EPA fails on environmental justice reviews

EPA is failing to check whether its policies and activities cause adverse impacts in minority or poor neighborhoods, the agency's inspector general stated in a report released last week. EPA's senior management has not given sufficient direction to programs and offices about these reviews, the report concluded. The reviews are required under a 1994 presidential directive issued by former president Bill Clinton and retained by President George W. Bush. Environmental justice reviews aim to determine whether agency policies and activities have disproportionately adverse health or environmental impacts on minority and low-income communities. The Office of the Inspector General recommended that EPA's offices and programs identify which policies and activities need environmental justice reviews and establish a plan for completing them. The inspector general's report (2006-P-00034) is available at www.epa.gov/oig/reports/2006/20060918-2006-P-00034.pdf.