Environment - Environmental Justice

On this page you will find additional resources and information related to both social resources and environmental justice.

• Context Sensitive Solutions
• Federal Agencies
• Other States / Agencies  

  
Context Sensitive Solutions

In November of 2003, the Secretary of Transportation signed an executive order on Context Sensitive Solutions. It was preceded by WSDOT's Building Projects that Build Communities. Both of these focus on new and better ways of building highways based on a growing interest in the improvement of highways and their integration into the communities they serve.

FHWA's information on CSS/D

A related process called Community Impact Assessment (CIA) assesses the impact transportation projects have on communities on an ongoing basis. Many state DOTs, especially in the eastern U.S. use this process. WSDOT assesses impacts on a project by project basis, and is currently using a variation of community impact assessment. Following are links to information on CIA in other states as well as overall information.

• National site for CIA information
• Caltrans Guidebook for CIA
• Results of joint research effort between Florida DOT, FHWA, and USDOT on CIA
• Guidelines and Principles for Social Impact Assessment - prepared by The Inter-organizational Committee on Guidelines and Principles for Social Impact Assessment

Federal Agencies

These links provide information and resources that FHWA has gathered on Environmental Justice.

• FHWA's The Facts
• FHWA Environmental Guidebook
• Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is the federal agency responsible for environmental justice. This link provides information on the EJ bibliography database.
• Council on Environmental Quality guidance on environmental justice. The methodology used differs from the recommendations in both the Environmental Procedures Manual and that of FHWA. The FHWA and WSDOT guidance should be used on WSDOT projects.
• National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) mandates that agencies using federal dollars both assess impacts on the human environment and provide early and continuing public involvement.
• NEPA and Project Development Guidance from FHWA covering social impacts and public involvement.
• The FHWA Washington Division has environmental justice guidance that was developed concurrently with ours.

  
Other States/Agencies

• Institute of Transportation Studies Environmental Justice Handbook
• California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) handbook on Community Impact Assessment .
• State of Massachusetts Environmental Justice Policy
• Illinois EPA's interim policy on Environmental Justice
• Virginia Tech and EPA's A Community Guide for Developing Indicators
• NCHRP guidebook for Assessing the Social and Economic Effects of Transportation Projects.

A 50 state survey of practices on environmental justice mainly focuses on the state agencies responsible for environmental protection and health. It is a resource for what is happening in other states in this field.

Community Coalition for Environmental Justice is an advocacy organization located in Seattle, WA.

The Environmental Justice Resource Center (EJRC) at Clark Atlanta University serves as a national research, policy, and information clearinghouse on issues related to environmental justice, race and the environment, civil rights, facility sitting, land use planning, brownfields, transportation equity, suburban sprawl, and Smart Growth.