U.S. unveils tool to direct green investment to disadvantaged
communities
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[February 18, 2022]
By Valerie Volcovici
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House on
Friday launched a beta version of a tool that will be used to determine
where to invest bilions of federal dollars to bring clean energy and
infrastructure to disadvantaged communities, a key step in fulfilling a
promise by the Biden administration to prioritize environmental justice.
The Council on Environmental Quality unveiled the Climate and Economic
Justice Screening Tool, used to map and identify communities that are
most in need of investment by weighing income levels and over two dozen
socieconomic, health and environmental indicators.
The software has been under development since early last year with input
from the White House environmental justice advisory council as a key
input for President Joe Biden's "Justice40 Initiative," a goal he set
early in his presidency to ensure that 40% of the benefits of federal
investments in clean energy get channeled to communities that are
overburdened by pollution.
“The Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool will help federal
agencies ensure that the benefits of the nation’s climate, clean energy,
and environmental programs are finally reaching the communities that
have been left out and left behind for far too long,” CEQ Chair Brenda
Mallory said.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2022/Feb/18/images/ads/current/LPL_small%201.gif)
Using census tract data, the web-based program identifies communities as
being disadvantaged if they are above the 65th percentile for income and
above the 90th percentile for any of 25 indicators ranging from local
asthma rates to traffic and hazardous waste site proximity to
unemployment.
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![](../images/021822PIX/news_d41.jpg)
Brenda Mallory, U.S. President-elect Joe Biden's nominee for Chair
of the Council on Environmental Quality, speaks after Biden
announced her nomination among another round of nominees and
appointees for his administration in Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.,
December 19, 2020. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo/File Photo
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2022/Feb/18/images/ads/current/debbiesfloral_lda_021022.png)
But an indicator that is conspicuosly absent is race. A Biden
administration official told reporters that the tool was designed to be
"race neutral" to be able to withstand potential legal challenges.
The omission has disappointed some environmental justice advocates.
Sacoby Wilson, a professor at the University of Maryland School of
Public Health who helped developed a state-level screening tool for
Maryland, said the decision not to use race as an indicator is
political.
"The science is clear. Race is the biggest predictor of environmental
hazard," he told Reuters.
"We are missing an opportunity by exlcuding race in the tool," said
Anthony Rogers-Wright, director of environmental justice at New York
Lawyers for the Public Interest. "The tool is not telling the full story
of a community."
The Enviromental Protection Agency also on Friday launched a revamp of
its own screening tool, EJSCREEN, which can be used to guide
environmental rulemaking.
The CEQ will take public comment on the tool for 60 days.
(Reporting by Valerie Volcovici; Editing by Stephen Coates)
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