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The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) issued an August 2022 document titled:

Interim Environmental Justice and Civil Rights in Permitting – Frequently Asked Questions (“FAQ”)

The document was developed by EPA’s Office of General Counsel and Office of Policy.

The FAQ makes three initial points:

• The purpose is to provide information to federal, state, and local environmental permitting programs to help them meet their responsibilities to integrate environmental justice (“EJ”) and civil rights into relevant environmental permitting processes.
• FAQ does not change obligations to comply with applicable environmental and civil rights laws or create any new legal rights or responsibilities.
• The FAQ is viewed by EPA as a “living document” that the federal agency will update and refine as the practice of integrating EJ and civil rights into permitting advances.

The FAQ addresses 18 specific questions.

A copy of the FAQ can be downloaded here.