In a move awaited by environmental organizations across the U.S., the EPA just released the EJSCREEN software for public use. For a description and demo, watch the video above of a very informative webinar hosted by Matthew Tejada, Director of the EPA Office of Environmental Justice.
A few points about EJSCREEN:
- The National Air Toxics Assessment data is not available in the public version of the software, due to its age (2005). 2011 data will be made available in the tool by the end of the year.
- EPA stresses that it uses EJSCREEN only for pre-decisional analysis, and that nobody outside of EPA will be required to use it.
- EPA emphasized that they never determine what is or is not an “EJ community,” and will not use the tool for that purpose.
- The rural data is less reliable than urban data, due to small sample sizes.
- There has been some confusion between EJSCREEN and EJView. EJView is obsolete, and superceded by EJSCREEN.
The EPA announcement, received by email 45 minutes ago from Kevin Olp of the EPA Office of Environmental Justice, follows:
This e-mail is being sent to inform you of today’s public release of EPA’s EJSCREEN, a powerful environmental justice screening and mapping tool that uses high resolution maps combined with demographic and environmental data to identify places with potentially higher environmental burdens and vulnerable populations. EJSCREEN’s simple to understand color-coded maps, bar charts, and reports enable users to better understand areas in need of increased environmental protection, health care access, housing, infrastructure improvement, community revitalization, and climate resilience. You can access the tool by visiting: www2.epa.gov/ejscreen.
You can also watch a webinar with an overview and demonstration of the tool on EPA’s YouTube channel at:https://www.youtube.com/watch?
You are receiving this one time e-mail because you participated in a preview of EJSCREEN, however if you would like stay up-to-date on the latest developments and news on EJSCREEN, make sure to sign up for the EJSCREEN ListServ here: https://lists.epa.gov/read/
Thank you for participating in the preview and engagement efforts on EJSCREEN and we look hearing to receiving your feedback and input. Your feedback will be critical to ensuring we can build the best version of the tool and meet our stakeholders’ needs.
Kevin Olp
US EPA |Office of Environmental Justice
Tel: 202.564.5423|Cell: 202.768.1470
Tel: 202.564.5423|Cell: 202.768.1470
Follow EPA’s EJ blog at blog.epa.gov/ej