Environmental Justice is the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, culture, education, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies.

Early in 1990, the Congressional Black Caucus, a bi-partisan coalition of academicians, social scientists and political activists met with EPA officials to discuss their findings that EPA was unfairly applying its enforcement inspections and that environmental risk was higher in racial minority and low-income populations.

Implementing environmental justice programs at EPA has required modifying the Agency's approach to include educating its officials to recognize that certain populations who are disproportionately impacted by environmental pollution are excluded from the decision and policy making process.

EPA began developing a strategy to address environmental justice concerns prior to the signing of the Executive Order. The final document, Environmental Justice Strategy: Executive Order 12898, is consistent with the Executive Order and ensures the integration of environmental justice into the Agency's programs, policies, and activities.

Because of the Agency's strong belief that all Americans regardless of race, color, national origin, or economic circumstance are important to the future of our nation and should be able to live in a clean, healthy environment, EPA Administrator Riley established the Office of Environmental Justice in 1992; Administrator Browner made environmental justice one of EPA's highest priorities and established environmental justice as one of the seven guiding principles in the Agency's strategic plan in.

The Agency is working to assure that the NEJAC provides meaningful recommendations which can directly impact national policies. In that regard, in 1999 the Agency asked the NEJAC to consider a focused approach to its meetings.

Executive Order 12898 (pdf 29k) requires federal agencies and its recipients to develop a strategy that prevents disproportionately high and adverse human health or environmental effects, including social and economic effects on minority populations and low-income populations. This requirement is called environmental justice.

The nondiscrimination requirements of Title VI extend to all programs and activities of state departments of transportation, their contractors and others. Therefore, environmental justice requirements apply to all state projects - those that involve federal funds and those that do not. The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) issued the DOT Order on Environmental Justice (5610.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, “Environmental Justice is the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies.” Often low income communities and communities of color are disproportionately affected by environmental pollution.

EPA created the Office of Environmental Justice in 1992 in response to public concern and at the recommendation of the Environmental Equity Workgroup. The Office oversees the integration of environmental justice into EPA's policies, programs, and activities throughout the Agency; serves as the point of contact for environmental justice outreach and educational activities; provides technical and financial assistance.

You can contact the Office of Environmental Justice at 1-800-962-6215 or 1-202-564-2515 or you can contact the office or region you are most interested in by calling the individual listed on the EPA Contacts Page.

The EPA applies the term "hazardous" to solid wastes (according to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act [RCRA]) that, based on their quantity concentration or toxicity, pose a significant threat to human health or the environment. The EPA focuses on minimizing the public's exposure to these substances. OSHA defines the term "hazardous" to include all substances for which exposure results in or may result in adverse health effects for employees.

Any adverse social, economic and environmental effects on minority populations and low-income populations must be evaluated. Examples are air, noise and water pollution and soil contamination. Other examples are listed in the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) publication Your Guide to Title VI Environmental Justice (pdf 167k) and in the Appendix of the U.S. DOT Order on Environmental Justice (5610.2) (pdf 34k).

The environmental justice movement was started by people, primarily people of color, who needed to address the inequity of environmental protection services in their communities. Grounded in the struggles of the 1960's civil rights movement, these citizens from every facet of life, emerged to elucidate the environmental inequities facing millions of people.

In response to a variety of concerns raised by EPA staff and the public (the Michigan Coalition, Congressional Black Caucus, and others), the EPA Administrator William Reilly formed the EPA Environmental Equity Workgroup in 1990 with staff from all EPA offices and regions across the Agency.

For several years, EPA has sponsored an internship program with the express desire to encourage students to pursue an environmental career. The internships, which are limited to six months of duration, formalize training and provide "hands-on" experience for students. Students must be registered at a university to participate.

The Ministry considers a Facility’s compliance record over the past five years as part of the application process. No single instance of non-compliance will exclude a facility from the Program. A Facility’s compliance history is considered as a package, and each applicant is considered on a case-by-case basis. For more information on this new initiative, please email leadership.moe@ontario.ca or contact Steve Neville at the Ontario Ministry of the Environment at 416-314-3910

We define 'environmental' organisation or project widely, much as the 'Who's Who in the Environment' directory did in the 1990s. An environmental organisation or project is one that is concerned with some aspect of the environment or has significant impact on the environment However unlike 'Who's Who in the Environment', commercial as well as voluntary and public sector organisations and projects are included.

No test can accurately predict fuel economy for all drivers and all driving conditions. Driver behavior, driving conditions, vehicle maintenance, fuel characteristics, weather, and other factors can all affect fuel economy significantly as explained here.

To ensure that EPA was obtaining adequate stakeholder advice as it implemented a national environmental justice program, the Agency chartered the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council (NEJAC) in 1993. The Council which is governed by the Federal Advisory Committee Act provides independent advice to EPA on all matters relating to environmental justice.

Reuters reported that big icebergs were coming off the Antarctic continent. The reports said that there were several factors contributing to this, among them, global warming. They ALWAYS say global warming, but never indicate what other factors may be involved. The Reuters report of the new iceberg was incorrectly linked to global warming. This is actually a naturally occurring event that is overdue to take place.

The Parlier project is one of six environmental justice pilot projects [opens in new browser window} being done by boards and departments that are part of the California Environmental Protection Agency (Cal/EPA). The pilot projects are different from one another, and are being done around the State. DPR’s assignment was to look at pesticide use in a Central Valley town and determine if there was a health concern, especially for children.

The EPA recently distributed a draft administrative consent orders to municipal officials in all 83 ALCOSAN communities outlining the activities, such as cleaning and televising the sewers that municipalities must accomplish over several years to begin complying with the Clean Water Act.

For cases where small purchases are sufficient, and where parties are interested in acquiring the services of a specific neutral, the Administrative Dispute Resolution Act of 1996 (PDF, 37.1 KB) and the Federal Acquisition Regulations allow EPA to use a non-competitive procurement process.

Under Section 2 of the Act the Department may sue in federal court to challenge those practices that it has determined are racially discriminatory. Several lawsuits of this nature are filed every year. The Attorney General also has special administrative powers, under a part of the Act known as Section 5, to prevent the adoption of discriminatory voting practices in certain parts of the country.

The National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (often referred to as the "motor voter" law) requires states to make voter registration opportunities available when people apply for or receive services at a variety of government agencies, from driver's license offices to social services agencies and public benefits offices.

The administration of elections is chiefly a function of state government. However, federal authorities sometimes become involved in election fraud matters when a state prosecutor asks for federal assistance. In addition, the Justice Department can become involved when allegations arise that criminal vote fraud has occurred in a federal election.

Generally, the Justice Department is not directly involved with campaign finance matters. Federal election campaign finance is the subject of a separate federal statute, the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1974. FECA matters are handled by the Federal Election Commission, 999 E Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20463. Intentional violations of federal campaign finance laws are federal crimes, and are handled by the FBI.

NO ! - The pictures on the website are taken by a 5 Mega Pixel camera (by Shahaf Hadaya) and are shrunken to the size the will fit for web browsing (so that it will not take too much time for you to load), since even a big size image can not show the "feeling" of the piece, you can only imagined how it would look on you.