National Academies Press: OpenBook

Effective Methods for Environmental Justice Assessment (2004)

Chapter: Chapter 1 - Guidebook Overview

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Suggested Citation:"Chapter 1 - Guidebook Overview." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2004. Effective Methods for Environmental Justice Assessment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13694.
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Suggested Citation:"Chapter 1 - Guidebook Overview." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2004. Effective Methods for Environmental Justice Assessment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13694.
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Suggested Citation:"Chapter 1 - Guidebook Overview." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2004. Effective Methods for Environmental Justice Assessment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13694.
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Suggested Citation:"Chapter 1 - Guidebook Overview." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2004. Effective Methods for Environmental Justice Assessment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13694.
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Suggested Citation:"Chapter 1 - Guidebook Overview." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2004. Effective Methods for Environmental Justice Assessment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13694.
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Suggested Citation:"Chapter 1 - Guidebook Overview." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2004. Effective Methods for Environmental Justice Assessment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13694.
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Suggested Citation:"Chapter 1 - Guidebook Overview." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2004. Effective Methods for Environmental Justice Assessment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13694.
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Suggested Citation:"Chapter 1 - Guidebook Overview." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2004. Effective Methods for Environmental Justice Assessment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13694.
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Suggested Citation:"Chapter 1 - Guidebook Overview." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2004. Effective Methods for Environmental Justice Assessment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13694.
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Suggested Citation:"Chapter 1 - Guidebook Overview." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2004. Effective Methods for Environmental Justice Assessment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13694.
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Suggested Citation:"Chapter 1 - Guidebook Overview." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2004. Effective Methods for Environmental Justice Assessment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13694.
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Suggested Citation:"Chapter 1 - Guidebook Overview." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2004. Effective Methods for Environmental Justice Assessment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13694.
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Suggested Citation:"Chapter 1 - Guidebook Overview." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2004. Effective Methods for Environmental Justice Assessment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13694.
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Suggested Citation:"Chapter 1 - Guidebook Overview." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2004. Effective Methods for Environmental Justice Assessment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13694.
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Suggested Citation:"Chapter 1 - Guidebook Overview." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2004. Effective Methods for Environmental Justice Assessment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13694.
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Suggested Citation:"Chapter 1 - Guidebook Overview." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2004. Effective Methods for Environmental Justice Assessment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13694.
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Suggested Citation:"Chapter 1 - Guidebook Overview." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2004. Effective Methods for Environmental Justice Assessment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13694.
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Suggested Citation:"Chapter 1 - Guidebook Overview." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2004. Effective Methods for Environmental Justice Assessment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13694.
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Below is the uncorrected machine-read text of this chapter, intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text of each book. Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.

1CHAPTER 1. GUIDEBOOK OVERVIEW INTRODUCTION Environmental justice is a complex subject that speaks to fundamental human desires for fairness, equity, and social and economic justice. Sadly, the basic objectives of environmental justice are often misunderstood. This guidebook was prepared to help those in the field of transportation planning and policy development better understand how to incorporate environmental justice assessment into planning processes for developing transportation projects, policies, and programs. The key regulations and policy drivers behind environmental justice assessment requirements are Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VI) and Executive Order 12898 issued by President Clinton in 1994. Although environmental justice assessment is required by Executive Order, we make the case throughout the guidebook that practitioners should evaluate environmental justice because it is part of good transportation planning. Although current policy directs practitioners as to when environmental justice assessment should be performed, there is no standard national policy or guidance on how it should be performed. Therefore, there is no “one size fits all” approach to environmental justice assessment. This is both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, it allows a practitioner the flexibility to select the most appropriate assessment technique for the problem at hand. The drawback, of course, is that the practitioner must spend time, and sometimes a considerable amount of time, determining which method or methods are most appropriate. 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. To achieve this purpose, the guidebook must be easy to use and of value to practitioners. Each guidebook chapter therefore presents a mixture of commonly used techniques and new or little-used techniques that improve upon common practice. Throughout the guidebook, we stress the importance of having the flexibility to select the method or methods that are most appropriate for the issue at hand. In general, the complexity of analysis and level of detail required will be greater for project planning and corridor studies than for long-range transportation plans and investment plans. In addition, the greatest level of public concern usually is expressed at the project planning level because the effects of the decision are tangible and will be experienced in the short term. Because of these realities, most of the methods in this guidebook are presented with project-level planning in mind, although this is not to say that policy, program, and longer-range planning efforts are any less important to environmental justice. As a result of this focus, practitioners with Departments of Transportation (DOTs) may see more opportunities to directly apply these methods than will practitioners with metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs). However, many methods that function at the project level can also be used to evaluate long-range regional planning efforts. We therefore expect that this guidebook will be a valuable resource for practitioners in both DOTs and MPOs.

2Environmental justice is concerned with myriad social, cultural, and environmental issues and how those issues affect particular social groups. This guidebook is organized into 13 chapters that address each of the most common issues of concern as environmental justice is related to transportation planning and policy development. We also selected this organization because a common body of knowledge and techniques exists for many of the issues, and many of these techniques can be extended to allow for environmental justice assessment. The methods included in this guidebook, whether simple or complex, commonly or rarely used, produce results that can be readily communicated to decision-makers and to community residents. As the title of this guidebook conveys, the focus here is on explaining approaches, techniques, and methods that will help transportation planning practitioners perform informative environmental justice assessments. As you read this guidebook, however, keep in mind that environmental justice assessment is one of many components necessary to fully integrate environmental justice into the transportation planning process. Equally if not more important are components such as developing comprehensive, agency-wide environmental justice programs and policies and implementing processes that make community participation a cornerstone of the planning process. This introductory chapter provides the background information you need to use the remaining chapters of the guidebook effectively. We begin by providing a definition of environmental justice. This is followed by a discussion of the positive role environmental justice can play in transportation planning and policy development. The types of effects addressed in the guidebook are listed and briefly described, followed by a discussion of the philosophy applied to developing the guidebook. The chapter ends with a discussion of how to use the guidebook and how it is related to other recent publications that address environmental justice. ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE DEFINED To some, environmental justice is a social cause that promotes fairness and equity for all people. To others, it is a set of federal and state policies that must be followed to ensure agency compliance with federal civil rights laws, especially Title VI. Still others may view environmental justice as a possible roadblock to transportation planning and project development that must be overcome in situations when local activist groups use the planning process to promote a specific agenda. In reality, environmental justice involves each of these perspectives to a certain degree. Some common definitions of environmental justice are discussed in the box titled “Perspectives on environmental justice.” In this guidebook, environmental justice is defined as “the fair treatment of all people in terms of the distribution of benefits and costs arising from transportation projects, programs, and policies.” The term “fair” means that a disproportionate share of adverse effects will not fall upon low-income or minority (protected) populations. 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.

3Therefore, it is necessary to present the expected effects of a transportation change to these populations as accurately and clearly as possible and then to fully consider the perspectives of protected populations when planning, constructing, and operating transportation facilities. Perspectives on environmental justice Environmental justice as a policy. The United States Environmental Protection Agency’s definition of environmental justice stresses the concepts of fairness and equity in a regulatory framework: Environmental justice is the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies – http://www.epa.gov/compliance/environmentaljustice. Environmental justice as a social movement combining concerns of social justice and environmentalism. 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), social, political, aesthetic, and economic environments. Environmental justice refers to the conditions in which such a right can be freely exercised, whereby individual and group identities, needs, and dignities are preserved, fulfilled, and respected in a way that provides for self-actualization and personal and community empowerment — http://coweb.cc.gatech.edu/lcc3308/150. Environmental justice as a call for equal access to the decision making process. Another commonly used definition focuses more on environmental laws and environmental protection, calling for equal justice, equal protection, and equal access to the decision making process: Environmental justice has been defined as the pursuit of equal justice and equal protection under the law for all environmental statutes and regulations without discrimination based on race, ethnicity, and/or socioeconomic status. This concept applies to governmental actions at all levelslocal, state and federalas well as private industry activities — http://coweb.cc.gatech.edu/lcc3308/190. Common environmental justice concerns Environmental justice can be viewed as a coming together of the social justice movement and the environmental movement to focus on societal issues where there is overlap between the two. Thus, environmental justice is concerned with issues that originally came to national attention through the social justice movement, issues such as fairness and equity, healthy living

4environments and workplaces, human health and safety, and economic development. In addition, environmental justice is also concerned with issues that the environmental movement originally brought to national attention, such as visual aesthetics, sustainable environmental practices, and environmental quality. Transportation system changes have the potential to affect all of the above listed issues, for better or for worse. Because of this, environmental justice concerns often will be raised as the public evaluates the results of transportation policies, programs, and projects. While it is beyond the scope of this discussion to list all of the important concerns that may raise issues of environmental justice, the range of concerns pertinent to transportation planning can be categorized as follows: • Human health and safety. Paramount in environmental justice is concern about protecting human health and safety. This concern is central to many of the most important environmental justice issues such as air quality and lead-based paint, among others. Safety-related transportation concerns fall in this category. • Economic development. Environmental justice proponents believe that all persons should have equal access to economic opportunities. It is important to evaluate how transportation system changes affect economic development opportunities. The effects can be either beneficial or adverse. • Society and culture. Environmental justice proponents argue that it is important to understand the many differing values and priorities of diverse social groups. Environmental justice is therefore concerned with issues such as sacred lands and community cohesion. Transportation construction projects can have considerable adverse impact on these issues. • Natural environment. Environmental justice emphasizes effects to the natural environment that have a direct social consequence. 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). Since that time, The United States Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT), the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), and state and local agencies have worked to identify processes, techniques, and effective practices for making environmental justice an integral part of the planning process. Both the U.S. DOT (1997) and FHWA (1998) have issued orders and guidance on environmental justice. These policy statements are important, but they are not the only reasons to include full consideration of environmental justice in the transportation planning process.

5Transportation planning is concerned with setting in place transportation projects and programs that advance specified policy goals and objectives. These goals and objectives can be quite broad in scope, such as fostering a vibrant local economy, or narrower, such as ensuring that persons without autos have access to employment opportunities. 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. Competent analyses of possible courses of action should be blended with interaction with the affected public. This guidebook is designed to assist planners in analyzing the distributive effects of possible projects so that these effects can be discussed with members of various population groups. It is important to stress that, depending on the analysis context, some effects are more likely to warrant extensive examination, perhaps using relatively advanced methods. It stands to reason that the effects that residents of a community feel are important should be addressed with special thoroughness and vigor. Effects that are likely to be consequential but not of paramount importance often can be examined using basic methods. In most cases, then, some effects will warrant extensive study, others will warrant a less exhaustive analysis, and still others may not require any attention. Incorporating environmental justice analysis into the transportation planning process is complex for at least four reasons: • A balance has to be drawn between benefits to users of the facility and effects on other community residents. • Even among community residents, numerous effects (some positive, some negative) interact and must be balanced. • Various population groups within the community may be affected differently in terms of mixes of effects. • People vary in their preferences and opinions, so that what is acceptable or even desirable to some may be unacceptable to others. The best way to think of environmental justice as a component of transportation planning is that it can help make transportation projects as beneficial as possible to populations that historically have not had an adequate voice in the planning process. As such, it is a way of strengthening transportation planning by making a wider array of effects understood. The fact that federal policy mandates consideration of environmental justice should not be the only driving force behind considering it; a more compelling argument is that it makes for good transportation planning. Actually, much of the underlying regulatory basis for including environmental justice in transportation planning and policy development stems from requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) and other long-standing provisions such as the 1970 Federal-Aid Highway Act and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (as amended). It is worth stressing that Section 1508.8 of the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) regulations for

6implementing NEPA states that effects to be taken into account include “ecological (such as the effects on natural resources and on the components, structures, and functioning of affected ecosystems), aesthetic, historic, cultural, economic, social, or health” (CEQ 1986). In essence, environmental justice adds a distributive focus to many of the impact analyses already required for transportation projects. ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE AND DISTRIBUTIVE EFFECTS All methods presented in this guidebook have at least one common feature: the ability to estimate distributive effects. Distributive effects are measurable adverse and beneficial outcomes of a transportation plan, program, or project that do not affect all members of a population equally. To evaluate environmental justice, it is necessary to determine distributive effects to protected population groups. The remainder of this section describes how distributive effects can be evaluated and incorporated into a comprehensive environmental justice program. Environmental justice requires fair and equitable processes and outcomes. Most definitions of environmental justice stress the importance of fairness and equity for all persons. This means that the processes used to plan, select, and implement transportation system changes must be inclusive. In an equitable process, protected populations will have equal opportunity to become involved in the planning process, and the needs, values, and concerns of these populations will be fully considered. In a perfect world, fair and equitable processes would be expected to result in fair and equitable outcomes. Outcome equity is therefore an appropriate way to evaluate the environmental justice of distributive effects. In situations where, for example, members of protected populations would receive more of the adverse effects of a transportation planning decision, or a lesser proportion of benefits than other groups, the outcomes of the transportation planning decisions are not equitable and are not environmentally just. Distributive effects assessment methods are a test of outcome equity. The test for outcome equity, then, is to determine how beneficial and adverse effects are distributed among population groups and to determine if those effects are fair and equitable. Performing this test requires three basic steps: 1. Identify the affected population. The affected population is that which would experience the beneficial and adverse effects of a transportation system change. 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. 2. Estimate the nature and extent of the effects. Beneficial and adverse effects should be identified and measured. The measure could simply consider whether effects would or would not result from the transportation system change. A more informative approach would be to measure the magnitude of effect. An example would be developing estimates of ground-level airborne pollutant concentrations from zero parts per billion to 1,000 parts per billion, and how the levels vary across a study area, rather than merely

7determining whether concentrations within the study area are above or below a standard of 100 parts per billion. 3. Assess whether the effects are equitable. This requires combining the demographic assessment with the effects assessment to determine how effects are distributed among social groups. Effects can be distributed across space, across social groups, and across time. Examples of spatially distributed effects include air quality, noise, and water quality. Such effects are most often assessed using models or other techniques based on natural and physical properties of the effect. Other types of effects may have a geographic component, but fundamentally they are distributed across social groups. One of the best examples is transportation user effects. For example, lower-income persons often rely more on bus transit whereas middle-income persons often rely more on transportation by personal vehicle. The adverse effects of limiting transit service on weekends can therefore be expected to fall more heavily upon lower-income persons. Any type of effect can be distributed across time. For example, the noise and air quality effects of a new roadway will become greater as traffic volumes increase over time. To assess the temporal distribution of effects, one must develop measures of (a) changes in population characteristics through time and (b) the nature and extent of effects through time, thus making it possible to determine if equity changes over time. There are numerous principles of outcome equity. It is important to note that equitable distributions of adverse and beneficial effects can be defined in many different ways that are appropriate based upon the specifics of the situation. Environmental Justice and Transportation: A Citizen’s Handbook (ITS 2003) includes a discussion of commonly applied definitions of outcome equity that are summarized in the box titled “Principles of outcome equity.” Principles of outcome equity Equality. Everyone receives an equal share of the net benefits (benefits minus burdens). Ability to pay. Persons are entitled to receive all the benefits they can pay for, assuming they compensate for any burdens incurred by others. Maximum benefit. The greatest benefit for the most people. Serve the least advantaged first. Remedy existing inequalities by focusing on the needs of the disadvantaged. Most of the assessment methods and examples presented in this guidebook apply the equality principle to determine if a transportation policy, program, or project is environmentally just. In most situations, however, it is possible to use the outcome of the equality test to consider if the other forms of outcome equity are being met. The brief hypothetical situation, “Applying outcome equity principles in practice,” on the next page provides an example.

8Environmental justice assessments can provide objective information in an open dialog with stakeholders. As described in the example below, application of these various equity principles can yield vastly different outcomes when applied to real-world situations. The question of equity must therefore be determined through open dialog among planners and the various stakeholder groups. Distributive effects assessment methods, such as those presented in this guidebook, can be used effectively to prepare the objective information needed to evaluate equity. The results can be presented to stakeholders to obtain feedback on the relative importance placed on the various equity principles. However, because values and needs often vary considerably among social groups, practitioners should not expect technical distributive effects assessments to be the final word as to whether a proposed transportation system change is equitable. That decision ultimately is reached through a political process that includes members of affected communities, planners, agencies, and decision-makers. Applying outcome equity principles in practice Equality. A small minority community has little demand for a nearby light rail station being constructed to reduce traffic and parking congestion at a professional sports stadium. Because the minority community will receive many of the burdens and few of the benefits from the new station, the equality principle will not be met. Ability to pay. In this situation, the “ability to pay” principle can be used to achieve environmental justice. Project planners can ensure that a special event surcharge will adequately fund the project, which would include enhancing visual quality and obtaining new housing for any displaced persons. Under this principle, equity would be achieved by compensating the community near the station for the burdens being placed upon it. Serve the least advantaged first. Similarly, the principle of serving the least advantaged first could be used to achieve environmental justice. In this scenario, the project would be expanded to include improved bus service in the community. A priority would be placed on the bus service, and any budget limitations would be met by reducing the amenities originally planned for the light rail station. 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. The various effects of a transportation project are organized on the basis of whether they are related to human health and safety or whether they affect social, economic, or cultural elements of the human environment. It should be noted that certain effects might have impacts in both areas. In these cases, we focus on the most common type of effect and organize that topic accordingly.

9For example, noise can have both health and nuisance effects. Long-term exposure to loud noises can permanently impair hearing. In transportation planning, however, nuisance issues related to noise are much more common. Also, because noise becomes a nuisance at decibel levels much lower than those needed to cause hearing impairment, minimizing nuisance issues will also ensure that noise will not affect human health. Noise is therefore treated as a social effect. The box titled “Transportation effects addressed in the guidebook” provides more detail. UNDERSTANDING THE GUIDEBOOK This guidebook provides a broader set of environmental justice assessment methods than is commonly in use today. The first objective of the guidebook is to provide a resource to practitioners that can be used to identify effective methods for evaluating environmental justice in most real-world situations. The methods, tools, and techniques presented in this guidebook are therefore practical and can be readily implemented. Many of the environmental justice assessment techniques are extensions of methods commonly used to assess impacts from effects such as air quality, visual quality, transportation safety, and others. In this way, practitioners with little background in environmental justice assessment should still have adequate working knowledge of many of the necessary processes. The second objective of this guidebook is to advance the state of practice in environmental justice assessment. The guidebook therefore contains numerous methods that are new or have seen little application in practice. Wherever possible the guidebook provides methods that have seen real-world application. This ensures the practicality of the techniques, in keeping with the first objective of the guidebook. Some of the methods that have not yet been applied in the transportation field, but have been used in other areas, can be applied either directly or with slight modification. 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. • They are predictive. • They can be integrated into a participation-focused planning process. • They meet regulatory and legal requirements and will stand up to scientific review. • They are flexible and can be modified to address many types of issues. • As a whole, the methods provide a range of assessment options that streamline and simplify method selection and implementation for the practitioner. Key considerations used to select the methods are described briefly below. The guidebook includes methods for evaluating beneficial, adverse, and, by extension, net distributive effects. This approach allows practitioners to develop a more holistic sense of the potential environmental justice ramifications of a proposed policy, program, or project. It allows

10 practitioners and the public to evaluate the inevitable tradeoffs that arise when a transportation investment is made. The methods also are well suited for evaluating effects on many social groups. This is a key to good transportation planning because it provides the ability to evaluate benefits and costs to particular groups rather than to society at large. Regulations exist that offer legal protections to numerous social groups. 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. Integrating community participation and predictive assessment. An effective assessment method must provide insights into the intended and unintended consequences of a transportation system change. In other words, the method must be predictive. Ultimately, however, it is just as important that results of the assessment can be clearly communicated. This is especially true in environmental justice assessment because community participation is such an important factor. When selecting analysis methods, the practitioner must carefully consider how the results will be communicated to, and used by, the general public and decision-makers. Practitioners should strive to present the methods used, and the results should be discussed openly in public forums. Meeting legal, policy, and scientific requirements. When evaluating environmental justice, analysts must be reasonably certain that the selected approach meets basic regulatory requirements, meets tests of legal sufficiency, and will stand up to scientific review and critique. This is not the goal of performing environmental justice assessment, but legal, regulatory, and scientific requirements do set the minimum standard of practice. Making the tool fit the problem. It is important that a range of evaluation methods exist so that they can be matched to the problem at hand. Problems will vary based on the specific issues being addressed, their complexity, the level of public concern, and the broad range of project scales that can be anticipated in practice. In some cases, a simple screening assessment may suffice to evaluate a low-level environmental justice concern. In other cases, it may be necessary to conduct in-depth public surveys and focus groups or to use complex simulation models to evaluate distributive effects. Simplifying the assessment process. Ultimately, this guidebook is intended to inform and educate practitioners about methods available for performing environmental justice assessment. It is intended to make the methods more available, to simplify the process of selecting appropriate techniques, and to guide the reader in carrying out the assessment. The guidebook is not a detailed, step by step “user’s manual” for methods, although it does guide you to sources for further information where possible. The guidebook provides for flexibility in choosing tools and techniques, while at the same time maintaining a consistent framework for defining environmental justice goals and objectives; presenting results and conclusions; and facilitating collaboration, community understanding, and decision making.

11 Transportation effects addressed in the guidebook Human health and safety Air quality (Chapter 3) – Air quality is important to human health, the vitality of the natural environment, and the quality of life in general. Hazardous materials (Chapter 4) – Hazardous materials are used in the construction, maintenance, and operation activities of transportation facilities. There is also concern over spills when hazardous cargo is transported through populated areas or sensitive environmental areas. Water quality and drainage (Chapter 5) – 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. Transportation safety (Chapter 6) – Changes in public safety resulting from a transportation project or program can be classified into three groups: (1) traveler safety, particularly for road users; (2) safety of pedestrians and users of non-motorized transportation; and (3) safety of the general public, especially children, the elderly, and the disabled. Social, economic, and cultural effects Transportation user effects (Chapter 7) – Transportation user effects can be classified into five groups: (1) changes in travel time, (2) changes in safety, (3) changes in vehicle operating costs, (4) changes in transportation choice, and (5) changes in accessibility. Community cohesion (Chapter 8) – This topic is often raised as an environmental justice concern, commonly related to displacement of persons or severing of transportation linkages that connect community members. Economic development (Chapter 9) – One of the most positive effects of transportation projects is that reduced transportation costs can make businesses more competitive. Transportation changes can have beneficial and adverse economic development effects. Noise (Chapter 10) – Traffic noise and the noise associated with rail and air transportation can have harmful health effects, but nuisance effects are much more common. Visual quality (Chapter 11) – Transportation system changes can have a significant visual effect when they require new structures to be built, older structures to be torn down, or the view of pleasant settings or landscapes to be obscured. Land prices and property values (Chapter 12) – Land use and property values are discussed together because changes in the demand for land is a key driving force behind changes in property values. Cultural resources (Chapter 13) – Resources that may be of cultural value to protected populations can be adversely affected by transportation system changes.

12 USING THE GUIDEBOOK The guidebook is organized by general types of effects. We selected this structure because it is the most logical way to present methods for issues such as visual quality, transportation safety, and noise that have their own specific techniques. Whether you are evaluating a regional investment plan, a statewide transportation policy, or a specific transportation corridor or project alternatives, you should structure the environmental justice assessment around the following questions: • What types of effects should be analyzed? • What are the appropriate methods for each effect given the problem at hand? • What is the appropriate time horizon? Once you have general answers to the first question, you can refer to the chapters that address the effects you’ve selected and evaluate the available methods. Each chapter includes sections that discuss these general topics: • Overview. An introduction to the chapter discussing the effect or effects being addressed and why those effects could have environmental justice implications. • State of the practice. The state of practice for evaluating the effects and for evaluating environmental justice. • Selecting an appropriate method of analysis. Guidance on situations in which the various methods are appropriate to use. For more information, see the discussion on “Identifying Appropriate Methods” below. • Methods. Each method or technique is discussed in detail. For more information, see our discussion on “Identifying appropriate methods” below. • Resources. We cite articles, books, and Internet sources that are especially helpful if further information is desired. Many of the resources also are cited as references within the chapter. • References. A list of additional articles, books, and Internet sources cited in the chapter. This guidebook also contains four appendices and a glossary. Appendix A contains a summary of important environmental justice statutes and regulations. Appendix B presents a summary of important environmental justice case law. Appendix C provides information on geographic information systems (GIS) that is mentioned in various guidebook chapters but not discussed in detail. Finally, Appendix D provides information on use of current U.S. Census data products. Choosing effects to consider for analysis. The types of effects to evaluate for environmental justice will vary depending on the specific circumstances of the policy, program, or project at hand; the level of local sensitivity to environmental justice issues; and the planning context within which the problem is being addressed. As part of the community planning process, techniques can be used to identify effects of greatest concern to local residents and to inform residents about the effects identified from engineering, environmental, and planning studies.

13 If the analysis is performed as part of a statewide or regional planning process, federal and local agency policy will dictate the types of effects that should be addressed. In this context, most issues will be related to questions of resource distribution and determining whether plans meet the long-term needs of all populations within the planning area. If the environmental justice evaluation is performed as part of an environmental assessment (EA) or environmental impact statement (EIS), the type of project and applicable state and federal regulations will dictate the types of effects to be assessed. In all situations, it is important to prioritize effects. Prioritization can be based on factors such as level of public concern and potential consequences. More advanced methods should be used to evaluate effects in cases where public concern is high or the consequences could be substantial. More basic methods can be used to evaluate effects where less substantial consequences can be expected or public concern is not as great. Identifying appropriate methods. Each chapter of this guidebook includes a table that summarizes criteria to use in selecting an appropriate method of analysis. The table can be used as a concise list of the methods discussed in the chapter and can be quickly reviewed to identify specific methods to read about in more detail. Within the discussion for each method, further information is provided to help you understand appropriate uses. The criteria listed in the tables and their definitions are below: • Assessment level. Screening assessment/initial review or detailed analysis. • Appropriate uses. Regional plans, investment plans, system assessment, corridor studies, project level studies. • Use when. Brief description of types of issues that can be evaluated. • Data needs. There are three levels of data needs: – Low - Data are readily available and processing demands are minor. – Medium - Data are generally available, must budget for acquisition/processing costs. – High - Data may be costly to acquire, processing requirements may be extensive. • Expertise required. Listing of types of expertise needed to perform the assessment. To the fullest extent possible, we have included methods in each chapter that vary in sophistication and complexity. As a general principle, you should use the least complex method that is sufficient for the problem at hand. The most complex methods should be reserved for cases when the potential impact is likely to be relatively major and when the affected population regards the impact as particularly important. Once you select from the table a specific method to review, you can turn to the section that discusses that method in detail. Presentation of each method is similar, and includes a discussion of the following topics: • When to use. A description of the types of situations in which this method provides informative results and for which it should be considered.

14 • Analysis. A concise discussion of the various techniques that can be used to apply the method or the sequence of steps required to carry out the method. • Data needs, assumptions, and limitations. As appropriate to the specific method, this discussion presents the data required to perform the analysis, the types of expertise required to perform the analysis, and limitations of the technique that must be considered. • Results and their presentation. Simple examples of results obtained from the method and ways in which the results can be prepared for presentation to the general public and to decision makers. • Assessment. A final overview summarizing the most important points made about the method in the previous discussion. Selecting the proper time horizon. The planning process is organized into a series of disciplines, each with different objectives and time horizons. It is important to consider environmental justice within each planning discipline. The process begins with long-range statewide and regional transportation plans that are updated on a regular basis to reflect changing needs and priorities. At the other end of the planning process are studies to define and select specific projects. Policies and programs developed by federal, state, and metropolitan transportation agencies govern this process. Environmental justice is achieved by ensuring that policies and programs are fair and that all citizens have access to the planning process. Policies can also have direct effects on outcomes. One example is a policy implemented in California to reduce air pollution by retrofitting diesel engines. This policy has a distributive effect in part because large diesel-operated vehicles travel predominantly on freeways and major arterials that tend to have a large proportion of protected populations nearby. Many of the methods in this guidebook are suitable to evaluating such policies. Studies with a long time horizon should consider how population characteristics might change within the plan’s time span. Population projection may also be useful to predict future demographic changes in areas affected by specific projects. Practitioners must be aware that population projection is an extremely inexact science and should expect that population trends will need to be updated regularly. In general, the complexity of analysis and level of detail required will be greater for project planning and corridor studies than for long-range transportation plans and investment plans. This is in part because of the nature of the problem—because projects are specific, their effects can be more precisely predicted, and they generally affect smaller areas and smaller numbers of users. In contrast, long-range plans usually are less fine-grained in nature and therefore tend to rely on more generalized information. Also, the greatest level of public concern is usually expressed at the project-planning level because the effects of the decision will be experienced in the short term. 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.

15 Because of these realities, most of the methods in this guidebook were developed with project- level analysis in mind, although this is not to say that policy, program, and longer-range planning efforts are any less important to environmental justice. Many methods that function at the project level can be used to evaluate long-range regional planning efforts. A project in the Atlanta area jointly conducted by FHWA, FTA, the Atlanta Regional Commission, and Georgia DOT is a good example. This project is described in a recent NCHRP report (Cambridge Systematics, Inc. 2002). Understanding common criticisms of existing methods. Many past environmental justice assessment methods have been criticized for various reasons, and the methods in this guidebook were developed with an understanding of these criticisms. Past analyses often failed to consider the severity or magnitude of consequences, the balance between beneficial and adverse effects, and how those effects were distributed among the potentially affected populations. Similarly, many past environmental justice evaluations have tended to rely on traditional environmental and socioeconomic assessment methods to determine “significant” effects and to only consider environmental justice consequences in cases where significant effects have been identified. Although such approaches are valid in certain circumstances, they often fail to consider unique concerns of protected populations and may be theoretically or technically inappropriate. Other criticisms from environmental justice proponents include the following: • Using incomplete data or data irrelevant to local environmental justice concerns. • Conducting studies and presenting results without obtaining feedback from local communities. • Presenting studies in an overly-technical format that is difficult for the layperson to interpret. • Failing to consider the differing values and priorities of diverse communities. 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. Discussions in Chapter 2 and discussions of method limitations throughout the guidebook describe these limitations and ways to address them. RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER RECENT PUBLICATIONS Both NCHRP and FHWA have recently published informative reports that provide environmental justice guidance. In addition, a recent publication has been prepared for local communities and concerned citizens to promote understanding. How this guidebook is related to these other useful documents is described below. NCHRP 8-36(11). A 2002 report titled Technical Methods to Support Analysis of Environmental Justice Issues, prepared for NCHRP Project 8-36(11), provides an inventory of technical approaches that can be used to address environmental justice issues in systems-level planning,

16 and corridor and sub-area planning (Cambridge Systematics, Inc. 2002). The emphasis of the report was on methods that have been previously applied in transportation planning studies. The Technical Methods report’s three main topics are the legal framework for environmental justice (Chapter 3), important findings on the current state of practice and approaches to structuring environmental justice evaluations developed from interviews with numerous agencies (Chapter 4), and a summary of recently applied analytical approaches (Chapter 5). This guidebook is a continuation of the research begun in Project 8-36(11), 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. Community impact assessment (FHWA). Community impact assessment differs from many traditional impact assessment processes in that it is focused on understanding how transportation system changes affect the quality of life in communities. There are a number of valuable community impact assessment resources including Community Impact Assessment: A Quick Reference for Transportation published by FHWA (1996), and a community impact assessment Web site sponsored by FHWA (2003). The purpose of community impact assessment is squarely aligned with the principles of environmental justice. The methods presented in this guidebook are specific techniques that can be used in the community impact assessment process for developing community profiles and for analyzing impacts. Effective EJ practices (U.S. DOT). The U.S. DOT (2003) has prepared a CD-ROM with examples of effective environmental justice assessment practices. The purpose of the Effective Practices CD-ROM is to provide practical examples relevant to an array of practitioners on how environmental justice has been integrated into transportation programs, policies, plans, and activities. It describes effective practices taken by transportation agencies, community-based organizations, and other grassroots and advocacy organizations to advance the fundamental principles of environmental justice. The CD-ROM can be used in conjunction with the guidebook to make environmental justice a central element of the transportation planning process. NCHRP 45-19 (Report 456). Traditionally, effects assessments have been focused on issues of human health and impacts to the natural environment. Although these issues are extremely important in the context of environmental justice, they do not make up the full spectrum of beneficial and adverse social, economic, and environmental effects that should be considered. NCHRP Report 456, titled Guidebook for Assessing the Social and Economic Effects of Transportation Projects (Forkenbrock and Weisbrod 2001), discusses methods that increase the capabilities of transportation professionals to predict and assess social and economic effects to both transportation system users and other members of society. Many of the methods presented in Report 456 have been extended in this guidebook to allow for environmental justice assessment.

17 NCHRP 20-10(2) (Report 466). This report, titled Desk Reference for Estimating the Indirect Effects of Transportation Projects (The Louis Berger Group, Inc. 2002), builds on NCHRP Report 403 by the same contractor and provides guidance in identifying and estimating the indirect effects of proposed transportation projects. Indirect effects are foreseeable impacts that are caused by a project but occur at a removed location or a later time. These effects can be a source of substantial impacts of a social and economic nature. They also can cause important impacts related to natural resources, cultural resources, and accessibility. Citizen’s Handbook on Environmental Justice. A recent publication from the Institute of Transportation Studies titled Environmental Justice and Transportation: A Citizen’s Handbook (ITS 2003) is intended to introduce community members and concerned citizens to environmental justice and its role in the transportation planning process. 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. When more detailed introductory information is needed or in situations where this guidebook or any of its methods are to be presented to a lay audience, it would be useful to incorporate many of the ideas presented in the Citizen’s Handbook. RESOURCES 1) Cambridge Systematics, Inc. 2002. Technical Methods to Support Analysis of Environmental Justice Issues. Final report of project NCHRP Project 8-36(11). Transportation Research Board, National Research Council. Washington, DC: National Academy Press. 2) Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). 1996. Community Impact Assessment: A Quick Reference for Transportation. Washington, DC: FHWA. Available at http://www.ciatrans.net/TABLE.html. 3) Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). 2003. Community Impact Assessment. Washington, DC: FHWA. Available at http://www.ciatrans.net/index.shtml. 4) Forkenbrock, David J., and Glen E. Weisbrod. 2001. Guidebook for Assessing the Social and Economic Effects of Transportation Projects. NCHRP Report 456. Transportation Research Board, National Research Council. Washington, DC: National Academy Press. Also available at http://trb.org/trb/publications/nchrp/nchrp_rpt_456-a.pdf. 5) Institute of Transportation Studies (ITS). 2003. Environmental Justice and Transportation: A Citizen’s Handbook. Berkeley, CA: University of California Berkeley. Available at http://www.its.berkeley.edu/publications/ejhandbook/ej.html. 6) The Louis Berger Group, Inc. 2002. Desk Reference for Estimating the Indirect Effects of Transportation Projects. NCHRP Report 466. Transportation Research Board, National Research Council. Washington, DC: National Academy Press. Also available at http://gulliver.trb.org/publications/nchrp/nchrp_rpt_466.pdf. 7) United States Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT). 2003. Environmental justice effective practices Web site, http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/ejustice/effect/index.htm.

18 REFERENCES Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ). 1986. “Regulations Implementing NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act of 1968).” 40 CFR, Parts 1500–1508 (July). Available at http://ceq.eh.doe.gov/nepa/regs/ceq/toc_ceq.htm. Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). 1998. “FHWA Actions to Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations.” Order 6640.23. Available at http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/legsregs/directives/orders/6640_23.htm. President, Proclamation. 1994. “Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations.” Executive Order 12898. Federal Register, Vol. 59, No. 32 (February 16), pp. 7629-7633. Available at http://www.archives.gov/ federal_register/executive_orders/pdf/12898.pdf. U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT). 1997. “Department of Transportation Order to Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations. OST Docket No OST-95-141 (50152).” Federal Register, Vol. 62, No. 72 (April), pp. 18377- 18381. Available at http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/ejustice/dot_ord.htm.

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TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 532: Effective Methods for Environmental Justice Assessment is designed to enhance understanding and to facilitate consideration and incorporation of environmental justice into all elements of the transportation planning process, from long-range transportation systems planning through priority programming, project development, and policy decisions. The report offers practitioners an analytical framework to facilitate comprehensive assessments of a proposed transportation project’s impacts on affected populations and communities.

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