Paper Number: EE-0561

Document Date: 09/01/2010

Author(s):  Abt Associates

Subject Area(s):

Economic Analysis,  Environmental Justice, Distributional and Equity Impacts

Keywords: Economic Analysis,  Environmental Justice, Distributional and Equity Impacts

Summary: 

While tools used for conducting an efficiency analysis of environmental regulations are rigorous and well understood among economists, those for carrying out an equity analysis are not as well developed.  EPA has committed to incorporating environmental justice (EJ) analyses into Agency decision making processes. There is thus a strong need to devise appropriate analytical tools to conduct an analysis of the equity, or EJ, implications of regulatory activities.

The purpose of this workshop was to gather a small group of economists, regulatory experts, and EJ community leaders to discuss methods for incorporating EJ analyses into EPA’s regulatory process. Each session of the workshop consisted of an overview of EJ activities within an EPA program (e.g., Air, Water, Solid Waste, etc.) and a technical presentation on an EJ methodology appropriate to that program, followed by an evaluation of that methodology. Each session concluded with a moderated open discussion of the technical details of the methodology presented, appropriate uses, data needs, analytical requirements, and merits and limitations. The workshop also included a panel discussion with EJ community leaders in which they outlined the types of questions they would like to see addressed by the EJ analyses.

Opening Session by Lisa Heinzerling with questions and answers

Session 1: Environmental Justice and Equity

• Manuel Pastor (Presentation included)
• Maureen Cropper (Presentation included)
• Matt Adler (Presentation included)
• Open Discussion

Session 2: Methods for Analyzing Environmental Justice for Disperse Pollutants: Application to Water

• William Swietlik (Presentation included)
• Spencer Banzhaf (Presentation included)
• Tauhidur Rahman (Presentation included)
• Open Discussion

Discussion with Panel of EJ Community Leaders

• Mark Mitchell
• Jose Bravo
• Cecil Corbin-Mark
• Open Discussion

Session 3: An Exposure and Health Risk Environmental Justice Analysis Method: Application to a National Air Quality Rule

• Ellen Post (Presentation included)
• Chris Timmins (Presentation included)
• Open Discussion

Recap of Day 1 and Opening Remarks by Wayne Gray

Session 4: Proximity-Based Approaches to Analyzing Environmental Justice: Application to Waste

• Lyn Luben (Presentation included)
• Doug Noonan (Presentation included)
• Hilary Sigman (Presentation included)
• Open Discussion

Session 5: Methods for Analyzing EJ Associated with Pollutants in Household Products: Application to Toxics and Pesticides

• Stephanie Suazo (Presentation included)
• Matt LaPenta (Presentation included)
• Robin Saha (Presentation included)

Session 6: Environmental Justice Considerations in the Implementation of Regulations

• Andrew Schulman (Presentation included)
• Ron Shadbegian (Presentation included)
• Randy Walsh (Presentation included)
• Open Discussion

 Closing Session

• What is an EJ Analysis?
• Suggestions for how EPA could be more proactive/prioritize/screen
• Benefits from EJ Analyses
• EJ Methodology – Toolkit
• Data Challenges
• Modeling choices
• Rulemaking
• Possible next steps

This workshop is part of the Environmental Policy and Economics Workshop Series.

• Analytical Methods for Assessing the Environmental Justice Implications of Environmental Regulations (PDF)(328 pp, 6 MB, 09/01/2010, EE-0561)
  The purpose of this workshop was to gather a small group of economists, regulatory experts, and EJ community leaders to discuss methods for incorporating EJ analyses into EPA’s regulatory process. Each session of the workshop consisted of an overview of EJ activities within an EPA program (e.g., Air, Water, Solid Waste, etc.) and a technical presentation on an EJ methodology appropriate to that program, followed by an evaluation of that methodology.