[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 148 (Wednesday, August 3, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 47397-47398]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-16635]
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COUNCIL ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
[CEQ-2022-0004]
Environmental Justice Scorecard Feedback
AGENCY: Council on Environmental Quality.
ACTION: Request for information.
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SUMMARY: The Council on Environmental Quality is issuing this request
for information (RFI) to solicit feedback on the vision, framework, and
outcomes of the Environmental Justice Scorecard.
DATES: Responses to this RFI should be received by October 3, 2022.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by docket number CEQ-
2022-0004, by any of the following methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov.
Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
Fax: 202-456-6546.
Mail: Council on Environmental Quality, 730 Jackson Place
NW, Washington, DC 20503.
All submissions received must include the agency name, ``Council on
Environmental Quality,'' and the docket number, CEQ-2022-0004, for this
RFI. All comments received will be posted without change to https://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information provided. Do
not submit electronically any information you consider to be private,
Confidential Business Information (CBI), or other information the
disclosure of which is restricted by statute.
You may respond to some or all of the questions listed in the RFI.
You may include references to academic literature or links to online
material but please ensure all links are publicly available. Each
response should include:
The name of the individual(s) or entity responding.
A brief description of the responding individual(s) or
entity's mission or areas of expertise.
A contact for questions or other follow-up on your
response.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Issues regarding submission or
questions on this RFI can be sent to Sharmila L. Murthy at 202-395-5750
or [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
Many communities across the country face environmental injustices.
These communities have been overburdened by pollution and underserved
by critical infrastructure and services, leading to negative health
impacts and outcomes. Communities that suffer from environmental
injustices include low income communities, communities of color, and
Tribal Nations. Furthermore, these same communities are too often left
out of decision making that directly impacts their health and well-
being. President Biden has committed to charting a new and better
course, one that puts environmental and economic justice for
communities at the center of the Federal Government's work.
Within his first days in office, President Biden signed Executive
Order 14008 on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad, stating
that agencies must make achieving environmental justice part of their
missions by developing programs, policies, and activities to address
the disproportionately high and adverse human health, environmental,
climate-related, and other cumulative impacts on disadvantaged
communities, as well as the accompanying economic challenges of such
impacts.
The Executive Order mandates the development of performance
measures for an annual Environmental Justice Scorecard, which will aim
to detail the efforts of the Federal Government to address historic and
current environmental injustices.
As outlined in the Executive Order, the Environmental Justice
Scorecard will be developed in collaboration with the Executive Office
of the President and with the White House Environmental Justice
Interagency Council (IAC). It will be guided by recommendations by the
White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council (WHEJAC), with input
by environmental justice stakeholders. The WHEJAC's Phase One
Recommendations on the Environmental Justice Scorecard informed the
development of this RFI, and will continue to inform the vision, scale,
and scope of the Environmental Justice Scorecard.
The Environmental Justice Scorecard will be the first government-
wide assessment of Federal agencies' efforts to advance environmental
justice. The Environmental Justice Scorecard will evolve over time,
with the goal of creating a robust and comprehensive assessment of the
Federal Government's efforts to secure environmental justice for all.
It eventually will be located on a public, web-based platform that is
easy to use.
The first version of the Environmental Justice Scorecard will
provide a baseline assessment of the Federal Government's efforts to
secure environmental justice. It will focus on and describe the
processes and progress that Federal agencies have made starting in
2021. This baseline is critical to establish because it will enable the
measurement of progress over time. The Federal Government will then
build on and improve the Scorecard, year after year.
Initially, the Environmental Justice Scorecard will focus on three
main categories. It will highlight activities by Federal agencies to:
(1) reduce harms and burdens borne disproportionately by communities,
(2) deliver investment benefits, and (3) undertake institutional reform
to center community voices in decision making. This framework reflects
the Administration's commitment to begin repairing historic wrongs, to
strive towards delivering tangible benefits to communities, and to
[[Page 47398]]
work towards ensuring that the voices and needs of communities are
elevated and centered in decision making.
As part of this broader effort to assess progress on environmental
justice, the Environmental Justice Scorecard also will measure progress
made towards the Justice40 Initiative. In Executive Order 14008,
President Biden set of a goal of ensuring that 40 percent of the
overall benefits of certain Federal investments--those made in climate,
clean energy and energy efficiency, clean transit, affordable and
sustainable housing, training and workforce development, the
remediation and reduction of legacy pollution, and the development of
critical clean water infrastructure--flow to disadvantaged communities
that are marginalized and overburdened by pollution and underinvestment
in basic services.
This RFI is part of the Administration's commitment to ensuring
that environmental justice efforts within the Federal Government,
including the development of the Environmental Justice Scorecard, are
informed by the priorities and perspectives of communities that face
environmental injustices. By soliciting input through this RFI, CEQ
seeks to provide transparency about the Federal Government's vision,
goals, and process so that the public is better able to monitor the
government's progress and hold the government accountable for
delivering results.
II. Key Questions for Input
A. Vision
i. The vision for the Environmental Justice Scorecard is as a
robust and comprehensive assessment of the Federal Government's efforts
to address current and historic environmental injustice, including the
Justice40 Initiative.
ii. Question
1. Does this vision reflect the needs and priorities of communities
that face environmental injustices?
B. Framework
i. In the first version of the Environmental Justice Scorecard,
Federal Government activities will be organized in three reporting
categories.
1. Reducing Burdens and Harms in Communities: This category would
measure the regulatory, enforcement, and other actions taken to reduce
harms and environmental injustices.
2. Benefits to Communities: This category would measure the
Administration's progress on implementation of the Justice40
Initiative, among other environmental justice efforts.
3. Centering Justice in Decision Making: This category would
capture measures taken to reform agency decision making to incorporate
the perspectives, priorities, and lived experiences of environmental
justice communities.
ii. Questions
1. Do these categories broadly reflect the needs, priorities, and
impacts that communities are facing from environmental injustices?
2. For the first version of the Environmental Justice Scorecard,
what processes and markers of progress should be reflected in each of
these categories?
3. In the long term, what are the desired outcomes that could be
included in each of these categories?
C. Engagement
i. Please provide recommendations on how to improve engagement
with, and around, the Environmental Justice Scorecard. In particular,
what are ways to improve sharing information about the Environmental
Justice Scorecard?
ii. For a future website, what are some usability and accessibility
features that should be considered for an online platform?
D. Additional feedback
i. Please provide additional feedback on the vision, framework, and
outcomes of the Environmental Justice Scorecard. Feedback on the vision
for the first version, and on future versions, is welcome.
Matthew G. Lee-Ashley,
Chief of Staff.
[FR Doc. 2022-16635 Filed 8-2-22; 8:45 am]
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