ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: Federal Agencies Could Benefit from a Strategic Approach to Assess Progress

In 1994, Executive Order 12898 directed 11 federal agencies to incorporate environmental justice into their programs, policies, and activities. The executive order also directed the agencies to each establish an environmental justice strategy and created a working group of federal agencies, chaired by EPA, to coordinate federal environmental justice efforts. In 2011, these 11 agencies and five additional federal agencies signed a MOU agreeing to participate in federal efforts in this area as members of the Interagency Working Group on Environmental Justice and to issue annual progress reports on their efforts.

This statement summarizes GAO’s findings from its September 2019 report on federal environmental justice efforts (GAO-19-543). Specifically, it focuses on (1) actions the working group agencies have taken to address environmental justice issues related to their missions, (2) the agencies’ progress in identifying and addressing environmental justice issues related to their missions, and (3) interagency working group efforts to help agencies coordinate federal environmental justice efforts under the executive order.

To perform this work, GAO reviewed agency environmental justice plans, reports, and funding data; interviewed agency officials; and compared working group collaboration to leading collaborative practices.

As GAO reported in September 2019, most of the 16 member agencies of the Interagency Working Group on Environmental Justice reported planning and implementing some actions to identify and address environmental justice issues, such as creating data tools, developing policies or guidance, and building community capacity through small grants and training. For example, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) created a mapping tool that can help identify low-income and minority communities exposed to health or environmental risks. Most of the agencies supported their efforts with funds and staff from related programs, but EPA and the Department of Energy provided funds (totaling $8.3 million in fiscal year 2018) and staff specifically for environmental justice.

Agencies’ progress in identifying and addressing environmental justice issues related to their missions is difficult to gauge. Most of the agencies do not have updated strategic plans and have not reported annually on their progress or developed methods to assess progress, as they agreed to do by signing a 2011 memorandum of understanding (MOU). Of the 16 agencies that signed the MOU, 14 have issued strategic plans. However, although the MOU directs the agencies to update their strategic plans periodically, only six of these 14 agencies have done so since 2011. Furthermore, most of these 14 agencies have not consistently issued annual progress reports. In September 2019, GAO recommended that nine agencies develop or update their strategic plans and that 11 develop annual progress reports. Eight agencies agreed and one partially agreed, one agreed with one recommendation but disagreed with another, one disagreed, and three did not state if they agreed or disagreed.

GAO also found that while four agencies, including EPA, have established performance measures or milestones for assessing progress toward goals, the other 12 have not done so. Agency officials said guidance from the working group on how to do so would be helpful. The 1994 executive order directs the working group to provide guidance to agencies in developing their environmental justice strategies, but the group has not provided specific guidance on what agencies should include in their strategic plans or on methods to assess and report on environmental justice progress. In September 2019, GAO recommended EPA develop such guidance or create a working group committee to do so, and EPA agreed.

The interagency working group has coordinated to some extent but does not have a strategic approach, and member agencies are not fully participating. Specifically, the group’s organizational documents do not provide strategic goals with clear direction for the committees. Furthermore, 11 of the 16 signatory agencies have not chaired or co-chaired one of the committees, and four have not participated in any. In September 2019, GAO recommended EPA update the 2011 MOU and clearly establish strategic goals for federal efforts to carry out the executive order. EPA disagreed, but GAO continues to believe these actions are necessary.

GAO made 24 recommendations in its September 2019 report, including that agencies update their environmental justice strategic plans and report on their progress annually. GAO recommended that EPA, as chair of the working group, develop guidance on assessing progress and what agencies should include in their strategic plans; coordinate with working group members to develop strategic goals for the group; and update the group’s memorandum of understanding. Of the 15 agencies with recommendations, eight agreed. Other agencies partially agreed, disagreed, or had no comment. GAO continues to support its recommendations.

Thank you for the opportunity to discuss our report on federal  environmental justice efforts. Environmental justice seeks to address the  disproportionately high distribution of health and environmental risks  among low-income and minority communities by seeking their fair  treatment and meaningful involvement in environmental policy. In 1994,  Executive Order 12898 directed 11 federal agencies to make achieving  environmental justice part of their mission by identifying and addressing,  as appropriate, disproportionately high and adverse human health or  environmental effects of their programs, policies, and activities on  minority populations and low-income populations. The executive order  also directed the agencies to each establish an environmental justice  strategy and create a working group of federal agencies to coordinate  federal environmental justice efforts. In 2011, 16 federal agencies signed  a memorandum of understanding (MOU) agreeing to participate in federal  efforts in this area as members of the Interagency Working Group on  Environmental Justice and to issue annual progress reports on their  efforts.

However, research continues to indicate a nationwide problem  concerning how environmental and health risks disproportionately affect  minority and low-income communities. For example, a 2018 study in the  American Journal of Public Health found that minority and low-income  communities in most states and counties across the country are  disproportionately exposed to facilities that emit harmful air pollution (e.g.,  industrial or waste disposal facilities).

My statement today will focus on (1) actions the working group agencies  have taken to address environmental justice issues related to their  missions, (2) the agencies’ progress in identifying and addressing  environmental justice issues related to their missions, and (3) interagency  working group efforts to help agencies coordinate federal environmental  justice efforts under the executive order.

My statement is based on the findings from our September 2019 report  on federal efforts to carry out the 1994 Executive Order. To perform the  work for our report, we reviewed the executive order and 2011 MOU,  agency funding data, and agency and interagency working group  documents; interviewed agency officials and environmental justice  stakeholders; attended an environmental justice conference; and visited  two sites with environmental justice issues (Oakland, California, and  Richmond, California). Additional information on our scope and  methodology can be found in the report.

We conducted the work on which this statement is based in accordance  with generally accepted government auditing standards. Those standards  require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain sufficient, appropriate  evidence to provide a reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions  based on our audit objectives. We believe that the evidence obtained  provides a reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions based on  our audit objectives.

Together, Executive Order 12898 and the 2011 MOU include eight areas  that agencies’ environmental justice efforts should address, as  appropriate, including promoting enforcement of all health and  environmental statutes in areas with minority populations and low-income  populations and ensuring public participation.

Executive Order 12898 did not create new authorities or programs to  carry out federal environmental justice efforts. As a result, federal  environmental justice efforts seek to use existing federal laws, programs,  and funding to address environmental and health problems that  disproportionately burden minority and low-income communities, such as  exposure to environmental pollutants.

Such existing laws include the following:

Environmental laws. Several environmental laws regulate pollutants  in the air, water, or soil and generally require a regulated facility to  obtain permits from EPA or a state. For example, under the Clean Air  Act, EPA, along with state and local government units and other  entities, regulates air emissions of various substances that harm  human health. These laws also authorize the issuance of  administrative orders, among other things, to require cleanup of  contamination.

NEPA. Under NEPA, federal agencies must evaluate the  environmental impacts of their proposed major federal actions using  an environmental assessment or a more detailed environmental  impact statement, with some exceptions.

Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as  amended, prohibits discrimination based on race, color, or national  origin in programs or activities that receive federal financial  assistance. To carry out and enforce the provisions of the act, federal  agencies have developed programs to receive and investigate  allegations of discriminatory actions taken by recipients of federal  funding.

Working Group Agencies Reported Taking Some Environmental Justice Actions, with Limited Resources

Most working group member agencies reported planning and  implementing some actions to identify and address environmental justice  issues. Some examples of key activities include the following:

EPA mapping tool. In 2015, EPA released its Environmental Justice  Mapping and Screening Tool (EJSCREEN), a web-based mapping  tool that includes environmental and demographic data at a local  level. Users can identify potential exposure to environmental  pollutants and related health risks across different communities.  Officials from the Department of Justice told us they regularly use  EJSCREEN to help determine whether cases involve environmental  justice issues.

Incorporating environmental justice in NEPA analyses. At least 13  agencies provided examples of efforts to consider environmental  justice in their NEPA analyses. At the Department of the Interior  (DOI), departmental policy requires all bureaus to include  consideration of environmental justice in the NEPA process, and  some bureaus have developed their own guidance for doing so. For  example, DOI’s 2015 National Park Service NEPA Handbook requires  that the agency’s environmental analyses discuss and evaluate the  impact of proposals on minority and low-income populations and  communities. The Department of Homeland Security also issued an  agency-wide directive on NEPA implementation in 2014, and the  accompanying 2014 NEPA instruction manual included public  involvement requirements for populations with environmental justice  issues.

Data initiative and reports on chemical exposure. At the  Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Centers for  Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) built a National Environmental  Public Health Tracking Network, which brings together health and  environmental data from national, state, and city sources. The CDC  also developed a National Report on Human Exposure to  Environmental Chemicals—a series of reports that uses biomonitoring  to assess the U.S. population’s exposure to environmental chemicals.

As we reported in September 2019, for fiscal years 2015 through 2018,  11 of the 16 member agencies of the working group reported supporting  environmental justice efforts through existing related program funding and  staffing resources (i.e., resources not specifically dedicated to  environmental justice, such as for civil rights or environmental programs).  EPA and the Department of Energy (DOE) dedicated resources  specifically for environmental justice efforts in their budgets. In fiscal year  2018, EPA provided about $6.7 million and DOE provided about $1.6  million.

Progress toward Environmental Justice Is Difficult to Gauge

Agencies’ progress in identifying and addressing environmental justice  issues related to their missions is difficult to gauge because most of the  agencies do not have updated strategic plans and have not reported  annually on their progress or developed methods to assess progress.

Most Agencies Have Strategic Plans with Goals but Have Not Recently Updated Them

As we reported in September 2019, 14 of the 16 agencies issued  environmental justice strategic plans after they signed the 2011 MOU  agreeing to develop or update such plans. Of the 14 agencies that issued  their plans, 12 established strategic goals in these plans. Six of the 14  agencies further updated their plans in 2016 or 2017, and another agency  published updated priority areas on its website. The Department of  Defense (DOD), which issued a plan in 1995, has not updated it since,  and the Small Business Administration (SBA) has never issued a plan.  DOD officials said that the agency has not prioritized environmental  justice efforts. SBA officials said the agency is uncertain whether it has a  role in implementing environmental justice and they were reviewing  whether SBA should continue its membership in the working group.

The 2011 MOU directs agencies to update their strategic plans  periodically, and leading practices for strategic planning suggest that  strategic plans should be updated every 4 years. We have previously  reported that strategic planning serves as the starting point and  foundation for defining what an agency seeks to accomplish, identifying  the strategies it will use to achieve desired results, and then determining  how well it succeeds in achieving goals and objectives. In our September 2019 report, we recommended that eight agencies update  their environmental justice strategic plans. Four agencies agreed, three  did not state if they agreed or disagreed, and one disagreed. Education  stated that it does not believe this is the most appropriate course of action  for the department or an efficient use of resources, but we continue to  believe they should implement the recommendation.

Most Agencies Have Not Consistently Issued Progress Reports and Do Not Have Methods to Assess Progress

As we reported in September 2019, 12 of the 16 agencies developed  environmental justice strategic plans with strategic goals, but most of the  agencies have not shown clear progress toward achieving these goals  and the purpose of the executive order. It is difficult to gauge the  agencies’ progress for three primary reasons:  1.  The agencies have not comprehensively assessed how  environmental justice fits with their overall missions. Seven of the  14 agencies that developed environmental justice strategic plans  assessed and discussed how their environmental justice efforts  aligned with their overall missions after 2011. However, the other  seven agencies did not clearly show how their efforts aligned with  their missions. We recommended that EPA, as chair of the working  group, should develop guidance for the agencies on what they should  include in their environmental justice strategic plans. EPA agreed with  this recommendation.  2.  The agencies have not consistently issued annual progress  reports. Fourteen agencies issued at least one progress report after  2011, but most have not issued such reports every year, as they  agreed to do in the 2011 MOU. The departments of Homeland  Security and Justice issued progress reports every year from 2012  through 2017. The General Services Administration issued progress  reports every year through 2015 and then issued one progress report  covering fiscal years 2016 through 2018. Several other agencies  consistently reported in the first few years after 2011 but then stopped  issuing reports. DOD and SBA have not issued any progress reports.

We have found that annual program performance reports can provide  essential information needed to assess federal agencies’ performance  and hold agencies accountable for achieving results. We  recommended that 11 agencies report on their progress annually.

Five of the agencies agreed with this recommendation, one partially  agreed, three did not state if they agreed or disagreed, and two said  they did not agree. Education stated that it does not believe this is the  most appropriate course of action for the department or an efficient  use of resources, and DOD stated that it did not see a tangible benefit  to additional reporting. We continue to believe that they should  implement the recommendation.  3.  Most agencies have not established methods for assessing  progress toward goals. The agencies’ progress reports generally  describe the environmental justice activities they conducted but do not  include any methods to assess progress (e.g., performance  measures). For the 14 agencies that issued at least one progress  report since 2011, we reviewed the most recent report and found that  each report contained information on activities that agency undertook  over the previous year. However, our analysis showed that most of  the agencies had not established a method that would allow them to  assess their progress toward their environmental justice goals, such  as tracking performance measures or milestones. Of the 16  agencies that signed the 2011 MOU, four—the Departments of  Agriculture (USDA), Health and Human Services (HHS), and DOI and  EPA—have established performance measures or milestones for their  environmental justice efforts. Of these four, HHS and EPA have  reported on their progress toward achieving their performance  measures or milestones. The other 12 agencies have not established  any performance measures or milestones.

The executive order directs the working group to provide guidance to  agencies in developing their environmental justice strategies.  However, the working group has not provided such guidance on  methods to assess and report on environmental justice progress,  according to EPA officials. According to these officials, EPA is still  pursuing its own agency-wide performance measures. We  recommended that EPA, as chair of the working group, develop  guidance or create a committee of the working group to develop  guidance on methods the agencies could use to assess progress  toward their environmental goals. EPA agreed with this  recommendation.

Working Group Has Coordinated to Some Extent but Does Not Have a Strategic Approach or Full Participation

We found that the interagency working group has coordinated to some  extent but does not have a strategic focus or full participation by all the  federal agencies. Executive Order 12898 directed the working group to  coordinate in seven functions, including to assist in coordinating data  collection and examine existing data and studies on environmental  justice. In 2016, the working group released its Framework for  Collaboration, which describes how it planned to provide guidance,  leadership, and support to federal agencies in carrying out environmental  justice efforts. The working group has collaborated to develop and issue  guidance on several topics, participated in a variety of public meetings to  provide information and opportunities for communities to discuss  environmental justice issues, and coordinated ways in which the 16  member agencies and the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) could  assist communities. For example, the working group created nine  committees, including on Native American and Indigenous Peoples, Rural  Communities, and Climate Change, based on the seven functions in the  executive order and on public input, to help carry out its environmental  justice responsibilities under the executive order. Officials from 13  member agencies agreed to either chair or become members of one or  more committees.

Through these committees, among other things, the working group has  released a number of documents to help guide federal efforts:

A compendium on publicly available federal resources to assist  communities impacted by goods movement activities, released in  2017.

Guidance to help federal agencies incorporate environmental justice  during their NEPA reviews, issued in March 2016, and guidance to  communities about NEPA methods, issued in March 2019.

A web page, which USDA compiled and launched in fiscal year 2017  with input and vetting from the Rural Communities committee, that  provides links to community tools, funding opportunities, educational  and training assistance, and case studies to support rural  communities, according to USDA officials.

However, we found that the working group’s organizational documents— the 2011 MOU, the working group’s 2011 charter, and the 2016-2018  Framework for Collaboration—do not provide strategic goals with clear  direction for the committees to carry out the functions as laid out in the  executive order. In September 2012, based on a government-wide study,  we reported that collaborative mechanisms such as working groups  benefit from clear goals to establish organizational outcomes and  accountability. We reported that participants may not have the same  overall interests or may even have conflicting interests, but by  establishing a goal based on common interests, a collaborative group can  shape its own vision and define its purpose.

The working group has developed some documents with agreed-upon  goals, which is beneficial to collaboration, but none of these documents  address all seven functions of the executive order. In our September  2019 report, we compared the functions of the executive order to  documented working group roles and responsibilities and found that  coordinated data collection and examination of research and studies on  environmental justice are not included in these documents or committee  purposes and have not been a focus of the interagency working group  since at least 2011.

EPA officials said some agencies, such as HHS and EPA, have done  work in environmental justice data collection and research. EPA officials  told us that the 2011 MOU, committee groups, and Framework for  Collaboration reflect the current priorities of the working group, based on  public input. The officials were unsure whether a coordinated effort in the  data collection, research, and studies areas was needed, but they said  such an effort could be useful. They said that the most useful role of the  working group in research might be as a forum for sharing information  and providing training opportunities. In our September 2019 report, we  recommended that EPA, as chair of the working group and in consultation  with the working group, should clearly establish in its organizational  documents strategic goals for the federal government’s efforts to carry out  the 1994 executive order. EPA disagreed with this recommendation  because it believes that the recommendation should be combined with a  different recommendation we made about updating the MOU. We believe  that EPA misunderstood our recommendation and therefore did not  combine it with our other recommendation.

We also found that member agencies’ participation in working group  activities has been mixed. In the 2011 MOU, the 16 signing agencies and  CEQ agreed to participate as members of the working group, such as by  chairing, co-chairing, or participating in committees. Eleven of the 16  agencies have not chaired or co-chaired one of the working group’s  committees, and four have not participated in any. Our government-wide  work has shown that it is important to ensure the relevant participants  have been included in a collaborative effort. EPA officials said it is  difficult to characterize what specific opportunities are missed because of  an agency’s lack of representation. However, they said that  nonparticipation limits the working group’s ability to fulfill its mandates in a  strategic, methodical way across the entire federal government. EPA  officials also said that the limiting factor in the working group’s efforts to  address the executive order has always been the will of leadership across  the federal government to make clear, measurable commitments to those  priorities and ensure adequate resources.

We recommended that EPA, as chair of the working group and in  consultation with the other working group members, update the 2011  MOU and renew the agencies’ commitments to participate in the  interagency collaborative effort and the working group. EPA disagreed  and said this recommendation could be combined with the  recommendation to provide strategic direction for the working group. We  continue to believe that EPA needs to update the MOU to address the  matter of participation by the members who signed it but do not  participate.

In conclusion, incorporating environmental justice into federal agencies’  policies, programs, and activities is a long-term and wide-ranging effort.  Federal agencies, led by EPA, have made some headway in developing  tools and coordinated policies and have identified others that they need to  pursue. Strategic planning and reporting, with meaningful measures, and  collaboration across all agencies can help them make and track progress.

Chairman Tonko, Ranking Member Shimkus, and Members of the  Subcommittee, this concludes my prepared statement. I would be  pleased to respond to any questions that you may have at this time.

If you or your staff have any questions about this testimony, please  contact Alfredo Gómez, Director, Natural Resources and Environment, at  (202) 512-3841or gomezj@gao.gov. Contact points for our Offices of  Congressional Relations and Public Affairs may be found on the last page  of this statement. In addition to the contact named above, Susan Iott  (Assistant Director), Allen Chan (Analyst in Charge), and Elise Vaughan  Winfrey made key contributions to the testimony. Other staff who made  contributions to this testimony or the report cited in the testimony were  Peter Beck, Tara Congdon, Hannah Dodd, Juan Garay, Cindy Gilbert,  Rich Johnson, Matthew Levie, Ben Licht, Cynthia Norris, Amber Sinclair,  and Kiki Theodoropoulos.

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A 2018 study in the American Journal of Public Health found that minority and low-income communities across the country are disproportionately exposed to industrial, waste disposal, or other facilities that emit harmful air pollution.

Environmental justice efforts seek to address these and other disproportionate risks by involving these communities in environmental policy and ensuring fair treatment.

We testified about a related report, which found that most federal agencies carry out some environmental justice efforts but haven’t assessed their progress. We also discussed related laws and a federal environmental justice working group.