Loading…

Protocol - Environmental Justice

Add to My Toolkit
Description

The Environmental Justice Screening and Mapping Tool (EJSCREEN) is an environmental justice mapping and screening tool that provides a nationally consistent dataset and approach for combining environmental and demographic indicators. EJSCREEN users choose a geographic area that can be as small as a census block; the tool then provides demographic and environmental information for that area. All the EJSCREEN indicators are publicly available data. EJSCREEN provides a way to display this information and includes a method for combining environmental and demographic indicators into environmental justice (EJ) indexes.

The 11 EJ index names are as follows:

  1. National Scale Air Toxics Assessment Air Toxics Cancer Risk
  2. National Scale Air Toxics Assessment Respiratory Hazard Index
  3. National Scale Air Toxics Assessment Diesel PM (DPM)
  4. Particulate Matter (PM2.5)
  5. Ozone
  6. Lead Paint Indicator
  7. Traffic Proximity and Volume
  8. Proximity to Risk Management Plan Sites
  9. Proximity to Treatment Storage and Disposal Facilities
  10. Proximity to National Priorities List Sites
  11. Proximity to Major Direct Water Dischargers

 

There are six demographic indicators:

  1. Percent low income
    • Percentage of a block group's population in households where the household income is less than or equal to twice the federal "poverty level."
  2. Percent minority
    • Percentage of individuals in a block group who list their racial status as a race other than white alone and/or list their ethnicity as Hispanic or Latino (i.e., all people other than non-Hispanic, white-alone individuals). The word "alone" in this case indicates that the person is of a single race, not multiracial.
  3. Less than high school education
    • Percentage of people aged 25 or older in a block group whose education is short of a high school diploma.
  4. Linguistic isolation
    • Percentage of people in a block group living in linguistically isolated households. A household in which all members aged 14 years or older speak a non-English language and speak English less than "very well" (have difficulty with English) is linguistically isolated.
  5. Individuals younger than age 5
    • Percentage of people in a block group younger than age 5.
  6. Individuals older than age 64
    • Percentage of people in a block group older than age 64.

EJSCREEN provides two indexes that are based on the aforementioned demographic indicators:

  • A demographic index is based on the average of two demographic indicators: percent low income and percent minority.

Each EJ index combines demographic indicators with a single environmental indicator. From the map, the user can select an area to generate a downloadable report from a selected area and compare it with the state, Environmental Protection Agency region, or the nation. The report includes data that the user can use to compare populations with any of the indexes.

Specific Instructions

None

Availability

Available

Download PDF

Protocol

Learn to Use EJSCREEN:

https://www.epa.gov/ejscreen/learn-use-ejscreen

https://ejscreen.epa.gov/mapper/help/ejscreen_help.pdf

Personnel and Training Required

None

Equipment Needs

Access to the Internet

Requirements
Requirement CategoryRequired
Major equipment No
Specialized training No
Specialized requirements for biospecimen collection No
Average time of greater than 15 minutes in an unaffected individual No
Mode of Administration

Secondary Data Analysis

Lifestage

Infant, Toddler, Child, Adolescent, Adult, Senior, Pregnancy

Participants

Not applicable; derived from publicly available secondary data

Selection Rationale

EJSCREEN was chosen because it uses standard and nationally consistent data and enables users to access environmental and demographic information, at high geographic resolution, across the entire country.

Language

English

Standards
StandardNameIDSource
Derived Variables

None

Process and Review

Not applicable

Protocol Name from Source

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Environmental Justice Screening and Mapping Tool (EJSCREEN)

Source

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). (2018). EJSCREEN: Environmental Justice Screening and Mapping Tool. Retrieved from https://www.epa.gov/ejscreen

Demographic information that is obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS). The 2018 version of EJSCREEN includes 2012–2016 ACS 5-year summary file data, which are based on 2014 census boundaries.

General References

Cifuentes, P., Reichard, J., Im, W., Smith, S., Colen, C., Giurgescu, C., … Hood, D. B. (2019). Application of the Public Health Exposome Framework to estimate phenotypes of resilience in a model Ohio African-American women's cohort. Journal of Urban Health, 96(Suppl 1), 57–71.

Driver, A., Mehdizadeh, C., Bara-Garcia, S., Bodenreider, C., Lewis, J., & Wilson, S. (2019). Utilization of the Maryland Environmental Justice Screening Tool: A Bladensburg, Maryland case study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(3).

Rowangould, D., Rowangould, G., Craft, E., & Niemeier, D. (2018). Validating and refining EPA's traffic exposure screening measure. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(1).

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). (2019). Technical Documentation for EJSCREEN. Retrieved from https://www.epa.gov/ejscreen/technical-documentation-ejscreen

Protocol ID

290401

Variables
Export Variables
Variable Name Variable IDVariable DescriptiondbGaP Mapping
PX290401_Environmental_Justice_Demographic_Indicator_Education
PX290401030000 Less than high school education - Percentage more
of people aged 25 or older in a block group whose education is short of a high school diploma. show less
N/A
PX290401_Environmental_Justice_Demographic_Indicator_Linguistic_Isolation
PX290401040000 Linguistic isolation - Percentage of people more
in a block group living in linguistically isolated households. A household in which all members aged 14 years or older speak a non-English language and speak English less than very well (have difficulty wit show less
N/A
PX290401_Environmental_Justice_Demographic_Indicator_Low_Income
PX290401010000 Percent low income - Percentage of a block more
group's population in households where the household income is less than or equal to twice the federal poverty level. show less
N/A
PX290401_Environmental_Justice_Demographic_Indicator_Minority
PX290401020000 Percent minority - Percentage of individuals more
in a block group who list their racial status as a race other than white alone and/or list their ethnicity as Hispanic or Latino (i.e., all people other than non-Hispanic, white-alone individuals). The wor show less
N/A
PX290401_Environmental_Justice_Demographic_Indicator_Senior
PX290401060000 Individuals older than age 64 - Percentage more
of people in a block group older than age 64. show less
N/A
PX290401_Environmental_Justice_Demographic_Indicator_Toddler
PX290401050000 Individuals younger than age 5 - Percentage more
of people in a block group younger than age 5. show less
N/A
PX290401_Environmental_Justice_Indicator_Diesel
PX290401090000 National Scale Air Toxics Assessment Diesel more
PM (DPM) show less
N/A
PX290401_Environmental_Justice_Indicator_Lead_Paint_Indicator
PX290401120000 Lead Paint Indicator N/A
PX290401_Environmental_Justice_Indicator_Ozone
PX290401110000 Ozone N/A
PX290401_Environmental_Justice_Indicator_Particulate_Matter
PX290401100000 Particulate Matter (PM2.5) N/A
PX290401_Environmental_Justice_Indicator_Priorities_List_Sites
PX290401160000 Proximity to National Priorities List Sites N/A
PX290401_Environmental_Justice_Indicator_Respiratory_Hazard_Index
PX290401080000 National Scale Air Toxics Assessment more
Respiratory Hazard Index show less
N/A
PX290401_Environmental_Justice_Indicator_Risk_Management
PX290401140000 Proximity to Risk Management Plan Sites N/A
PX290401_Environmental_Justice_Indicator_Toxics_Cancer_Risk
PX290401070000 National Scale Air Toxics Assessment Air more
Toxics Cancer Risk show less
N/A
PX290401_Environmental_Justice_Indicator_Traffic_Proximity_Volume
PX290401130000 Traffic Proximity and Volume N/A
PX290401_Environmental_Justice_Indicator_Treatment_Storage
PX290401150000 Proximity to Treatment Storage and Disposal more
Facilities show less
N/A
PX290401_Environmental_Justice_Indicator_Water_Dischargers
PX290401170000 Proximity to Major Direct Water Dischargers N/A
Structural Social Determinants of Health
Measure Name

Environmental Justice

Release Date

May 11, 2020

Definition

The Environmental Justice Screening and Mapping Tool (EJSCREEN) is created using nationwide constant data and an approach that combines environmental and demographic indicators in maps and reports.

Purpose

The Environmental Justice Screening and Mapping Tool (EJSCREEN) allows users to access environmental and demographic information for locations in the United States at the census block level. Users can compare selected locations with the rest of the state, Environmental Protection Agency region, or the nation.

EJSCREEN can help highlight geographic areas and the extent to which these areas may be candidates for further review, including additional consideration, analysis, or outreach. The tools also allow users to explore locations at a detailed geographic level, across broad areas, or across the entire nation.

Keywords

EJSCREEN, Environmental Justice, Mapping Tool, screening, Social Determinants of Health, Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey, ACS, environmental health disparities

Measure Protocols
Protocol ID Protocol Name
290401 Environmental Justice
Publications

There are no publications listed for this protocol.