Symposium on Integrating the Science of Environmental Justice into Decision-Making at the Environmental Protection Agency: An Overview

摘要

In March 2010, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) collaborated with government and nongovernmental organizations to host a groundbreaking symposium, “Strengthening Environmental Justice Research and Decision Making: A Symposium on the Science of Disproportionate Environmental Health Impacts.” The symposium provided a forum for discourse on the state of scientific knowledge about factors identified by EPA that may contribute to higher burdens of environmental exposure or risk in racial/ethnic minorities and low-income populations. Also featured were discussions on how environmental justice considerations may be integrated into EPA's analytical and decision-making frameworks and on research needs for advancing the integration of environmental justice into environmental policymaking. We summarize key discussions and conclusions from the symposium and briefly introduce the articles in this issue. IN 2009, THE US ENVIRON mental Protection Agency (EPA) initiated activities to formalize and ensure the assessment and consideration of environmental justice issues in its regulatory decisions, particularly in the context of developing regulations. EPA's direction reflects a commitment to fully implement a 1994 executive order, “Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations” (EO 12898), 1 which requires EPA to identify and address any disproportionate environmental and health impacts that its policies, activities, and programs may have on minority and low-income populations. This direction is also consistent with the stated commitment of EPA administrator Lisa P. Jackson to include environmental justice principles in all of the agency's decisions. 2 The mandate of EO 12898 and the actions of the agency are grounded in a body of evidence that demonstrates a disproportionate distribution of environmental harms and risks to racial/ethnic minority, indigenous, and low-income populations in the United States. Ample evidence shows that these populations reside in communities where sources of environmental hazards are more likely to be located and to be more concentrated. 3 – 9 These populations are more likely to experience higher exposures to environmental pollution because of where they live, work, and play 10 – 19 and to bear higher burdens of such adverse health outcomes as elevated blood lead, asthma, preterm births, and morbidity and mortality from cardiovascular diseases. 18 – 28 Additional information on the subject of disproportionate environmental and health impacts experienced by these population groups is available in the general scientific and public health literature. 29 – 52 .