[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 249 (Wednesday, December 28, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 81541-81542]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-33214]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR


Request for Comments Under E.O. 12898

AGENCY: Office of the Assistant Secretary of Policy, Labor.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Labor (DOL) is committed to Environmental 
Justice (EJ). President Obama has renewed agencies' Environmental 
Justice planning by reinvigorating Executive Order 12898 (EO 12898), 
which tasked Cabinet Level Federal agencies with making Environmental 
Justice part of their mission. The agencies were directed to do so by 
identifying and addressing, as appropriate, the disproportionately high 
and adverse human health or environmental effects of their programs, 
policies, and activities on minority and low-income populations. In 
August 2011, agencies listed in EO 12898 signed a Memorandum of 
Understanding (EJ MOU), which, among other things, commits agencies to 
develop a final Environmental Justice Strategy.
    The purpose of this notice is to invite public comment on DOL's 
draft Environmental Justice Strategy.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before January 20, 2012.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments through http://dolenvironmentaljustice.ideascale.com/.
    All comments will be available for public inspection at http://dolenvironmentaljustice.ideascale.com/.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: e. christi cunningham, Associate 
Assistant Secretary for Regulatory Policy, U.S. Department of Labor, 
200 Constitution Avenue NW., Room S-2312, Washington, DC 20210, 
[email protected], (202) 693-5959, (this is not a toll-free 
number). Individuals with hearing impairments may call 1-800-877-8339 
(TTY/TDD).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Executive Order 12898 did not create a new 
legal remedy. As an internal management tool of the Executive Branch, 
the Order directs Federal agencies to put in place procedures and take 
actions to make achieving environmental justice part of their basic 
mission. President Clinton explained that Federal agencies have the 
responsibility to promote ``nondiscrimination in Federal programs 
substantially affecting human health and the environment.'' 
Accordingly, agencies must implement actions to identify and address 
disproportionately high and adverse human health or environmental 
effects of their programs, policies, and activities on minority, Native 
American, and low-income populations.
    The Department views Environmental Justice from a workplace 
training, health and safety perspective. The Department is developing 
an Environmental Justice Strategy that is in line with the mission of 
the Department and Secretary Solis' vision for the future: Good Jobs 
for Everyone. The vision of good jobs for everyone includes ensuring 
that workplaces are safe and healthy; helping workers who are in low-
wage jobs or out of the labor market find a path into middle-class 
jobs; and helping middle-class families remain in the middle class. The 
Department's draft Environmental Justice Strategy focuses on agencies 
directly involved with worker training, health and safety issues, and 
measurement--the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the Employment 
Training Administration (ETA), the Mine Safety and Health 
Administration (MSHA), the Office of Recovery for Automotive 
Communities and Workers (ORACW), the Occupational Safety and Health 
Administration (OSHA), and the Office of Workers' Compensation Programs 
(OWCP).
    Request for Comments: As part of our development of the DOL 
Environmental Justice Strategy, we are soliciting public comment. Your 
input is important to us. Please provide responses that are supported 
with specific examples and data, where possible.
    This request for public input will inform development of the 
Department of Labor's draft Environmental Justice Strategy. To 
facilitate receipt of the information, the Department has created an 
Internet portal specifically designed to capture your input and 
suggestions, http://dolenvironmentaljustice.ideascale.com/. The portal 
contains a series of questions designed to gather information on how 
DOL can best meet the requirements of the Executive Order. The portal 
is open to receive comments through January 20, 2012.
    Questions for the Public: The Department of Labor intends the 
questions on the portal to be for discussion of the draft Environmental 
Justice Strategy. The questions are meant to initiate public dialogue, 
and are not intended to restrict the issues that may be raised or 
addressed. The questions were developed with the intent to probe a 
range of areas.
    When addressing these questions, the Department of Labor requests 
that commenters identify with specificity the program, policy, 
regulation or reporting requirement at issue, providing legal 
citation(s) where available. The Department also requests that 
submitters provide, in as much detail as possible, an explanation of 
why a program, policy, regulation or reporting requirement should be 
modified, streamlined, expanded, or repealed as well as specific 
suggestions of ways the Department of Labor can better achieve 
Environmental Justice. Whenever possible, please provide empirical 
evidence and data to support your response.
    The Department of Labor is issuing this request solely to seek 
useful information as it develops its strategy. While responses to this 
request do not bind the Department of Labor to any further actions 
related to the response, all submissions will be made available to the 
public on http://dolenvironmentaljustice.ideascale.com/.

    Authority: Executive Order 12898, ``Federal Actions to Address 
Environmental

[[Page 81542]]

Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations,'' 
February 11, 1994. 59 FR 7629 (Feb. 16, 1994).

    Dated: December 20, 2011.
William E. Spriggs,
Assistant Secretary for Policy.
[FR Doc. 2011-33214 Filed 12-27-11; 8:45 am]
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