EPA has updated and added new capabilities to EJScreen, the Agency’s publicly available environmental justice screening and mapping tool. EJScreen 2.1 makes important improvements to better meet the needs of users, including the addition of new data on US territories, supplemental indexes, threshold maps, and refreshed demographic and environmental data.
- EJScreen now includes environmental, demographic, and index data for the US Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands.
- In addition to the twelve existing environmental indicators and corresponding EJ indexes, EPA has created a set of “supplemental indexes” to highlight vulnerable populations that may be disproportionately impacted by pollution. These supplemental indexes use the same methodology and calculation as the EJ Indexes but incorporate a new five-factor supplemental demographic index. The five socioeconomic indicators considered are percent low-income, percent limited English-speaking, percent less than high school education, percent unemployed, and low life expectancy.
- EPA has also included threshold maps. These threshold maps allow EJScreen users to look across all twelve indexes at once, providing a cumulative outlook on vulnerable populations facing higher pollution burdens. Threshold maps are available for both the EJ indexes and the supplemental indexes and are available for comparison at the national and state level, offering users the capability to take a broader view of the indexes to help highlight areas that may warrant additional consideration, analysis, or outreach.
- This update also features the newest available 2016 – 2020 American Community Survey (ACS) data from the U.S. Census. Some of the environmental datasets have also been refreshed. This update includes several enhancements to components of the methodology and underlying calculation for the EJ indexes and supplemental indexes. These were based upon user and expert academic feedback and will enhance the tool’s ability and provide greater transparency into the inner workings of the tool.
EPA is holding multiple training sessions and office hours for users on EJScreen 2.1. The training session will provide an overview presentation on EJScreen, a discussion of the new features, a demonstration, and a Q&A session. The office hours will be a chance for the public to talk with EPA EJScreen experts about many topics including how to use and apply the tool and technical issues. These webinars will be accessible via Zoom and registration is not required. More information can be found on EPA’s website.
EPA encourages you to test out EJSCREEN 2.1 to see how it can serve your needs and provide feedback on how they can continue to improve it.
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