California's Environmental Justice Mapping Tool: Lessons and Insights From CalEnviroScreen

August 2021
Citation:
51
ELR 10684
Issue
8
Author
John Faust, Laura August, Andrew Slocombe, Shankar Prasad, Walker Wieland, Vincent Cogliano, and Carol Monahan Cummings

CalEnviroScreen, California’s mapping tool that quantifies cumulative impacts in communities, has played a pivotal role in advancing environmental justice in the state. The tool continues to evolve with each version by incorporating new data sources, the latest data, and community involvement and feedback. The tool can be tailored to fit unique applications because the underlying data sets are publicly available. This Comment expands on the points raised in Dr. Charles Lee’s article by sharing lessons learned during the development of the tool and providing insights to other states and jurisdictions as they consider developing mapping tools.

The authors work with the CalEPA Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment. John Faust is the Chief of the Community and Environmental Epidemiology Research Branch. Laura August is the Chief of the Community Assessment and Research Section. Andrew Slocombe is a Research Scientist in the Community Assessment and Research Section. Shankar Prasad is a Staff Toxicologist in the Air and Climate Epidemiology Section. Walker Wieland is a Research Scientist in the Community Assessment and Research Section. Vincent Cogliano is the Deputy Director for Scientific Programs. Carol Monahan Cummings is the Chief Counsel.

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