| Facilities Office | ||
| FIMS Web Site | ||
| ECS Home | ||
| Contacts | ||
| Links | ||
| Search | ||
| Feedback | ||
|
|
Table of Contents I. INTRODUCTIONII. SECRETARIAL STATEMENT OF SUPPORT III. COMMERCE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE EXECUTIVE ORDER IV. REVIEW OF ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE IMPACTS: DEPARTMENTAL ACTIVITIES V. REVIEW OF ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE IMPACTS: BUREAU ACTIVITIES A. NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION (NOAA) B. ECONOMICS AND STATISTICS ADMINISTRATION (ESA) C. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ADMINISTRATION (EDA) D. TECHNOLOGY ADMINISTRATION (TA, NIST, NTIS) VI. IMPLEMENTATION, TIMELINES AND REPORTING I. INTRODUCTION The mission of the Department of Commerce is to ensure and enhance economic opportunity for all Americans. The Department's programs that advance this mission are far ranging--but all focus on providing Americans with the tools to ensure economic opportunity, and a rising standard of living. Ensuring minority and low-income populations do not bear a disproportionate burden of environmental impacts is recognized by Secretary of Commerce Ronald Brown as a critical part of that agenda. On February 11, 1994, President Clinton signed Executive Order 12898. The purpose of the Executive Order is to ensure that Federal agencies address, where appropriate, disproportionate and adverse environmental and health impact on low-income and minority populations.II. SECRETARIAL STATEMENT OF SUPPORT Through Secretary Brown's leadership, the Department of Commerce is committed to fulfilling the mandate of Executive Order 12898. Key Commerce policies and programs--promoting sustainable development, building economically competitive communities and establishing the National Information Infrastructure (NII)--demonstrate that commitment. Sustainable development--the integration of economic growth with environmental stewardship--is a primary policy theme for the Commerce Department. Secretary Brown serves as a member of the President's Council on Sustainable Development and uses this platform to raise awareness of environmental justice issues. The Department's strategy to promote sustainable development is set forth in the recent report--To Sustain the Nation's Future: Sustainable Development and the United States Department of Commerce. The report outlines current and potential actions and policies of Commerce that create economic opportunity for Americans while promoting environmental stewardship. The Department of Commerce is committed to ensuring that all Americans participate in the economic mainstream. Recognizing economic development in low-income and minority neighborhoods is hindered by pollution-laden properties, the Commerce Strategy proposes financial assistance to develop Brownfields. Finally, Commerce will maintain public involvement in Department decisions because members of impacted minority and low-income groups are well positioned to identify the economic, social, health, and environmental issues affecting their communities. The National Information Infrastructure, coupled with the centralization of federal environmental justice information, will provide vital human health information for minority and low-income populations, and promote overall economic growth. Historically, minority and low-income communities lacked the information needed to adequately balance the economic benefits and environmental impacts of development. The Commerce efforts to collect and disseminate environmental justice information will provide the conduit for delivering necessary information to these communities. III. COMMERCE DEPARTMENT IMPLEMENTATION OF THE EXECUTIVE ORDER The Executive Order established an Interagency Working Group on Environmental Justice to lead the Executive Order's implementation. DOC representatives attend Subcommittee meetings and receive information about the progress of other agencies and the Subcommittee's Task Forces. The Subcommittee on Policy and Coordination established eight Task Forces to assist its efforts in coordinating the Executive Order's implementation. DOC personnel participate on the Data Task Force, the Implementation Task Force, and the Definitions and Standards Task force. With the Economics and Statistics Administration (ESA) as the co-chair of the Task Force, ESA's Bureau of Census, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and EPA cooperatively developed a data software program, "Landview II," which interfaces with the Bureau of Census Tiger Files (files containing demographic data by geographic region), facilitating environmental justice reviews of social, economic, and environmental data. To complement the software package, the Task Force is developing a demonstration disc. These two projects illustrate the benefits of GIS software and geographically coded data to the achievement of the Executive Order. The Task Force also is reviewing the availability of other GIS programs. A workshop is planned to demonstrate these systems to Federal agencies. Commerce established the Working Group on Environmental Justice to assist implementation of the Executive Order within the Department. The Working Group includes representatives from NOAA, the Technology Administration's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the Economic Development Administration (EDA), the Economics and Statistics Administration (ESA), the Office of General Counsel (OGC), and the Office of Civil Rights (OCR). The Working Group is chaired by the Office of Executive Budgeting and Assistance Management. The Working Group met regularly to develop, review, and implement the DOC environmental justice strategy. The Commerce Strategy has two main goals. First, Commerce will integrate economic and environmental policies by promoting both enhanced economic opportunity and ensured benefits of a cleaner environment for all Americans. Second, Commerce will support efforts involving Federal environmental justice information. The Bureau of the Census is one of the Federal Government's principal data collection agencies, and Commerce funds research studies with human health data products. Commerce intends to contribute this information, and Commerce's data management expertise, to Federal environmental justice efforts. IV. REVIEW OF ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE IMPACTS: DEPARTMENTAL ACTIVITIES The mission of the Department of Commerce is to ensure and enhance economic opportunity for all American firms and workers. Secretary Brown has organized the Department around five themes:
The broad implications of the Commerce mission and Secretary Brown's priorities place Commerce in a unique position to assist in the implementation of the Executive Order. Commerce actions enhance economic opportunity for all Americans and help to improve the economic condition of our distressed communities. Commerce focuses on ensuring economic growth in the United States occurs in a sustainable fashion. And Commerce supports and maintains data sources and automation resources essential to creating a database of information needed to ensure Federal actions do not have an adverse and disproportionate environmental or health affects on low income and minority populations. A. COUNCILS Commerce is involved with two inter-agency and advisory Councils that are addressing environmental justice: the President's Council on Sustainable Development (PCSD), and the President's National Science and Technology Council (NSTC). The PCSD is promoting awareness of environmental justice, together with economic growth and environmental stewardship, as key components to achieving sustainable development. The NSTC, in improving the links between science and technology, is identifying research community priorities that address the disparate impacts of environmental justice. Commerce officials will continue to be strong advocates for environmental justice issues addressed by the PCSD and NSTC. B. DEPARTMENTAL OVERSIGHT ACTIVITIES The Department's Office of Administration (OA) is responsible for overseeing each operating unit's compliance with various legislative and executive mandates. OA's responsibilities include reviewing grant and contract procedures, rulemaking, and environmental and civil rights compliance. Grant Review Responsibility The Office of Administration has the responsibility of overseeing all DOC grant-making operations. Recommendation 1: Where appropriate, OA should establish policies and guidance to assure grant activities do not contribute to disproportionate and adverse environmental health effects on low-income and minority populations. Implementation: Implementation may be achieved through a Department Administrative Order (DAO) that notifies all DOC bureaus that potential environmental justice impacts must be reviewed. Contract Review Responsibility The Office of Administration is also responsible for overseeing all DOC contracting operations. Recommendation 2 and Implementation: Currently, applicable statutes and regulations are silent concerning environmental justice. Where appropriate, OA should establish policies to ensure DOC contracting activities do not contribute to disproportionate and adverse environmental or health affects to low-income and minority populations. Rulemaking Review Responsibility DOC's Office of General Counsel reviews each regulatory action undertaken by the Department to ensure compliance with relevant statutory and Executive Order requirements. Recommendation 3: As with similar Executive Order requirements, DOC's Office of General Counsel should ensure that, where appropriate, a rule's potential disproportionate and adverse environmental or health impact on low-income and minority populations is identified and addressed. Implementation: DOC will study how to integrate environmental justice considerations into its regulatory review process and ensure that, where appropriate, environmental justice considerations are taken into account. Environmental Compliance Review Responsibility DOC's Environmental Compliance Program, located in the Office of the Secretary under the Assistant Secretary for Administration, is responsible for directing policy and overseeing the environmental compliance of the DOC operating units. EDA and NOAA are involved with several sites which potentially require environmental remediation. EDA and NOAA have Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers allowing EDA and NOAA to use Corps resources to help study and/or remediate sites. DOC's compliance and implementation of the Executive Order activities have potential implications because several sites are located near minority or low-income populations. Recommendation 4 and Implementation: DOC should require bureau decision makers to take potential disproportionate and adverse environmental or health affects on low-income and minority populations into account when reviewing Commerce's environmental remediation proposals. EDA has already begun this process, as its Decision Memorandum recommending settlement of the Wisconsin Steel case included an environmental justice analysis. National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Review Responsibility DOC complies with NEPA for all major federal actions significantly affecting the quality of the human environment. Oversight of DOC's NEPA review process is the responsibility of NOAA's NEPA Officer. The NEPA review process focuses both on DOC program activities and facility siting decisions. A. Program Reviews The NEPA review process assures that DOC activities are only undertaken after a hard look at the environmental consequences of Commerce activities. Recommendation 5 and Implementation: Based on guidance from the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), Commerce should require an analysis of potential disproportionate and adverse environmental or health affects to low-income and minority populations. Recommendation 6 and Implementation: Where disproportionate and adverse environmental or health affects to low-income and minority populations are identified in a NEPA review, DOC will notify the Office of Civil Rights and interested community groups. The notification should highlight the identified impacts and request comments. B. Facility Siting Decisions To the extent that DOC may locate facilities which generate pollution or cause waste to be disposed of in minority and low-income communities, disproportionate and adverse environmental or health affects may result. Recommendation 7 and Implementation: Facility development and siting decisions should include, where appropriate, an environmental justice review during the NEPA review. Even where facility siting decisions do not require a NEPA document, the potential for disproportionate and adverse environmental or health affects to low-income and minority populations should, where appropriate, be considered. V. REVIEW OF ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE IMPACTS: BUREAU ACTIVITIES A. NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION (NOAA) The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) mission is to promote global environmental stewardship in order to conserve and wisely manage the nation's marine and coastal resources, and to describe, monitor, and predict changes in the earth's environment in order to ensure and enhance sustainable economic opportunities. NOAA plays an active and fundamental role in carrying out the President's commitment to integrate economic prosperity and environmental quality. NOAA's extensive environmental data base provides government, from the Federal level to communities, with important information for assessing the potential for disproportionate and adverse environmental impacts on low-income and minority populations. NOAA's National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) administers an integrated program for the acquisition, processing, and exchange of an extensive collection of earth science and environmental data. NESDIS operates three data centers: the National Climate Data Center in Ashville, N.C.; the National Geophysical Data Center in Boulder, CO; and the National Oceanographic Data Center in Washington, D.C. Environmental data sets are available from the relevant Centers via computer hook-up or through phone or mail order. Build Sustainable Fisheries NOAA's goal is to greatly increase the Nation's wealth and the quality of life of tens of thousands of Americans through a healthy fishing industry that provides safe and wholesome seafood and recreational opportunities. Recommendation and Implementation 8: NOAA will advise the Councils that it will review assessments submitted as part of fishery management plans or significant amendments to ensure they include a preliminary determination of whether their activities contribute to disproportionate and adverse environmental and health affects on minority and low-income populations. Recommendation 9: Appoint a MAFAC task force to recommend ways to institutionalize involvement by minorities and the disadvantaged in committee deliberations, and increase internal awareness of the needs of these groups by NOAA. Implementation: NOAA will strive to increase the representation of minorities and the disadvantaged on MAFAC in its FY 1995 appointments to the Committee. At the next MAFAC meeting following those appointments, NOAA will discuss with MAFAC procedures to ensure that the needs and concerns of minorities and the economically disadvantaged are fully reflected in recommendations that the Committee makes to NOAA. Recommendation 10: Conduct research which will estimate the risks associated with consuming seafood harvested by and subsistence fishermen. Implementation: NOAA will conduct research on environmentally induced hazards that can impact certain groups that harvest or consume fish and shellfish from contaminated waters. Recover Protected Species NOAA strives to restore endangered, threatened or depleted species, and takes a proactive approach to managing these resources. NOAA's science and management system produces protected species regulations and recovery plans for stocks of endangered or threatened marine and coastal species. Recommendation 11: NOAA will continue current research activities to determine the impact of subsistence harvest on protected resources, and the impacts of other factors (e.g., commercial fishing, habitat loss, and pollution) on subsistence activities. Implementation: NOAA will conduct research to determine the status of North Pacific marine mammals used by indigenous peoples. In addition, NOAA will finance studies to enable Eskimos to reduce the number of animals harpooned but lost before landing. NOAA will continue to support Eskimos' full participation in the International Whaling Commission. Finally, NOAA, in concert with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, will solicit input from regional Native American peoples for plans to conserve and restore stocks of depleted Pacific salmon. Sustain Healthy Coastal Ecosystems As a Federal trustee for the nation's coastal resources, NOAA's goal is to promote healthy coastal ecosystems by ensuring that economic development in coastal areas is managed to maintain or enhance biodiversity and long-term productivity for sustained use. Habitat Protection Program NOAA is responsible for assessing the effects of programs, policies, and proposed projects that could adversely affect over 600 square miles of habitat per year in the U.S. and for making recommendations on them to Federal and state agencies. As well as permit reviews and development of restoration plans, NOAA conducts a limited program of supporting research on the importance of habitats to populations of living marine resources, and the effects of habitat degradation and loss, contaminants effects, nutrient overenrichment and other stresses on ecosystems. There are two major impacts of habitat degradation that disproportionately affect minorities and lower-income population groups -- 1) health risks from consuming contaminated seafood and 2) declines in abundance and productivity of fisheries resources used by these populations. These populations depend on the "free" resource of fish stocks as a major supplement to dietary protein for their families. In addition to subsistence needs, low-income groups may disproportionately depend on shoreline fishing as a low-cost source of recreation. Recommendation 12 and Implementation: To help avoid the consumption of contaminated fish and shellfish by minority and low-income population groups, NOAA will conduct research on environmentally induced hazards that disproportionately and adversely impact minority and low-income population groups who harvest fish and shellfish from contaminated waters. B. ECONOMICS AND STATISTICS ADMINISTRATION (ESA) The Under Secretary for Economic Affairs manages the Economics and Statistics Administration (ESA), which collects, prepares and publishes a broad range of annual and periodic economic, social, and demographic statistics. The Under Secretary is the principal adviser to the Secretary of Commerce on economic and statistical policy. ESA is composed of the Bureau of the Census, the Bureau of Economic Analysis, and headquarters operations. ESA produces a large proportion of the government's economic, business, demographic, household, and social statistics. ESA plays a special role in providing environmental justice data. ESA's resources and infrastructure can assist the mobilization of Federal resources towards environmental justice solutions. The income and population data generated by ESA, BEA, and the Census Bureau will be vital to other agencies in assessing the disproportionate and adverse environmental or health affects of their programs. Also, of crucial importance is the work of the Environmental Justice Data Task Force (Bureau of Census, NOAA, and EPA) to further develop PC software for the dissemination of environmental justice data. This will greatly assist agencies in assembling and analyzing the social, economic, and environmental data necessary for assessing disproportionate and adverse environmental or health affects. To demonstrate the GIS software and its applicability for environmental justice data analyses, the Task Force is also producing a demonstration data disc containing a variety of data from Federal agencies. Recommendation 13 and Implementation: ESA will continue to provide support and guidance in Environmental Justice Database development. Where appropriate, ESA will conduct workshops to instruct use of the database. C. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ADMINISTRATION (EDA) Economic growth must reach all communities, including those outside the mainstream of economic growth. By funding economic development projects developed and supported by the community, EDA helps distressed urban and rural communities increase their standard of living, generate a stronger neighborhood, and rejoin the economic mainstream. EDA serves the communities which are identified as impacted by environmental justice issues: economically distressed urban and rural communities, often with minority and low-income populations. EDA funds projects which have been developed at the local level and supported by the community. By funding only projects which are developed at the local level and supported by the entire community, EDA avoids imposing environmental burdens on an unknowing community. Recommendation 14 and Implementation: EDA should and will continue its mission of stimulating economic growth and creating jobs in communities outside of the economic mainstream. EDA should continue funding only projects which are developed and supported by the local community. EDA will ensure that its activities do not have a disproportionate environmental or health impact by funding projects using eco-efficient technologies and by funding cleanup of old industrial sites ("Brownfields") as part of a local economic development strategy. Recommendation 15 and Implementation: EDA should and will continue its policy of requiring the community development of proposals and full community support of the project and its consequences at the preliminary stages of project development and funding decisions. Environmental Reviews EDA routinely performs its own environmental reviews to identify any adverse environmental impacts, as required under the Naitonal Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969. EDA's strict environmental review process is an opportunity to evaluate the full environmental impact of an EDA-funded project, to ensure that the EDA-funded project complies with all applicable environmental laws and regulations, and to identify any potential disproportionate and adverse environmental or health affects on low-income and minority populations. Recommendation 16 and Implementation: Based on guidance from the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), EDA should, where appropriate, require an analysis of disproportionate and adverse environmental or health affects on low-income and minority populations during the NEPA process. Civil Rights Review EDA conducts routine civil rights review of EDA project pursuant to Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. The reviews assure EDA-funded projects do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, or national origin. The review of each project's compliance with civil rights law produces information that can be helpful in considering environmental justice impacts. Recommendation 17 and Implementation: EDA should continue its civil rights review to deter any potential disproportionate and adverse environmental or health affects on low-income and minority populations. Competitive Communities EDA's proposed Competitive Communities Initiative will help create, retain, and enhance quality, long-term job creation in communities now outside the mainstream of economic growth by funding local economic development intermediaries for investment in community-identified business transactions. Competitive Communities will advance private sector activity and job creation in competitive industries which represent and support the community economic development focus. Competitive communities will serve EDA's constituency rural, urban, and defense impacted communities outside the mainstream of economic growth to meet the economic challenges of tomorrow. Recommendation 18 and Implementation: Competitive Communities should and will require community support for each project. Competitive Communities should consider and, if appropriate, fund projects identified at the local level which benefit the environment through the use of eco-efficient technologies. Disaster Recovery Program In recent years EDA has assumed a larger role in responding to natural disasters. Natural disasters often create disproportionate and adverse environmental or health affects on low-income and minority populations which impede local economic recovery and development. EDA focuses on long-term economic recovery efforts, not emergency relief. EDA helps rebuild damaged infrastructure, and targets economic sectors which have been identified by the community as a key to the economic recovery of the region. Recommendation 19 and Implementation: In its disaster recovery program, EDA should seek to fund proposals which ensure that Federal actions do not have a disproportionate and adverse environmental or health affects on low-income and minority populations. These projects should have been developed and supported by the local community. Public Works and Development Facilities Program EDA's public works program funds locally-identified public works and infrastructure projects, including infrastructure for industrial parks, access roads, water systems, building rehabilitation, and other infrastructure-related projects. The efforts assist local communities by retaining existing employers and supporting local efforts to develop new businesses. The projects encourage business expansion, local economic diversification, and generate long-term private-sector jobs. Recommendation 20 and Implementation: EDA should and will seek projects which meet strict environmental regulations and which are identified as priorities and supported by the community. EDA should address environmental justice by funding public works projects developed at the local level which produce environmental benefits, such as environmental research parks, and projects promoting the use of environmental technologies. The existence -- or mere possibility -- of environmental pollution often impedes the redevelopment of old industrial sites and other sites for economic development ("Brownfields"), perpetuating the contamination and forestalling economic development in distressed communities which are impacted by environmental justice. Recommendation 21 and Implementation: EDA should address environmental cleanup by seeking to fund projects which promote the assessment, remediation, and clean-up of environmental pollution that impedes economic development. Economic Adjustment Program The Title IX Economic Adjustment program addresses Long-Term Economic Deterioration (LTED) and Sudden and Severe Economic Distress (SSED) projects in distressed communities. Title IX program addresses community impacts of plant closures, corporate downsizing, defense downsizing, along with a change in federal regulations or trade policies. A key component of the Title IX program is the capitalization of Revolving Loan Funds (RLFs) that finance private sector transactions in distressed communities. RLFs build the community capacity to address lack of capital funds and create private sector jobs. EAP clients often develop economic strategies which ignore old industrial sites because of the uncertainty of environmental contamination ("Brownfields"), perpetuating the contamination and forestalling economic development in distressed communities impacted by environmental justice. Recommendation 22 and Implementation: Where appropriate, EDA will encourage EAP clients to focus on re-use of old industrial sites in their economic strategies, and identify projects which involve the environmental assessment, remediation, and clean-up of the sites as part of a strategy for re-use and economic development. Recommendation 23 and Implementation: Where appropriate, communities with RLFs should be encouraged to address disproportionate and adverse environmental justice or health affects by funding projects which involve assessment and remediation of environmental contamination as part of a re-use and economic development strategy, and by funding only projects which have been identified and supported by the local community. Planning Program The Overall Economic Development Program (OEDP) is designed to develop community economic strategies; an OEDP must identify the need for an EDA project. The Planning Program assists the development of OEDPs in Economic Development Districts, Native American Tribes, and Redevelopment Areas. OEDPs develop economic development strategies in communities which may have been impacted by environmental justice concerns. Recommendation 24 and Implementation: OEDPs should and will ensure that Federal actions do not have disproportionate and adverse environmental or health affects on low-income and minority populations addressing Brownfields sites, including projects involving the assessment and remediation of environmental pollution as part of a re-use plan and economic development strategy. OEDPs should also seek to identify projects which are beneficial to the environment, such as eco-industrial parks, environmental technology incubators, and environmental research parks. OEDPs should be supported by the community. Technical Assistance Program The Technical Assistance Program helps build the local capacity to meet the economic challenges of today and tomorrow. Recommendation 25 and Implementation: EDA should and will fund technical assistance grants identified by the local community that address such issues as the most effective assessment and remediation of environmental pollution which impedes economic development. D. TECHNOLOGY ADMINISTRATION The Technology Administration is headed by the Under Secretary for Technology, who serves as the principal advisor to the Secretary for Civilian Industrial Technology. Major components of the Technology Administration are the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the National Technical Information Service. 1. NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) mission is to promote U.S. economic growth by working with industry to develop and apply technology, measurements, and standards. The primary products of NIST are information, standards (including standard reference materials and data), research results and new technology. To accomplish its mission, NIST uses the following four program areas: (1) the Advanced Technology Program (ATP), (2) the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP), (3) the National Quality Awards Program, and (4) the Laboratory Research Programs. Advanced Technology Program (ATP) The ATP provides competitive, cost-shared, research awards to industry and industry-led consortia to develop high-risk technologies and further significant commercial progress. ATP's objective is to enable the development of technologies that industry would not immediately develop due to high technical risk. ATP awardees develop new technologies. Where appropriate, awardees' operations under ATP cooperative agreements may have to ensure that Federal actions do not have a disproportionate and adverse environmental or health affect on low-income and minority populations. Recommendation 26: ATP should continue to adhere to Department of Commerce's guidelines on grants and waste disposal. The DOC guidelines will include, where appropriate, a review of grants and waste disposal contracts. Implementation: DOC will provide guidance to NIST on environmental justice reviews for cooperative agreements. Where appropriate, NIST will add environmental justice considerations to the evaluation criteria used during ATP's award process and to evaluation of all waste disposal contracts. Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) The Manufacturing Extension Partnership's (MEP) mission is to strengthen the global competitiveness of smaller U.S. manufacturers. To accomplish this goal, Cooperative Agreements with states and non-profit entities are used to create manufacturing extension centers. The centers serve as brokers by linking resource providers with a wide range of technical and business services to smaller manufacturers in need of assistance. Cooperative Agreements are awarded on a competitive basis through a federally mandated process. MEP does not engage in construction, manufacturing, or research. MEP's Environmental Strategy utilizes the MEP infrastructure to increase the ability of smaller manufacturers to implement technologies and techniques which allow them to be both environmentally sound and competitive. Industries have significant opportunities to reduce or prevent pollution at the source with cost-effective changes in production, operation, and raw materials use. Many manufacturing extension centers offer, or soon plan to offer, environmental assessment programs to help identify appropriate modifications for pollution prevention by individual manufacturers. Recommendation 27: MEP Cooperative Agreements should encourage the manufacturing extension centers to provide an environmental justice component or a referral service to educate clients on environmental justice. The objective of the environmental justice education should be to promote the implementation of environmental technologies that eliminate disproportionate and adverse environmental or health impacts on minority and low-income populations. Implementation: The Department of Commerce will provide brochures and other information to MEP service centers. DOC will train service center personnel on environmental justice and Executive Order 12898. The objective of the training will be to engage all service centers in the elimination of disproportionate and adverse environmental or health affects. National Quality Award Program The National Quality Award Program is responsible for managing the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. The program's purpose is to stimulate quality improvement programs in industry by recognizing significant efforts toward quality management including public responsibility and corporate citizenship. Because these traits are key elements of environmental justice, the Malcolm Baldrige Award can be used to promote industrial practices that minimize disproportionate and adverse environmental health affects. Recommendation 28: The National Quality Award Program should be used to promote industry practices that minimize disproportionate and adverse environmental or health affects on minority and low-income populations. Implementation: The National Quality Award Program will give consideration to environmental justice when selecting of the Malcolm Baldrige Award recipient. Through the Baldrige criteria and the subsequent background check of potential winners, the National Quality Award program will emphasize responsibility that goes beyond compliance to role model behavior and environmental leadership. 2. NATIONAL TECHNICAL INFORMATION SERVICE (NTIS) The mission of the National Technical Information Service (NTIS) is to collect and disseminate scientific, technical, engineering and business information produced by U.S. Government and foreign sources. NTIS's goal is to increase U.S. competitiveness in the global economy through this collection and dissemination of information. NTIS engages in three primary activities to carry out its mission. First, NTIS acquires, catalogs and archives the material made available by NTIS information sources. Second, NTIS disseminates this information in various forms (e.g., paper, microfiche, audio, video and electronic media formats) based on the need of NTIS customers. Third, NTIS provides information distribution services, (e.g., the FedWorld online information system, CD-ROM duplication, and accounts receivable management), to assist Federal agencies in meeting their information dissemination goals. NTIS maintains the Catalog of Products and Services. The Catalog is a guide to the NTIS Bibliographic Database. The Database is a bibliographic listing for nearly 2 million scientific, technical, engineering, and business information products NTIS has acquired since 1964. Each entry includes a report title, source agency, and biographical information. Research referenced in the Database includes a significant amount of material dealing with environmental and health issues. Recommendation and Implementation 29: NTIS should ensure the Catalog of Products and Services and a preview file (containing data received each thirty days) of the information products received for the NTIS Bibliographic Database are included in the governmental-wide centralization of environmental justice information. Such inclusion will guarantee that government decision-makers and communities with environmental justice concerns will be aware of the NTIS resources. VI. IMPLEMENTATION, TIMELINESS, AND REPORTING DOC established the following series of implementation goals to ensure success for the DOC Environmental Justice Strategy. Where applicable, DOC also set timelines for each implementation goal. DOC will prepare a progress report for the Interagency Working Group on Environmental Justice before February 11, 1996 to update the Working Group on DOC's progress toward strategy implementation. Secretarial and Senior Management Leadership
Department and Bureau Procedures
Environmental Justice Training
Public Outreach and Involvement
|
