[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 219 (Wednesday, November 15, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 78358-78359]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-25126]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-OA-2013-0320; FRL-11531-01-OA]


Public Comment on the Revised Technical Guidance for Assessing 
Environmental Justice in Regulatory Analysis

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of public comment period.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing a 60-
day public comment period on the draft revision of the Technical 
Guidance for Assessing Environmental Justice in Regulatory Analysis (EJ 
Technical Guidance). The EJ Technical Guidance was first published in 
2016. The EPA is updating it to reflect the state of the science; new 
peer-reviewed agency guidance; and new terminology, priorities, and 
direction, including Executive Order 14096. The purpose of this 
guidance is to outline analytic expectations and discuss technical 
approaches and methods that can be used by agency analysts to evaluate 
EJ concerns for regulatory actions. This technical guidance builds on 
the EPA's experience in evaluating environmental

[[Page 78359]]

justice concerns within the rulemaking analytic process and underscores 
the EPA's ongoing commitment to ensuring the just treatment and 
meaningful involvement of all people with respect to the development, 
implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and 
policies.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before January 15, 2024.

ADDRESSES: You may send comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-
OA-2013-0320, by any of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov/ 
(our preferred method). Follow the online instructions for submitting 
comments.
     Mail: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA Docket 
Center, Office of Policy, Docket, Mail Code 28221T, 1200 Pennsylvania 
Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20460.
     Hand Delivery or Courier: EPA Docket Center, WJC West 
Building, Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20004. 
The Docket Center's hours of operations are 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m., 
Monday-Friday (except Federal Holidays).
    Instructions: All submissions received must include the Docket ID 
No. for this rulemaking. Comments received may be posted without change 
to https://www.regulations.gov/, including any personal information 
provided. For detailed instructions on sending comments and additional 
information on the rulemaking process, see the ``Public Participation'' 
heading of the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Ann Wolverton, National Center for 
Environmental Economics, Office of Policy (Mail Code 1809A), 
Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, 
Washington, DC 20460; telephone number: 202-566-2278; email address: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Public Participation.

A. Informational Webinars

    The EPA will host two informational webinars on the draft revised 
technical guidance.
     Wednesday, December 6, 2:30-4:00 p.m. EST: To join the 
live event, see the weblink at: https://www.epa.gov/environmental-economics/epa-draft-revision-technical-guidance-assessing-environmental-justice.
    To join by phone: +1 202-991-0477, Conference ID: 197 258 337#.
     Tuesday, December 12, 3:00-4:30 p.m. EST: To join the live 
event, see the weblink at: https://www.epa.gov/environmental-economics/epa-draft-revision-technical-guidance-assessing-environmental-justice.
    To join by phone: +1 202-991-0477, Conference ID: 398 827 52#.

B. Written Comments

    Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OA-2013- 
0320, at https://www.regulations.gov (our preferred method), or the 
other methods identified in the ADDRESSES section. Once submitted, 
comments cannot be edited or removed from the docket. The EPA may 
publish any comment received to its public docket. Do not submit to 
EPA's docket at https://www.regulations.gov any information you 
consider to be Confidential Business Information (CBI), Proprietary 
Business Information (PBI), or other information whose disclosure is 
restricted by statute. Multimedia submissions (audio, video, etc.) must 
be accompanied by a written comment. The written comment is considered 
the official comment and should include discussion of all points you 
wish to make. The EPA will generally not consider comments or comment 
contents located outside of the primary submission (i.e., on the web, 
cloud, or other file sharing system). Please visit https://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets for additional submission methods; the 
full EPA public comment policy; information about CBI, PBI, or 
multimedia submissions; and general guidance on making effective 
comments.

II. General Information

A. Where can I find the document?

    The draft revision of the Technical Guidance for Assessing 
Environmental Justice in Regulatory Analysis is available at https://www.epa.gov/environmental-economics/epa-draft-revision-technical-guidance-assessing-environmental-justice.

B. What is the purpose of the document?

    The Technical Guidance for Assessing Environmental Justice in 
Regulatory Analysis (Guidance) addresses the issue of how to 
analytically consider environmental justice in regulatory analyses. It 
directs EPA analysts to assess whether environmental justice concerns 
exist prior to the rulemaking and whether such concerns are likely to 
be exacerbated or mitigated for each regulatory option under 
consideration. The technical guidance makes recommendations designed to 
ensure greater consistency across EPA assessments of EJ concerns for 
regulatory actions. The recommendations encourage analysts to conduct 
the highest quality analysis feasible, recognizing that data 
limitations, time and resource constraints, and analytic challenges 
will vary by media and circumstance. They are not designed to be 
prescriptive and do not mandate the use of a specific approach. Updates 
to the technical guidance reflect advancements in the state of the 
science; other new peer-reviewed Agency guidance documents; and new 
priorities and direction related to the conduct of environmental 
justice analysis, including Executive Order 14096. The technical 
guidance builds on the EPA's experience in evaluating environmental 
justice as part of the rulemaking analytic process and underscores the 
EPA's ongoing commitment to ensuring the just treatment and meaningful 
involvement of all people with respect to the development, 
implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and 
policies. The technical guidance will enable the EPA to conduct better 
analysis of regulations which will ultimately enable the EPA to make 
better decisions.

C. How will my comments be used?

    Public comment received on the draft revision of the Technical 
Guidance for Assessing Environmental Justice in Regulatory Analysis 
will be reviewed and considered for incorporation into or modification 
of text in the final revised draft of the Guidance. The final draft 
Guidance will then undergo internal EPA review and revision, and then 
be finalized for publication following peer review by the EPA's Science 
Advisory Board. An EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB) review of this 
document will be announced in December 2023. Information on the SAB 
review can be found here: https://sab.epa.gov/ords/sab/r/sab_apex/sab/home.

Victoria Arroyo,
Associate Administrator, Office of Policy.
[FR Doc. 2023-25126 Filed 11-14-23; 8:45 am]
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