Environmental Justice

Environmental Justice (EJ) in transportation planning means identifying and addressing disproportionately high and adverse effects of the agency's programs, policies, and activities on minority populations and low-income populations to achieve an equitable distribution of benefits and burdens.

Principles

To avoid, minimize, or mitigate disproportionately high and adverse human health or environmental effects, including social and economic effects, on minority populations and low-income populations.
To ensure full and fair participation by all potentially affected communities in the transportation decision-making process.
To prevent the denial of, reduction in, or significant delay in the receipt of benefits by minority populations and low-income populations.

MMMPO Environmental Justice Block Group

EJ Block Group Analysis is a system-level evaluation of the relations between proposed projects and environmental justice populations. It documents the special relations of proposed projects and EJ Block Groups and the level of planned transportation investment in the area’s EJ and non-EJ neighborhoods. Both positive and negative impacts of investment are considered.

EJ Block Group: a census block group with a population that has either:

A higher percentage of households in poverty than the county average of 24.0 percent.
A higher percentage of minority residents than the county average of 9.2 percent.

Non-EJ Block Group: a census block group with a population that has both:

The same or a lower percentage of households in poverty than the county average of 24.0 percent.
The same or a lower percentage of minority residents than the county average of 9.2 percent.