Environmental Justice Scorecard Feedback, 47397-47398 [2022-16635]

Agencies

• COUNCIL ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY

[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 148 (Wednesday, August 3, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 47397-47398]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-16635]


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COUNCIL ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY

[CEQ-2022-0004]


Environmental Justice Scorecard Feedback

AGENCY: Council on Environmental Quality.

ACTION: Request for information.

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SUMMARY: The Council on Environmental Quality is issuing this request 
for information (RFI) to solicit feedback on the vision, framework, and 
outcomes of the Environmental Justice Scorecard.

DATES: Responses to this RFI should be received by October 3, 2022.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by docket number CEQ-
2022-0004, by any of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
     Fax: 202-456-6546.
     Mail: Council on Environmental Quality, 730 Jackson Place 
NW, Washington, DC 20503.
    All submissions received must include the agency name, ``Council on 
Environmental Quality,'' and the docket number, CEQ-2022-0004, for this 
RFI. All comments received will be posted without change to https://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information provided. Do 
not submit electronically any information you consider to be private, 
Confidential Business Information (CBI), or other information the 
disclosure of which is restricted by statute.
    You may respond to some or all of the questions listed in the RFI. 
You may include references to academic literature or links to online 
material but please ensure all links are publicly available. Each 
response should include:
     The name of the individual(s) or entity responding.
     A brief description of the responding individual(s) or 
entity's mission or areas of expertise.
     A contact for questions or other follow-up on your 
response.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Issues regarding submission or 
questions on this RFI can be sent to Sharmila L. Murthy at 202-395-5750 
or [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    Many communities across the country face environmental injustices. 
These communities have been overburdened by pollution and underserved 
by critical infrastructure and services, leading to negative health 
impacts and outcomes. Communities that suffer from environmental 
injustices include low income communities, communities of color, and 
Tribal Nations. Furthermore, these same communities are too often left 
out of decision making that directly impacts their health and well-
being. President Biden has committed to charting a new and better 
course, one that puts environmental and economic justice for 
communities at the center of the Federal Government's work.
    Within his first days in office, President Biden signed Executive 
Order 14008 on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad, stating 
that agencies must make achieving environmental justice part of their 
missions by developing programs, policies, and activities to address 
the disproportionately high and adverse human health, environmental, 
climate-related, and other cumulative impacts on disadvantaged 
communities, as well as the accompanying economic challenges of such 
impacts.
    The Executive Order mandates the development of performance 
measures for an annual Environmental Justice Scorecard, which will aim 
to detail the efforts of the Federal Government to address historic and 
current environmental injustices.
    As outlined in the Executive Order, the Environmental Justice 
Scorecard will be developed in collaboration with the Executive Office 
of the President and with the White House Environmental Justice 
Interagency Council (IAC). It will be guided by recommendations by the 
White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council (WHEJAC), with input 
by environmental justice stakeholders. The WHEJAC's Phase One 
Recommendations on the Environmental Justice Scorecard informed the 
development of this RFI, and will continue to inform the vision, scale, 
and scope of the Environmental Justice Scorecard.
    The Environmental Justice Scorecard will be the first government-
wide assessment of Federal agencies' efforts to advance environmental 
justice. The Environmental Justice Scorecard will evolve over time, 
with the goal of creating a robust and comprehensive assessment of the 
Federal Government's efforts to secure environmental justice for all. 
It eventually will be located on a public, web-based platform that is 
easy to use.
    The first version of the Environmental Justice Scorecard will 
provide a baseline assessment of the Federal Government's efforts to 
secure environmental justice. It will focus on and describe the 
processes and progress that Federal agencies have made starting in 
2021. This baseline is critical to establish because it will enable the 
measurement of progress over time. The Federal Government will then 
build on and improve the Scorecard, year after year.
    Initially, the Environmental Justice Scorecard will focus on three 
main categories. It will highlight activities by Federal agencies to: 
(1) reduce harms and burdens borne disproportionately by communities, 
(2) deliver investment benefits, and (3) undertake institutional reform 
to center community voices in decision making. This framework reflects 
the Administration's commitment to begin repairing historic wrongs, to 
strive towards delivering tangible benefits to communities, and to

[[Page 47398]]

work towards ensuring that the voices and needs of communities are 
elevated and centered in decision making.
    As part of this broader effort to assess progress on environmental 
justice, the Environmental Justice Scorecard also will measure progress 
made towards the Justice40 Initiative. In Executive Order 14008, 
President Biden set of a goal of ensuring that 40 percent of the 
overall benefits of certain Federal investments--those made in climate, 
clean energy and energy efficiency, clean transit, affordable and 
sustainable housing, training and workforce development, the 
remediation and reduction of legacy pollution, and the development of 
critical clean water infrastructure--flow to disadvantaged communities 
that are marginalized and overburdened by pollution and underinvestment 
in basic services.
    This RFI is part of the Administration's commitment to ensuring 
that environmental justice efforts within the Federal Government, 
including the development of the Environmental Justice Scorecard, are 
informed by the priorities and perspectives of communities that face 
environmental injustices. By soliciting input through this RFI, CEQ 
seeks to provide transparency about the Federal Government's vision, 
goals, and process so that the public is better able to monitor the 
government's progress and hold the government accountable for 
delivering results.

II. Key Questions for Input

A. Vision

    i. The vision for the Environmental Justice Scorecard is as a 
robust and comprehensive assessment of the Federal Government's efforts 
to address current and historic environmental injustice, including the 
Justice40 Initiative.
    ii. Question
    1. Does this vision reflect the needs and priorities of communities 
that face environmental injustices?

B. Framework

    i. In the first version of the Environmental Justice Scorecard, 
Federal Government activities will be organized in three reporting 
categories.
    1. Reducing Burdens and Harms in Communities: This category would 
measure the regulatory, enforcement, and other actions taken to reduce 
harms and environmental injustices.
    2. Benefits to Communities: This category would measure the 
Administration's progress on implementation of the Justice40 
Initiative, among other environmental justice efforts.
    3. Centering Justice in Decision Making: This category would 
capture measures taken to reform agency decision making to incorporate 
the perspectives, priorities, and lived experiences of environmental 
justice communities.
    ii. Questions
    1. Do these categories broadly reflect the needs, priorities, and 
impacts that communities are facing from environmental injustices?
    2. For the first version of the Environmental Justice Scorecard, 
what processes and markers of progress should be reflected in each of 
these categories?
    3. In the long term, what are the desired outcomes that could be 
included in each of these categories?

C. Engagement

    i. Please provide recommendations on how to improve engagement 
with, and around, the Environmental Justice Scorecard. In particular, 
what are ways to improve sharing information about the Environmental 
Justice Scorecard?
    ii. For a future website, what are some usability and accessibility 
features that should be considered for an online platform?

D. Additional feedback

    i. Please provide additional feedback on the vision, framework, and 
outcomes of the Environmental Justice Scorecard. Feedback on the vision 
for the first version, and on future versions, is welcome.

Matthew G. Lee-Ashley,
Chief of Staff.
[FR Doc. 2022-16635 Filed 8-2-22; 8:45 am]
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