The Department of Housing and Urban Development is happy to announce the release of its draft Environmental Justice Strategy. This EJ strategy is a four year plan to address environmental justice concerns and increase access to environmental benefits through HUD policies, programs, and activities.
Our Department is committed to meeting the goals and Executive Order 19898, “Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Lower Income Populations, ” which states that each federal agency, with the law as its guide, should make environmental justice part of its mission.
This release is the latest step in a larger Administration wide effort to ensure strong protection from environmental and health hazards for all Americans. In August, federal agencies signed the “Memorandum of Understanding on Environmental Justice and Executive Order 12898,” which committed each agency to, among other things, finalizing an EJ strategy and releasing annual implementation reports.
This draft strategy will be open for public comment for 45 days, or until November 12, 2011. Comments can be submitted by emailing EJStrategy@hud.gov or by attending an Interagency Work Group on Environmental Justice Listening Session. The Department will then review those comments and finalize the strategy by February 2012. After the strategy is final, the Department and its federal partners will continue to encourage stakeholders through outreach, education and stakeholder events and respond to public comments through annual implementation reports.
Draft Environmental Justice Strategy:
http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/program_offices/sustainable_housing_communities/HUD_Draft_Environmental_Justice_Strategy
Click here to be introduced to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality
Source: DEQ
