On Tuesday, January 16, Smart Growth America, the National Brownfields Coalition’s Environmental Justice Committee, and our allied technical assistance partner organization, Green Resources & Opportunities Workforce (GROW), submitted comments on the Environmental Protection Agency’s draft Meaningful Involvement Policy. The revised policy will guide EPA’s public involvement approach across all of its programs and regions.
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The draft policy provides essential updates to the 2003 public involvement policy and demonstrates a thoughtful and inclusive strategy that acknowledges the diverse needs and priorities of environmental justice communities. Our comment offered suggestions on how to best engage the public to achieve health and environmental protection, based on key lessons we’ve learned through our own technical assistance work. In addition, we suggested five revisions that would make the policy stronger:
Address scenarios in which “Meaningful Involvement” is triggered
Encourage cross-agency involvement
Develop supplemental and more accessible resources
Recognize that communication structures are not static
Incorporate an understanding of discriminatory land use practices
Finally, we provided a list of projects and resources that serve as strong examples of meaningful public involvement. They include:
Meaningful Public Involvement in Transportation Decision-Making
Minnesota Department of Transportation Public Engagement Resources
Our Streets Minneapolis
India Basin Waterfront Park Equitable Development Plan in San Francisco, CA
Hampton Roads Public Participation Plan
Broward MPO Public Participation Plan
CMAP Public Participation Plan
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