Environmental Justice Action Plan for EPA’s Land Protection and Cleanup Programs

Nov 7, 2024 Community Engagement Addendum Call

The Office of Land and Emergency Management hosted yet another environmental justice outreach session on working with Tribes in abandoned uranium mines clean-ups, strengthening community resilience through natural disaster debris planning and management, along with Brownfields job training grants program accomplishments.

OLEM EJ Action Plan Addendum (pdf) (615.25 KB, Nov, 2024)

June 8, 2023 Community Engagement Call

EPA’s Office of Land and Emergency Management hosted its second 2023 environmental justice community engagement.

Agenda:

• Introductions by OLEM Deputy Assistant Administrator Cliff Villa and Office of Communications, Partnerships and Analysis Director Kent Benjamin. 
• An update from the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Right (OEJECR) Deputy Assistant Administrator Matt Tejada on upcoming grant opportunities and Executive Order 14091 “Further Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities through the Federal Government.”
• Environmental Justice within the Emergency Response Program and cleanup actions.
• Superfund Redevelopment Program and equitable development. EPA is expanding support for equitable redevelopment and community-wide revitalization through reuse planning technical assistance. The Program will share how communities are already benefitting from reuse and redevelopment of sites and how these benefits can reach more communities.
• President Biden’s Justice40 Initiative and tracking leaking Underground Storage Tank cleanups. The Office of Underground Storage Tanks will discuss national efforts to track the cleanups of petroleum-contaminated UST sites and analyze the percentage of cleanups in disadvantaged communities.
• Open discussion on other EJ-related OLEM Activities.
• Conclusion.

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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Land and Emergency Management has released its final "EJ Action Plan: Building Up Environmental Justice in EPA's Land Protection and Cleanup Programs." This plan highlights projects, tools, and practices to be applied to various land pollution prevention and cleanup programs. These programs include Superfund, Brownfields, Emergency Response, Solid Waste Management, Corrective Actions under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, and Underground Storage Tanks. EPA provided opportunity for public input at virtual public engagement events in 2022 and this final plan incorporates input received from various stakeholders and Tribal partners.

Overall, the plan is a working document and part of a whole-of-government effort to address the nation's environmental justice challenges identified by President Biden and EPA Administrator Regan. The plan will be periodically updated to highlight OLEM’s latest environmental justice efforts. OLEM will work with the EPA’s new Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights to advance the goals and projects highlighted in the plan.

• Read the EJ Action Plan: Building Up Environmental Justice in EPA's Land Protection and Cleanup Programs (pdf) (13.98 MB, September 2022, 205-P-21-001) .
• The OLEM EJ Action Plan can also be found Spanish at the following link: https://espanol.epa.gov/espanol/plan-de-accion-de-justicia-ambiental-para-los-programas-de-limpieza-y-proteccion-de-tierras

The plan includes four main goals:

1. Strengthening compliance with cornerstone environmental statutes. This includes developing a “Good Governance” process and referral list to help address follow-up actions on communities’ environmental concerns.
2. Incorporating environmental justice considerations during the regulatory development process. This includes assessing impacts to pollution-burdened, underserved, and tribal communities when developing OLEM regulations, while developing tools to identify, track, and consider the implications of potential EJ-related factors throughout the Superfund process.
3. Improving community engagement in rulemakings, permitting decisions, and policies. This includes providing earlier and more frequent engagement with pollution-burdened and underserved communities in carrying out OLEM programs, and increasing technical support and risk communication resources for communities through the Agency’s Technical Assistance Services for Communities program and various grants.
4. Implementing President Biden’s Justice40 Initiative. This includes providing direct and indirect benefits to underserved communities with grant application resources and in making grant award decisions, to the extent allowed by law.

February 2023 Community Engagement Call

EPA’s Office of Land and Emergency Management hosted its first 2023 environmental justice community engagement session during which updates and achievements from its OLEM EJ Action Plan major projects were presented. 

Watch a recording of the February 2, 2023 session.

2022 Stakeholder Engagement Sessions

Recycling Infrastructure (July 13, 2022)

Watch a recording of the July 13, 2022 Stakeholder Engagement Session.

Superfund Environmental Justice Projects (July 14, 2022)

Watch a recording of the July 14, 2022 Stakeholder Engagement Session.

Tribal Perspective: Recycling Infrastructure, and Underground Storage Tanks (July 20, 2022)

Watch a recording of the July 20, 2022 Stakeholder Engagement Session.

Tribal Perspective: Superfund Environmental Justice Projects (July 27, 2022)

Watch a recording of the July 27, 2022 Stakeholder Engagement Session.

General EJ Issues -Topics Pending (August 3, 2022)

Watch a recording of the August 3, 2022 Stakeholder Engagement Session.