What is Environmental Justice | The MPO's Policy 6

Environmental Justice

What is Environmental Justice?

Environmental justice became an official policy of the US Government when President William Clinton signed Executive Order 12898 in 1994, fortifying Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which prohibited exclusion from participation in, denial of benefits or subjection to discrimination, based on race, color or national origin, under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance. The Executive Order required all agencies of the Federal Government to identify and address the effects of all programs, policies and activities on “minority populations and low-income populations.” To address this policy, the US Department of Transportation’s (DOT) initiatives, and by extension involve “the potentially affected public in developing transportation projects that fit harmoniously within their communities without sacrificing safety or mobility.”

Executive Order 12898 and the Department of Transportation’s Order on Environmental Justice apply to all of the DOT’s policies, programs and other activities that are undertaken, funded or approved by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) or other components of the DOT.

There are three fundamental environmental justice principles:

1. To avoid, minimize, or mitigate disproportionately high and adverse human health and environmental effects, including social and economic effects, on minority populations and low-income populations.
2. To ensure the full and fair participation by all potentially affected communities in the transportation decision-making process.
3. To prevent the denial of, reduction in, or significant delay in the receipt of benefits by low-income and minority populations.

Title VI and Environmental Justice address persons belonging to the following groups:

• Black- having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa
• Hispanic-Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central or South American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race
• Asian American- having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, or the Pacific Islands
• American Indian and Alaskan Native- having origins in any of the original people of North America and who maintains cultural identification through tribal affiliation or community recognition
• Low-income- a person whose household income (or in the case of a community or group, whose median household income) is at or below the US Department of Health and Human Services poverty guidelines

For more information on environmental justice, go to www.fhwa.dot.gov. Or click here to see an environmental justice brochure produced by the DOT.

Policy 6 of the MPO

As recipients of federal transportation funds, the MPO and its member agencies adhere to federal policies on environmental justice. The MPO has officially adopted a policy to address environmental justice for the projects it manages. (Click here to see Policy 6.)