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| CalEnvironScreen | |
|---|---|
| Name | CalEnvironScreen |
| Developer | California Environmental Protection Agency; Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment |
| Released | 2013 |
| Latest release | 2023 |
| License | Public domain |
CalEnvironScreen
CalEnvironScreen is a mapping and screening tool developed by the California Environmental Protection Agency and the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment to identify communities disproportionately burdened by pollution and socio-economic vulnerability. The tool integrates data from multiple state and federal sources to produce census-tract level scores used by agencies such as the California Air Resources Board, the California Department of Public Health, and the State Water Resources Control Board to support environmental planning, permitting, and grant-making. CalEnvironScreen has influenced policy debates involving stakeholders like the California Environmental Justice Alliance, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and regional planning bodies including the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
CalEnvironScreen provides a standardized screening metric to compare pollution burden and population characteristics across California census tracts, informing programs administered by the California Environmental Protection Agency, the California Natural Resources Agency, and local entities like the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission. The product aggregates indicators drawn from datasets maintained by agencies such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Census Bureau, and the California Department of Water Resources. Stakeholders including Environmental Defense Fund, Sierra Club, Greenpeace, Public Advocates, and community groups in regions like the Central Valley, Los Angeles County, and the San Joaquin Valley use its outputs for advocacy, planning, and litigation.
CalEnvironScreen combines environmental exposure indicators, environmental effect indicators, and population characteristics to compute composite scores at the census-tract level. Exposure indicators include measures derived from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's air toxics dataset, California Air Resources Board emissions inventory, and monitoring programs such as those operated by the South Coast Air Quality Management District and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. Environmental effect indicators include proximity to hazardous sites listed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Superfund program, California Department of Toxic Substances Control facilities, and State Water Resources Control Board impaired water bodies. Population characteristics draw from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey, linking metrics about age, income, educational attainment, and linguistic isolation to public health outcomes tracked by the California Department of Public Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. The methodology adapts statistical techniques used in tools such as the U.S. EPA EJSCREEN and the National Air Toxics Assessment, while accounting for California-specific datasets like CalRecycle waste facility inventories.
CalEnvironScreen outputs include ranked scores, percentile maps, and tabular profiles highlighting high-scoring census tracts, often concentrated in regions like Imperial County, Fresno County, Kern County, and neighborhoods within Oakland, California, Richmond, California, and San Bernardino County. Maps produced with GIS software maintained by agencies like the California Department of Transportation and academic partners at University of California, Berkeley, University of Southern California, and Stanford University illustrate spatial overlap among industrial corridors, transit routes managed by Bay Area Rapid Transit, and communities with socioeconomic vulnerability. Results have been visualized in policy briefs by organizations such as the Public Policy Institute of California, Union of Concerned Scientists, and the Urban Institute.
Agencies use CalEnvironScreen to inform programs including environmental permitting by the California Air Resources Board, cleanup prioritization by the Department of Toxic Substances Control, and grant allocation by the Strategic Growth Council and the California Climate Investments program. Municipalities like the City of Los Angeles and regional agencies such as the Metropolitan Transportation Commission have referenced scores for planning equitable transit and land-use decisions. Nonprofits including the California Environmental Justice Alliance and law firms representing plaintiffs in cases brought under the California Environmental Quality Act have used the tool to support comments, litigation, and community outreach. Academic research from institutions like University of California, Davis and California State University, Northridge has employed CalEnvironScreen for studies on environmental health disparities and climate vulnerability.
Critics from groups including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and independent researchers at Resources for the Future and RAND Corporation have noted limitations: reliance on available datasets that may be outdated, potential misclassification of mixed-use urban tracts, and the Modifiable Areal Unit Problem familiar to spatial analysts at National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and academic geography departments. Legal commentators referencing cases in California Supreme Court and actions under statutes like the California Environmental Quality Act have debated whether the tool’s scores constitute definitive evidence of disproportionate impact. Community advocates in places such as West Oakland and South Los Angeles have argued for more granular monitoring data and participatory data collection involving institutions like the Environmental Justice Coalition for Water.
CalEnvironScreen has evolved through iterations released by the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment and interagency working groups including staff from the California Environmental Protection Agency and the California Natural Resources Agency. Major updates incorporated newer emissions inventories from the California Air Resources Board, refined cancer risk modeling informed by the National Research Council, and additional social indicators from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey. Ongoing development involves collaboration with academic partners at University of California, Los Angeles, University of California, Irvine, and community organizations, with strategic input from federal programs like the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's environmental justice initiatives.
Category:Environmental monitoring