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Yes, FTA plans to provide further training on EJ. Please register for GovDelivery via the FTA Environmental Justice web page to receive notifications when such training becomes available.

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Yes. FTA encourages grantees to reach out both to individuals that are part of an EJ population as well as to organizations that represent the community.

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Yes, but not always. FTA encourages grantees and their partners who work with multiple federal agencies to design data collection, analysis, and public involvement opportunities to leverage co-benefits across inter-related activities. For example, if a transit provider is drafting a ridership survey that is funded through the MPO’s Unified Planning Work Program, information about improving spatial connections to essential services via the transportation network can be useful in informing needs assessment, planning, projects, and reports required by HUD recipients. At the same time, satisfying the specific requirements for one program, rule, or regulation does not necessarily satisfy the full spirit of promoting Environmental Justice in planning and project development, or vice versa. For more information on the relationship between Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and the Executive Order 12898 on Environmental Justice in particular, please consult Chapter 1 of FTA Circular 4703.1.

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Yes. The concerns and needs of the Environmental Justice community should be considered at all stages of the cooperative, continuous, and comprehensive planning processes conducted at the statewide and metropolitan levels as well as project development. By the time project development begins, numerous systems-level decisions have already been made and it is important to consider the EJ population (if present in the geographic area) when making planning choices that lead to project outcomes.

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At the planning level, activities should be supplemented by data collection through both national services (e.g., Census Bureau, American Community Survey) and locally developed and administered data collection (e.g., finance department data, community impact assessments, customer surveys). Local data can be derived from local surveys and recordkeeping. Places where surveys may be used include: churches, farmer's markets, transit stations and centers, senior centers and various local community organizations and social groups. These data will permit a comparative assessment of accessibility, travel times, travel mode usage, and other travel attributes across EJ and non-EJ populations. FTA understands the uncertainty with the US 2010 Census data, but currently it is the best data set to use for future EJ analyses. Remember that partnering with local public and nonprofit organizations with an interest in Environmental Justice outcomes (such as local groups that provide services or University researchers) can offer valuable strategies for accessing additional resources and data. There are a variety of tools for you to consider listed on FTA’s website: FTA EJ web page

Answer:

FTA and FHWA’s shared planning regulation, found at 23 CFR 450 outlines federal expectations for statewide and metropolitan planning agencies in effectively engaging the public, including low-income and minority communities. Planning agencies are required to evaluate the effectiveness of these strategies and, where necessary, improve public involvement processes to eliminate participation barriers and engage minority and low-income populations in transportation decision making. Grantees should develop and implement strategies for meaningful engagement of the community, including members of EJ populations as a part of the planning process. Through effective public engagement grantees are able to identify and understand the needs of the community as a whole, and incorporate those needs into transportation plans and programs. FTA’s regulation outlines MPO requirements for producing public participation plans with specific outreach strategies for transportation plan and program development that “describe explicit procedures, strategies, and desired outcomes for” public engagement, which includes low-income and minority populations, as well as a process for periodically evaluating the effectiveness of these outreach strategies. Direct outreach to individuals and engagement with organizations that represent members of the EJ community are methods to determine the needs and concerns of environmental justice populations. Reaching out to the EJ populations in their community is critical. Public engagement is not a one-size-fits-all approach and should be scaled to the specific impacts of the proposed action, as well as the resources available. Many agencies rely on formal meetings as the foundation of their public engagement plans because these are often required by law; however, agencies should consider going beyond the traditional methods of public outreach to incorporate innovative approaches that leverage the ever-changing communications environment in which we live. Effective communication methods include distributing flyers at the local community center, churches, or grocery stores, and posting information on vehicles, at bus stops, transit stations, and other locations frequented by riders. Materials also should be prepared for persons with limited-English proficiency. “Meaningful public engagement” does not mean that every issue or concern raised by the community must be resolved. However, it does mean that grantees work diligently to engage in a meaningful public dialogue with the communities impacted by the proposed action, listen to what they have to say, respond to their comments and concerns, and incorporate their comments into the transportation decision-making process where practicable.

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If mitigation is not possible, FTA encourages grantees to involve the EJ community in identifying acceptable alternatives, such as betterments or enhancements of a project.

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FTA recommends that grantees conduct a quantitative evaluation of the distributional, system-level EJ impacts of the collection of projects in the long-range plan and that plan level distributions translate to the TIP level. One option for this would be to use the most recent Census and land use data available, supplemented by any local surveys, to identify the areas where low-income and / or minority populations live, work, and play. By overlaying the geographic location of proposed investments, including access points to those investments, grantees may determine whether a proportionate share of anticipated investment will serve those who are minorities and / or low-income. It is important to determine whether a new project will provide a proportionate level of access to members of the EJ community.

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EJ populations include minority or low-income populations.

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Yes. There are a number of tools available across the federal agencies that FTA encourages grantees to consider. Links are available on FTA’s EJ webpage. The EPA EJ View took is available on the EPA EJ webpage.

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Whether an adverse effect is “disproportionately high” on minority and low-income populations depends on whether that effect is (1) predominantly borne by an EJ population, or (2) will be suffered by the EJ population and is appreciably more severe or greater in magnitude than the adverse effect that will be suffered by the non-EJ population. It is important to note that determinations of disproportionately high and adverse effects take into consideration the mitigation and enhancement measures that are planned for the proposed action.

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FTA encourages the use of a wide variety of tools to engage the public. Social media should not replace traditional public meetings, but can be a very useful supplement that provides greater opportunity to engage the public. Be sure to establish a policy (it can be brief) to outline expectations for users about how their input will be considered and whether comments submitted via social media are considered “official” comments and will be included in the administrative record. TCRP Synthesis Report 99, Uses of Social Media in Public Transportation provides helpful case studies and information.

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FTA encourages the use of a locally developed threshold, such as that used for FTA’s grant program, or a percentage of median income for the area, provided that the threshold is at least as inclusive as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) poverty guidelines. Public Law 112-141 (MAP-21), revises 49 U.S.C. § 5302 to include a definition of “low-income individual” to mean “an individual whose family income is at or below 150 percent of the poverty line, as that term is defined in section 673(2) of the Community Services Block Grant Act (42 U.S.C. 9902(2), including any revision required by that section, for a family of the size involved.” The definition in chapter 53 does not have broad applicability to FTA or DOT programs, such as Title VI and Environmental Justice. FTA’s Title VI circular uses the more narrow definition: a person whose median household income is at or below the HHS poverty guidelines. This is the same definition DOT uses in the environmental justice order and other documents. In FTA’s Environmental Justice circular, we encourage recipients to use a more inclusive definition, but do not require the more inclusive assessment as long as the HHS poverty guideline is applied.

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The unit of geographic analysis is the area impacted by the proposed action. Depending on the nature of the proposed action, the unit of geographic analysis may be a governing body’s jurisdiction, a transit provider’s service area, a neighborhood, Census tract, or other similar unit. However, when establishing the boundaries of the geographic unit, grantees will want to be careful not to choose boundaries that artificially dilute or inflate the affected minority population and/or low-income population. Through the statewide or metropolitan planning processes, FTA recommends that grantees conduct an evaluation of the system-level EJ impacts of a collection of projects in the long-range plan. When projects move from a long-range plan into the short-range Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) or State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP), they are assumed to be reasonably assured of funding and ready for implementation. At that point, for projects that include Federal funds or involve a Federal approval, local agencies and project sponsors are required to evaluate the projects under NEPA. When considering EJ principles for individual projects, the geographic unit for comparison may need to be smaller than the entire geographic area covered by the long-range plan depending on the project and its likely impacts. Grantees will want to make sure that aggregating results at the regional level does not obscures critical local details. Grantees are encouraged to work closely with the FTA Regional Office in establishing an appropriate unit of geographic analysis.

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FTA does not require a stand-alone EJ analysis for the S/TIP. Chapter IV of the Circular describes how environmental justice considerations at the planning level, which extend to the S/TIP, are addressed primarily through data collection and comparative analysis, and public engagement.
As projects are prioritized from the plan into the S/TIP, and then selected from the S/TIP for implementation, it is assumed that a S/TIP would be equally reflective of EJ considerations as the plan from which it is derived. FTA expects that projects that primarily benefit an EJ community would be equally likely to move forward into implementation as any other project.

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Project-specific EJ analysis is conducted as part of a NEPA document. Therefore, if the NEPA document needs to be updated (e.g., when there are project changes that have the potential for significant environmental impacts, or a significant project change which was not analyzed previously), the EJ analysis should be reviewed to confirm that there are no new impacts to the EJ population that would be considered disproportionately high and adverse. FTA will re-evaluate the EJ analysis to determine whether additional EJ analysis is required.

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Yes. FHWA has issued an FHWA Actions to Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations, 6640.23A and is conducting outreach and training. For more information on FHWA’s environmental justice guidance, please visit the FHWA EJ webpage.