state governments, and nongovernmental institutions sought to define "environmental justice" and "disproportionate burden" and to explore ways to map BOX 1.1 Statement of Task A committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine will analyze how environmental health and geospatial data and en vironmental screening tools can inform CEQ's Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool by conducting a data assessment to assist CEQ in considering the disparities it has prioritized. The committee's assessment will build on the following tasks: • Scan of existing screening tools for types of data and approaches used to identify disadvantaged communities (e.g., CEQ-funded Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool, Environmental Protection Agency Environmental Justice Screen)
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. In 2015, EPA released EJScreen, the first publicly available interactive mapping tool that used a nationally consistent dataset and approach for combining environmental and demographic socioeconomic indicators at the Census Block Group level.2 EJScreen did not provide thresholds for identifying or prioritizing communities for action, but it did become one of a few examples or templates for the development of EJ mapping and screening tools for other federal agencies, states, and local communities.
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, CEQ and a variety of covered federal agencies began the process of developing or launching publicly accessible mapping or screening tools that could be used to identify "disadvantaged communities" to meet the Justice40 Initiative goal that "40 percent of the overall benefits of certain Federal investments flow to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized, underserved, and overburdened by pollution."9 In July 2023, the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) released guidance to federal agencies on community engagement practices for regularity purposes.10 While CEJST is not a regulatory tool, the OIRA guidance provides support for the federal government utilizing community engagement.
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. Instead, the committee would consider approaches used in several geospatial EJ tools and how those approaches may inform CEJST and potential future CEQ tools.
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The committee's workshop emphasized the importance of incorporating community voices in an EJ tool's data strategy -- one that integrates community input with quantitative data, that uses community input to validate choices regarding how community and disadvantage are defined and how disadvantage could be measured, and that uses community input to validate tool results against the lived experience of the community. These concepts formed the foundation of the committee's conceptual framework -- its vision -- for a data strategy and approach to EJ tool development (see Chapter 3)
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In Chapter 4, the committee provides information about previous surveys of EJ tools, and an overview of the approaches employed in 12 different EJ tools. The committee then describes the selection and analysis of indicators and datasets in Chapter 5, including more detail on the categories of burden used to define a disadvantaged community by CEJST.
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