Do EPA Actions or the Promising Practices in the Federal Register notice apply to permits that are issued by state, tribal, or local permitting authorities, or just permits that are issued by EPA?

EPA Actions and Promising Practices apply only to permits that are issued by EPA. It does not apply to permits issued by state, tribal or local governments under authority delegated by EPA. By addressing environmental justice in its permits, EPA is leading by example among federal departments and agencies. EPA recognizes that the majority of environmental permits are issued by state, tribal, or local permitting authorities and that many of these authorities already engage in the kinds of actions described in these documents. EPA intends to discuss its experiences and ideas with these authorities and invites them to continue sharing their ideas and approaches for ensuring the meaningful involvement of overburdened communities in the permitting process and encouraging dialogue between permit applicants and communities. Finally, EPA remains supportive of state, tribal, or local permitting authorities to implement any ideas contained in these documents that may improve their own or their permit applicants’ efforts to engage overburdened communities in the permitting process.