INTRODUCING CALENVIROSCREEN 1.0SIERRA WATER WORKGROUP SUMMIT– DEFINING DISADVANTAGED COMMUNITIES JUNE 13, 2013 Laura August, MPH Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, Cal/EPA

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CALENVIROSCREEN 1.0 Presents a broad

picture of the relative burdens California communities face from environmental pollution

Identifies 18 indicators of environmental and socioeconomic conditions

Provides guidance on potential uses of tool

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DEVELOPMENT OF CALENVIROSCREEN 1.0

2008-2013: Nine public meetings of the Cumulative Impacts & Precautionary Approaches Workgroup

2010: Framework document (“Cumulative Impacts: Building A Scientific Foundation”) released

2010-2012:Development of CalEnviroScreen 1.0

2012: 12 public workshops, including an academic workshop, > 1,000 oral & written comments

January 2013: Revised draft released. 65 written submissions & comments

April 2013: CalEnviroScreen 1.0 finalized

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FOCUS OF CALENVIROSCREEN

“…exposures, public health or environmental effects from the combined emissions and discharges in a geographic area, including environmental pollution from all sources, whether single or multi-media, routinely, accidentally, or otherwise released. Impacts will take into account sensitive populations and socioeconomic factors, where applicable and to the extent data are available.”

-- Working definition of “cumulative impacts” by Cal/EPA Interagency Working Group on Environmental Justice

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GEOGRAPHICAL UNIT: ZIP CODE

Familiar scale Publicly

established Public recognition Not too large Not too small

INDICATORS USEDPollution Burden Population Characteristics

Exposures EnvironmentalEffects

Sensitive Populations

Socioeconomic Factors

PM 2.5 concentrations

Ozone concentrations

Diesel PM concentrations

Pesticide use

Toxic releases from facilities

Traffic density

Cleanup sites

Groundwater threats(Leaking underground tanks and cleanups)

Impaired water bodies

Solid waste sites and facilities

Hazardous waste facilities and generators

Prevalence of children and elderly

Asthma emergency department visit rate

Rate of low birth weight births

Educational attainment

Linguistic isolation

Poverty: Percent residents below 2x national poverty level

Race/ethnicity

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▪ Provide a good measure of the contribution to the component

▪ Pollution burden indicators should relate to issues that may be actionable by Cal/EPA

▪ Population characteristic indicators should relate to demographic factors that may influence vulnerability to disease

▪ Publicly available

▪ Statewide and location-based information

▪ Good quality data (e.g., covers the state, accurate, current)

CRITERIA FOR INDICATOR SELECTION

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SCORING

Components Maximum ScoreExposures & Environmental Effects (½) 10

Sensitive Populations & Socioeconomic Factors 10

CalEnviroScreen Score Up to 100 (= 10 x 10)

▪ For each indicator, ZIP codes are assigned percentile values based on where they fall in the statewide distribution 0% 8%

15%23%

30%38%

45%53%

60%68%

75%83%

90%98%

Magnitude of Indicator (i.e. percent poverty, ozone conc.)

Num

ber o

f ZIP

Cod

es

Example indicator

CalEnviroScreen Scores:Statewide

HIGHEST 10%CALENVIROSCREEN SCORES:STATEWIDE

• Represents 176 of CA’s 1769 Zip codes.

• Covers 7.8 million people (21 percent of CA’s population).

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CalEnviroScreen Scores:Statewide

CALENVIROSCREEN SCORES:STATEWIDE

• Represents all 1769 census ZIP codes in CA

• Each color represents ~10% of all ZIP codes

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ONLINE TOOL

Available at: oehha.ca.gov/ej/

SOME POTENTIAL USES OF TOOL

▪ To aid ongoing planning and decision-making within Cal/EPA▪ Environmental Justice Small Grant program▪ Promote greater compliance with environmental laws▪ Prioritize site-cleanup activities ▪ Identify opportunities for sustainable development in

heavily impacted neighborhoods

▪ The tool: ▪ Is not a health risk assessment▪ Is not a substitute for a CEQA-required cumulative impacts

assessment and does not determine whether a specific project’s impacts are significant under CEQA

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USES OF THE TOOL:SB 535 (DE LEON, 2012)▪ Cal/EPA shall identify “disadvantaged

communities” for investment opportunities based on geographic, socioeconomic, public health and environmental hazard criteria.

▪ Department of Finance triennial investment plan for Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund must allocate:▪ >25 percent to projects that benefit

these communities▪ >10 percent to projects located in

these communities.

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DEFINING ‘DISADVANTAGED COMMUNITIES’• CalEnviroScreen is a pollution

based tool Combination of pollution and factors that make a

community more vulnerable to the effects of pollution

• ‘Socioeconomic factors’ component is made up of 4 indicators from 2010 Decennial census and

2007-2011American Community Survey

• Median household income not included because duplicative with poverty

• Feedback from stakeholders to include multiple indicators

Socioeconomic Factors

Educational attainment

Linguistic isolation

Poverty: Percent residents below 2x national poverty level

Race/ethnicity

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IMPORTANCE OF MULTIPLE INDICATORS The use of multiple metrics is

important to understand environmental and socioeconomic conditions Socioeconomic Factors example:UC Berkeley ZIP Code (94720) Education: 10th percentile

(LOW)

Linguistic Isolation: NA (no households)

Poverty: 99th percentile (HIGH)

Race/ethnicity: 62nd percentile (medium)

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DATA GAPS AND NEXT STEPS• Geographic unit

• Census ZIP codes not statewide• Moving to census tracts later this

year

• Missing data • i.e. fewer air pollution monitors,

larger margins of error in Census data

• All tribal activities not always captured in state databases

• Drinking water indicator not completed

• Continue outreach with interested stakeholders on potential uses of CalEnviroScreen1.0

Sierra Water Workgroup

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSOEHHA : John Faust Laura Meehan August George Alexeeff Rose Cendak Lara Cushing Allan Hirsch Tamara Kadir Carmen Milanes Shankar Prasad Karen Randles Robbie Welling Walker Wieland Lauren Zeise

Cal/EPA : Miriam Barcellona Ingenito Julian Leichty Arsenio Mataka Gina Solomon

Other thanks: • Cumulative Impacts and Precautionary

Approaches Work Group • Cal/EPA Boards and Departments who provided

comments and data; California Department of Public Health and the Public Health Institute

• Residents and stakeholders who participated in our regional workshops; Tara Zagofsky, consultant and facilitator, University of California, Davis, Common Ground: Center for Cooperative Solutions

• Dr. Rachel Morello-Frosch and academic colleagues at the University of California, Berkeley

• Academic expert panel who provided comments at a workshop in September 2012

• Graduate students assisting in the project

Laura August, email: Laura.August@oehha.ca.gov more info: www.oehha.ca.gov/ej

THANK YOU!