U.S. EPA Releases EJSCREEN v.2.3

On July 9, 2024, The United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) released an update of its environmental justice (EJ) screening tool, EJSCREEN version 2.3. The revised tool adds new map layers and two new EJ Indexes, along with reports that are more customizable.

New EJ Indexes

The main new features of the tool are two new Environmental Burden Indicators, renamed from the “Pollution and Sources” category in the tool in the previous versions (which was somewhat misleading as the categories did not contain any source-specific data). The two new Environmental Burden Indicators are nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), which uses National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) satellite data to show average annual NO₂ levels, and drinking water non-compliance, which uses modeled drinking water system boundaries and overlays Safe Drinking Water Act violations of water systems. Like the existing Environmental Burden Indicators, these are then weighted against the demographic index of each census block to generate a corresponding EJ Index.

The addition of the water non-compliance indicator continues a trend in EJ where we have seen more of a focus on the availability of clean water to communities as opposed to a more air quality-focus that we’d seen in the first year or two of the administration’s EJ agenda. Meanwhile the use of annual NO₂ data as an Environmental Burden Indicator seems a bit puzzling: There hasn’t been a non-attainment area for NO₂ in the US in over 25 years. A review of the tool shows that a census block with an EJ Index for NO₂ in the 95^th-100^th percentile in the US, which would typically classify the census block as potentially being an EJ community, had an annual NO₂ concentration of 16 parts per billion (ppb), or only about 30% of the National Ambient Air Quality Standard for NO₂, which would not normally raise air quality concerns. While NO₂ concentrations are a concern in urban areas, using annual data does not seem like a good indicator on the potential for short term NO₂ concentrations that could raise a health concern.

Meanwhile, two of the EJ Indexes that were present in previous versions and often were closely examined, Air Toxic Cancer Risk and Air Toxics Respiratory Hazard Index, were moved to the Places tab to better represent the raw data, leaving the total number of EJ Indexes at 13 as in the previous versions.

New Maps

In additional to converting the Air Toxic Cancer Risk and Air Toxics Respiratory Hazard Index map layers, there are four additional new map layers available in EJSCREEN 2.3:

• Extreme Heat: Shows an assessment of potential for extreme heat events by census block using an average number of days over 90 degrees Fahrenheit for the period 2019-2023.
• Private Drinking Wells: Private wells provide about 20% of the population with their drinking water and because they are not regulated by federal regulations, they are often not tested and subject to having potential contamination go undiscovered. This layer shows private domestic drinking water wells by count, density, and percent population served.
• Drinking Water Area Boundaries: Shows community water system (CWS) boundaries serving over 99% of all public water customers.
• Environmental Justice Grants: Shows EJ grants and resources provided through the U.S. EPA’s Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights Next Generation Grants System including:
  • Environmental Justice Small Grants Program
  • Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem-Solving Cooperative Agreement
  • Environmental Justice Government to government program
  • Environmental Justice Thriving Communities Technical Assistance Centers Program
  • Environmental Justice Thriving Communities Grantmaking Program
  • Inflation Reduction Act Community Change Grants Program

Other Changes

Finally, the calculation for the Supplemental Demographic Index was changed to (% Low Life Expectancy + % Low Income + % Disability + % Limited English Speaking + % Less Than High School Education”)/5.

This revised calculation adds disabilities data as one of the five categories averaged while dropping unemployment data from the calculation. This change drops the percentage of the population that are unemployed from the demographic calculations entirely.

The revised tool also contains an updated interface designed to help users navigate the tool more easily, with learning resources, new popup information, and the ability to click a “Contact Us” link to ask questions or provide feedback. The U.S. EPA Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights will be holding training seminars, with the next occurring on July 24^th, and will offer office hours at Noon on August 21^st.

Summary

All in all, the revisions provide the mapping of several new datasets to the tool, but don’t change the purpose or capabilities of the tool very much. When using the tool, it is important to remember that it is for screening purposes: a census block that has EJ Indexes in the highest percentiles (80^th+) does not mean that the census block is an EJ community but does indicate that further review of the community and its overall environmental burden is warranted. It is also important to remember that many state agencies have their own screening tools that are most likely to have definitive ties to what the state considers an overburdened or EJ community and potential additional requirements when it comes to permit actions in those areas.

If you have concerns about the potential implications of these updates or need help parsing through how they might impact your facilities, feel free to contact your ALL4 Project Manager or Rich Hamel. We’ll continue to monitor EJ guidance from the administration and states and the tools available to evaluate EJ concerns as they develop. We can also help you evaluate permitting risks, from EJ concerns to regulatory issues, and assist in developing a strategy to make the permitting of your project as efficient as possible.