§ 5.1032. Office of Environmental Justice.
(a) Establishment. The Office of Environmental Justice (OEJ) is established within the Department of Environmental Protection.
(1) Director. The OEJ is headed by the Director who shall be appointed by and serve at the pleasure of the Secretary.
(b) Responsibilities.
(1) The OEJ shall make recommendations to the Secretary on the integration of environmental justice considerations throughout DEP’s programs, regulations, policies and procedures, strengthening partnerships on environmental justice among Federal, State and local government agencies and enhancing research and assessment approaches to environmental justice; coordinate the Environmental Justice Interagency Council (EJIC); and staff the Environmental Justice Advisory Board (EJAB).
(2) The OEJ may establish an online repository of environmental justice information and data.
(3) The OEJ may establish an environmental justice mapping tool to examine environmental and health impacts on vulnerable communities in this Commonwealth with additional data provided by other agencies at the request of the OEJ.
(4) The OEJ shall work with other DEP program offices to identify economic development opportunities, environmental benefits and funding opportunities that do, or should, consider environmental justice in the grant awarding process.
(5) The OEJ shall develop and publish an environmental justice strategic plan (EJ Plan) every 5 years. The EJ Plan should include recommendations for advancing environmental justice, focusing attention on the environmental and public health issues and challenges confronting the Commonwealth’s minority and low-income populations. The plan should also make recommendations on the integration of environmental justice considerations into existing DEP programs.
(6) The OEJ, in consultation with the EJAB, EJIC and other stakeholders, shall develop, subject to public participation requirements, a revised comprehensive environmental justice policy consistent with existing legal authority, that may include, but is not limited to the following:
(i) Develop a comprehensive Statewide definition of ‘‘environmental justice area,’’ ‘‘cumulative environmental impacts’’ and ‘‘disproportionate environmental impacts.’’
(ii) Establish criteria for environmental justice areas.
(iii) Develop an enhanced public participation plan for environmental justice areas potentially affected by development projects, brownfield remediation, industrial operations and commercial facilities resources, that includes outreach activities that enhance public participation opportunities in environmental justice areas, includes a plan for communicating in multiple languages, includes guidelines for scheduling public meetings at locations and times convenient for neighborhood stakeholders, and which may also include resources for expert consultation.
(iv) Identify economic development opportunities, environmental benefits and other discretionary funding programs that do, or appropriately should, consider the needs of an environmental justice population in the grant process.
(v) Develop standardized mitigation or restoration practices, or both, for consideration by applicants and permit application reviewers in the permitting or cleanup context.
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