Table Of ContentNATIONAL COOPERATIVE HIGHWAY RESEARCH PROGRAM
NCHRP
REPORT 532
Effective Methods for
Environmental Justice
Assessment
DAVIDJ. FORKENBROCK
Public Policy Center
University of Iowa
Iowa City, IA
JASONSHEELEY
URS Corporation
Austin, TX
SUBJECTAREAS
Planning and Administration • Energy and Environment • Transportation Law
Research Sponsored by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials
in Cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration
TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH BOARD
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2004
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CONTENTS 1 CHAPTER 1 Guidebook Overview
Introduction, 1
Environmental Justice Defined, 2
The Role of Environmental Justice in Transportation Planning
and Policy Development, 4
Environmental Justice and Distributive Effects, 6
Types of Effects Addressed, 8
Understanding the Guidebook, 9
Using the Guidebook, 12
Relationship to Other Recent Publications, 15
Resources, 17
References, 18
19 CHAPTER 2 Identifying Protected Populations
Overview, 19
State of the Practice, 20
Selecting an Appropriate Method of Analysis, 22
Methods, 24
Resources, 55
References, 56
59 CHAPTER 3 Air Quality
Overview, 59
State of the Practice, 59
Selecting an Appropriate Method of Analysis, 66
Methods, 66
Resources, 92
References, 92
95 CHAPTER 4 Hazardous Materials
Overview, 95
State of the Practice, 95
Selecting an Appropriate Method of Analysis, 101
Methods, 102
Resources, 117
References, 118
121 CHAPTER 5 Water Quality and Drainage
Overview, 121
State of the Practice, 121
Selecting an Appropriate Method of Analysis, 125
Methods, 126
Resources, 133
137 CHAPTER 6 Safety
Overview, 137
State of the Practice, 137
Selecting an Appropriate Method of Analysis, 138
Methods, 140
Resources, 162
References, 163
167 CHAPTER 7 Transportation User Effects
Overview, 167
State of the Practice – Accessibility, 169
Methods for Studying Accessibility, 171
State of the Practice – Transportation Choice, 186
Methods for Studying Transportation Choice, 189
Resources, 196
References, 197
199 CHAPTER 8 Community Cohesion
Overview, 199
State of the Practice, 199
Selecting an Appropriate Method of Analysis, 205
Methods, 207
Resources, 215
References, 216
217 CHAPTER 9 Economic Development
Overview, 217
State of the Practice, 217
Selecting an Appropriate Method of Analysis, 218
Methods, 219
Resources, 228
References, 230
231 CHAPTER 10 Noise
Overview, 231
State of the Practice, 232
Selecting an Appropriate Method of Analysis, 236
Methods, 238
Resources, 248
References, 249
251 CHAPTER 11 Visual Quality
Overview, 251
State of the Practice, 252
Selecting an Appropriate Method of Analysis, 263
Methods, 265
Resources, 274
References, 274
275 CHAPTER 12 Land Prices and Property Values
Overview, 275
State of the Practice, 275
Selecting an Appropriate Method of Analysis, 276
Methods, 279
Additional Information, 286
Resources, 289
References, 290
293 CHAPTER 13 Cultural Resources
Overview, 293
State of the Practice, 294
Selecting an Appropriate Method of Analysis, 295
Methods, 298
References, 304
307 Appendix A Environmental Justice Regulations and Guidance
319 Appendix B Implications of Recent Environmental Justice Case Law
323 Appendix C Using Geographic Information Systems to Evaluate
Environmental Justice
335 Appendix D The Decennial Census as a Source of Data for the Analysis
of Environmental Justice
351 Glossary
CHAPTER 1. GUIDEBOOK OVERVIEW
INTRODUCTION
Environmental justice is a complex subject that speaks to fundamental human desires for
fairness, equity, and social and economic justice. Sadly, the basic objectives of environmental
justice are often misunderstood. This guidebook was prepared to help those in the field of
transportation planning and policy development better understand how to incorporate
environmental justice assessment into planning processes for developing transportation projects,
policies, and programs.
The key regulations and policy drivers behind environmental justice assessment requirements are
Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VI) and Executive Order 12898 issued by
President Clinton in 1994. Although environmental justice assessment is required by Executive
Order, we make the case throughout the guidebook that practitioners should evaluate
environmental justice because it is part of good transportation planning. Although current policy
directs practitioners as to when environmental justice assessment should be performed, there is
no standard national policy or guidance on how it should be performed.
Therefore, there is no “one size fits all” approach to environmental justice assessment. This is
both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, it allows a practitioner the flexibility to select the most
appropriate assessment technique for the problem at hand. The drawback, of course, is that the
practitioner must spend time, and sometimes a considerable amount of time, determining which
method or methods are most appropriate. This guidebook is intended to simplify that process.
One key purpose of the guidebook is to advance the state of the practice by presenting a broad
range of effective environmental justice assessment techniques. To achieve this purpose, the
guidebook must be easy to use and of value to practitioners. Each guidebook chapter therefore
presents a mixture of commonly used techniques and new or little-used techniques that improve
upon common practice.
Throughout the guidebook, we stress the importance of having the flexibility to select the
method or methods that are most appropriate for the issue at hand. In general, the complexity of
analysis and level of detail required will be greater for project planning and corridor studies than
for long-range transportation plans and investment plans. In addition, the greatest level of public
concern usually is expressed at the project planning level because the effects of the decision are
tangible and will be experienced in the short term. Because of these realities, most of the
methods in this guidebook are presented with project-level planning in mind, although this is not
to say that policy, program, and longer-range planning efforts are any less important to
environmental justice.
As a result of this focus, practitioners with Departments of Transportation (DOTs) may see more
opportunities to directly apply these methods than will practitioners with metropolitan planning
organizations (MPOs). However, many methods that function at the project level can also be
used to evaluate long-range regional planning efforts. We therefore expect that this guidebook
will be a valuable resource for practitioners in both DOTs and MPOs.
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Environmental justice is concerned with myriad social, cultural, and environmental issues and
how those issues affect particular social groups. This guidebook is organized into 13 chapters
that address each of the most common issues of concern as environmental justice is related to
transportation planning and policy development.
We also selected this organization because a common body of knowledge and techniques exists
for many of the issues, and many of these techniques can be extended to allow for environmental
justice assessment. The methods included in this guidebook, whether simple or complex,
commonly or rarely used, produce results that can be readily communicated to decision-makers
and to community residents.
As the title of this guidebook conveys, the focus here is on explaining approaches, techniques,
and methods that will help transportation planning practitioners perform informative
environmental justice assessments. As you read this guidebook, however, keep in mind that
environmental justice assessment is one of many components necessary to fully integrate
environmental justice into the transportation planning process. Equally if not more important are
components such as developing comprehensive, agency-wide environmental justice programs
and policies and implementing processes that make community participation a cornerstone of the
planning process.
This introductory chapter provides the background information you need to use the remaining
chapters of the guidebook effectively. We begin by providing a definition of environmental
justice. This is followed by a discussion of the positive role environmental justice can play in
transportation planning and policy development. The types of effects addressed in the guidebook
are listed and briefly described, followed by a discussion of the philosophy applied to developing
the guidebook. The chapter ends with a discussion of how to use the guidebook and how it is
related to other recent publications that address environmental justice.
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE DEFINED
To some, environmental justice is a social cause that promotes fairness and equity for all people.
To others, it is a set of federal and state policies that must be followed to ensure agency
compliance with federal civil rights laws, especially Title VI. Still others may view
environmental justice as a possible roadblock to transportation planning and project development
that must be overcome in situations when local activist groups use the planning process to
promote a specific agenda. In reality, environmental justice involves each of these perspectives
to a certain degree. Some common definitions of environmental justice are discussed in the box
titled “Perspectives on environmental justice.”
In this guidebook, environmental justice is defined as “the fair treatment of all people in terms of
the distribution of benefits and costs arising from transportation projects, programs, and
policies.” The term “fair” means that a disproportionate share of adverse effects will not fall
upon low-income or minority (protected) populations. A disproportionate share of adverse
effects in turn implies that the distribution of benefits to a protected population is not
commensurate with the costs that this particular population would bear. It is important to keep in
mind that the value of a benefit or the adversity of a cost may vary among population groups.
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Therefore, it is necessary to present the expected effects of a transportation change to these
populations as accurately and clearly as possible and then to fully consider the perspectives of
protected populations when planning, constructing, and operating transportation facilities.
Perspectives on environmental justice
Environmental justice as a policy. The United States Environmental Protection
Agency’s definition of environmental justice stresses the concepts of fairness and
equity in a regulatory framework:
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 – http://www.epa.gov/compliance/environmentaljustice.
Environmental justice as a social movement combining concerns of social
justice and environmentalism. A definition used by many environmental justice
proponents stresses the comprehensive array of environmental justice concerns
involving both physical and human environments:
Environmental justice is the right to a safe, healthy, productive, and sustainable
environment for all, where “environment” is considered in its totality to include
the ecological (biological), physical (natural and built), social, political, aesthetic,
and economic environments. Environmental justice refers to the conditions in
which such a right can be freely exercised, whereby individual and group
identities, needs, and dignities are preserved, fulfilled, and respected in a way that
provides for self-actualization and personal and community empowerment —
http://coweb.cc.gatech.edu/lcc3308/150.
Environmental justice as a call for equal access to the decision making
process. Another commonly used definition focuses more on environmental laws
and environmental protection, calling for equal justice, equal protection, and equal
access to the decision making process:
Environmental justice has been defined as the pursuit of equal justice and equal
protection under the law for all environmental statutes and regulations without
discrimination based on race, ethnicity, and/or socioeconomic status. This concept
applies to governmental actions at all levels⎯local, state and federal⎯as well as
private industry activities — http://coweb.cc.gatech.edu/lcc3308/190.
Common environmental justice concerns
Environmental justice can be viewed as a coming together of the social justice movement and the
environmental movement to focus on societal issues where there is overlap between the two.
Thus, environmental justice is concerned with issues that originally came to national attention
through the social justice movement, issues such as fairness and equity, healthy living
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environments and workplaces, human health and safety, and economic development. In addition,
environmental justice is also concerned with issues that the environmental movement originally
brought to national attention, such as visual aesthetics, sustainable environmental practices, and
environmental quality.
Transportation system changes have the potential to affect all of the above listed issues, for better
or for worse. Because of this, environmental justice concerns often will be raised as the public
evaluates the results of transportation policies, programs, and projects.
While it is beyond the scope of this discussion to list all of the important concerns that may raise
issues of environmental justice, the range of concerns pertinent to transportation planning can be
categorized as follows:
• Human health and safety. Paramount in environmental justice is concern about
protecting human health and safety. This concern is central to many of the most
important environmental justice issues such as air quality and lead-based paint, among
others. Safety-related transportation concerns fall in this category.
• Economic development. Environmental justice proponents believe that all persons
should have equal access to economic opportunities. It is important to evaluate how
transportation system changes affect economic development opportunities. The effects
can be either beneficial or adverse.
• Society and culture. Environmental justice proponents argue that it is important to
understand the many differing values and priorities of diverse social groups.
Environmental justice is therefore concerned with issues such as sacred lands and
community cohesion. Transportation construction projects can have considerable adverse
impact on these issues.
• Natural environment. Environmental justice emphasizes effects to the natural
environment that have a direct social consequence. So, for example, degradation of
surface water quality becomes an important environmental justice issue in situations
where protected populations use impaired water bodies for sustenance or recreation.
THE ROLE OF ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE IN TRANSPORTATION
PLANNING AND POLICY DEVELOPMENT
Beginning in 1994, environmental justice was elevated to greater importance in transportation
planning when President Clinton issued Executive Order 12898, Federal Actions to Address
Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations (President,
Proclamation 1994). Since that time, The United States Department of Transportation (U.S.
DOT), the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), and state and local agencies have worked
to identify processes, techniques, and effective practices for making environmental justice an
integral part of the planning process. Both the U.S. DOT (1997) and FHWA (1998) have issued
orders and guidance on environmental justice. These policy statements are important, but they
are not the only reasons to include full consideration of environmental justice in the
transportation planning process.
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Transportation planning is concerned with setting in place transportation projects and programs
that advance specified policy goals and objectives. These goals and objectives can be quite broad
in scope, such as fostering a vibrant local economy, or narrower, such as ensuring that persons
without autos have access to employment opportunities. Environmental justice fits into
transportation planning by introducing consideration of distributive effects—how the benefits
and costs of a proposed project would be experienced by different populations. Good
transportation planning has both a technical component and a participatory component.
Competent analyses of possible courses of action should be blended with interaction with the
affected public. This guidebook is designed to assist planners in analyzing the distributive effects
of possible projects so that these effects can be discussed with members of various population
groups.
It is important to stress that, depending on the analysis context, some effects are more likely to
warrant extensive examination, perhaps using relatively advanced methods. It stands to reason
that the effects that residents of a community feel are important should be addressed with special
thoroughness and vigor. Effects that are likely to be consequential but not of paramount
importance often can be examined using basic methods. In most cases, then, some effects will
warrant extensive study, others will warrant a less exhaustive analysis, and still others may not
require any attention.
Incorporating environmental justice analysis into the transportation planning process is complex
for at least four reasons:
• A balance has to be drawn between benefits to users of the facility and effects on other
community residents.
• Even among community residents, numerous effects (some positive, some negative)
interact and must be balanced.
• Various population groups within the community may be affected differently in terms of
mixes of effects.
• People vary in their preferences and opinions, so that what is acceptable or even desirable
to some may be unacceptable to others.
The best way to think of environmental justice as a component of transportation planning is that
it can help make transportation projects as beneficial as possible to populations that historically
have not had an adequate voice in the planning process. As such, it is a way of strengthening
transportation planning by making a wider array of effects understood. The fact that federal
policy mandates consideration of environmental justice should not be the only driving force
behind considering it; a more compelling argument is that it makes for good transportation
planning.
Actually, much of the underlying regulatory basis for including environmental justice in
transportation planning and policy development stems from requirements of the National
Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) and other long-standing provisions such as the 1970
Federal-Aid Highway Act and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (as amended). It is worth stressing
that Section 1508.8 of the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) regulations for
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implementing NEPA states that effects to be taken into account include “ecological (such as the
effects on natural resources and on the components, structures, and functioning of affected
ecosystems), aesthetic, historic, cultural, economic, social, or health” (CEQ 1986). In essence,
environmental justice adds a distributive focus to many of the impact analyses already required
for transportation projects.
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE AND DISTRIBUTIVE EFFECTS
All methods presented in this guidebook have at least one common feature: the ability to
estimate distributive effects. Distributive effects are measurable adverse and beneficial outcomes
of a transportation plan, program, or project that do not affect all members of a population
equally. To evaluate environmental justice, it is necessary to determine distributive effects to
protected population groups. The remainder of this section describes how distributive effects can
be evaluated and incorporated into a comprehensive environmental justice program.
Environmental justice requires fair and equitable processes and outcomes. Most definitions
of environmental justice stress the importance of fairness and equity for all persons. This means
that the processes used to plan, select, and implement transportation system changes must be
inclusive. In an equitable process, protected populations will have equal opportunity to become
involved in the planning process, and the needs, values, and concerns of these populations will
be fully considered.
In a perfect world, fair and equitable processes would be expected to result in fair and equitable
outcomes. Outcome equity is therefore an appropriate way to evaluate the environmental justice
of distributive effects. In situations where, for example, members of protected populations would
receive more of the adverse effects of a transportation planning decision, or a lesser proportion of
benefits than other groups, the outcomes of the transportation planning decisions are not
equitable and are not environmentally just.
Distributive effects assessment methods are a test of outcome equity. The test for outcome
equity, then, is to determine how beneficial and adverse effects are distributed among population
groups and to determine if those effects are fair and equitable. Performing this test requires three
basic steps:
1. Identify the affected population. The affected population is that which would
experience the beneficial and adverse effects of a transportation system change. The size
of the population and its demographic characteristics need to be determined. Important
demographic characteristics for identifying protected populations include race, national
origin, age, sex, disability, English-speaking ability, and income.
2. Estimate the nature and extent of the effects. Beneficial and adverse effects should be
identified and measured. The measure could simply consider whether effects would or
would not result from the transportation system change. A more informative approach
would be to measure the magnitude of effect. An example would be developing estimates
of ground-level airborne pollutant concentrations from zero parts per billion to 1,000
parts per billion, and how the levels vary across a study area, rather than merely
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