ILMA Compoundings - May 2021 - 35

WASHINGTON LANDSCAPE

What Is 'Environmental
Equity'?
By Matthew Levetown

S

ince the 2020 presidential
campaign, the term " equity "
has been increasingly used by
the media, politicians and regulators,
especially regarding " environmental
justice " issues. Despite seemingly
appearing out of nowhere, environmental justice is not a new concept,
even in politics. Then-President Bill
Clinton used the term in a 1994
executive order, requiring the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
to analyze the impact of its regulations on minority and low-income
populations. Environmental justice
and equity are generally synonymous
terms, but for the purpose of this article, the term " equity " will be used to
reduce confusion. Equity in environmental regulation will be a key driver
in the Biden administration, and
understanding the concept can help in
understanding the policy justifications
underlying orders, regulations and laws.
What is environmental equity?
Simply put, environmental equity is
an application of equity theory, which
broadly seeks to determine whether a
distribution of resources and impacts
is fair to all stakeholders, considering
their subjective characteristics. Equity
is used in contrast to equality, which
is a blind, objective distribution of
resources. As an example, if a 10-foottall tree produces fruit, a 6-foot-tall
person can use a shorter ladder than
a 5-foot person to reach the fruit. An
equality outcome gives both people
the same-sized ladder, leaving the
shorter person unable to reach. An

equitable outcome gives each a ladder
allowing both to grasp the fruit.
ENVIRONMENTAL EQUITY
Applying the theory to environmental
regulation is relatively straightforward.
When proposing a rule or issuing
permits, federal agencies must examine
the impact on minority and low-income communities. A major catalyst
for the environmental justice and
equity movement was a 1982 protest
by African Americans against the
construction of a landfill accepting
polychlorinated biphenyl-contaminated
soil in North Carolina, which led to
several studies analyzing pollution
through the lens of race and income.
The study revealed that low-income
and minority communities were
much more likely to be situated near
hazardous waste sites. Consequently,
the EPA created an Office of Environmental Justice in 1992. Until recently,
environmental equity has been focused
on pollution and used in issuing
permitting decisions for projects like
landfills, pipelines and power plants.
While pollution is still the major
facet of environmental equity, the
term is being applied to broader topics, such as climate, transportation and
water. In appointing EPA Administrator Michael Regan, who created the
first state environmental equity agency
in North Carolina, the Biden administration made it clear how the EPA will
pursue enforcement and rulemaking.
Climate environmental equity is
therefore expected to be the major

focus for the Biden EPA. Climate
environmental equity is more nebulous
than concrete examples of pollution
and air quality. Climate equity examines the estimated impact of a rule or
project on a community from the predicted consequences of climate change,
such as increased hurricane strength,
coastal flooding and reduced water
resources. Low-income communities
typically are thought to have less resilient infrastructure, which does poorly
when hit with powerful storms. As a
result, proponents posit that this causes
a poverty cycle, as the community loses
income from reduced trade and making
replacement repairs, further reducing
the area's economic level.
The Environmental Justice for All
Act, introduced in Congress in January,
would codify this concept if enacted.
It would expand the role of the EPA's
Office of Environmental Justice by
requiring it to gather data to analyze
the effects of climate change and
environmental laws on different regions
and demographics via interagency and
community information collection. The
data would then be used to direct funding for federal projects to vulnerable
areas as part of the Biden administration's clean energy and climate-resilient
infrastructure proposals.
As with all theories applied to fact,
there are pros and cons. If projects are
forced to take into account objective
equity analyses, communities can hypothetically resist disasters. For example,
the winter storm in Texas earlier this
Continued on page 36

35
ILMA Compoundings - May 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of ILMA Compoundings - May 2021
