ASTM E3460-24
Preview
Summary
1.1 This ASTM guide identifies publicly available tools that screen communities threatened by climate change and multi-source environmental pollution.
1.2 The guide provides resources including a process for selecting the appropriate tool(s) to help make decisions that meet regulatory requirements and enforcement compliance; satisfy Environmental, Social, and Governance Objectives, support resilience investments and equitable development; provide transparency; and enhance stakeholder involvement.
1.3 This guide is designed for use by the public and decision makers, including International, federal, state, Tribal, regional and local governments, community groups, Indigenous communities and the private sector.
1.4 This guide highlights data accessibility, including data gaps and transparency concerns that should be addressed in any mapping and screening effort.
1.5 This guide presents applications of frequently used tools in case studies.
1.6 Sources for this guide include U.S. Federal agencies: Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA); Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ); Department of Interior (DOI) and component agencies such as the United States Forest Service (USFS), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA); the Department of Transportation (USDOT); the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA); and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). This guide also draws on numerous sources provided by other nations, states, municipalities, nonprofits, academia, the private sector, and international organizations addressing climate change and community resilience.
1.6.1 This guide provides the user with steps to access and review maps and data that Congress directed federal agencies to make readily available to the public (see Sections 40202, 40803, 50106, 50216, and 50217 of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2022, Public Law 117- 58).
1.7 This guide is organized as follows:
| Section 1 | Scope |
| Section 2 | References |
| Section 3 | Terminology |
| Section 4 | Significance and Use |
| Section 5 | Data Quality |
| Section 6 | Overview of Environmental Justice and Climate Equity Mapping and Screening Tools and Tool Selection Guidance |
| Section 7 | Case Studies |
| Appendices |
|
| Appendix X1 | Climate and Community Tools Table |
| Appendix X2 | Overview of Environmental Justice and Climate Equity Mapping And Screening Tools |
| Appendix X3 | Quality Control Guidance for Using Tools |
| Appendix X4 | Case Studies |
| Appendix X4.1 | Richmond CA Case Studies |
| Appendix X4.1.2 | Richmond Rising |
| Appendix X4.1.3 | Richmond Housing Renovation |
| Appendix X4.2 | US EPA Region 10 Climate Assessment for PCB Permit Case Study |
| Appendix X4.3 | Durham NC Tree Equity Case Study |
| Appendix X4.4 | Office of Enforcement and Compliance (OECA) US EPA/State Comparative Maps & Dashboards |
1.8 This standard does not purport to address all of the safety concerns, if any, associated with its use. It is the responsibility of the user of this standard to establish appropriate safety, health, and environmental practices and determine the applicability of regulatory limitations prior to use.
1.9 This international standard was developed in accordance with internationally recognized principles on standardization established in the Decision on Principles for the Development of International Standards, Guides and Recommendations issued by the World Trade Organization Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Committee.
Significance and Use:
4.1 Climate change is affecting nature, people’s lives and infrastructure everywhere (IPCC 2022). For example, the multiple hazards, pathways and potential outcomes related to climate change and health are illustrated in Fig. 1.
4.1.1 Where people live and their age, health, income, or ability to access health care resources can positively or negatively influence people’s vulnerability to climate change and extreme weather effects (USGCRP, 2016).
4.1.2 A growing body of research has highlighted the disproportionate climate change impacts on overburdened communities, and the compounding and cascading effects of climate change on food, energy, and water systems (USEPA 2021; USGCRP 2023).
4.2 To identify and better address the needs of disproportionately impacted communities Federal and state governments have recently required screening and using the results for permitting, enforcement, grants, infrastructure, and equitable redevelopment. Examples include:
4.2.1 U.S. Executive Order 14008 (2021) that calls for the development of “a data driven climate and economic justice screening tool to identify communities threatened by the cumulative impacts of climate change, racial inequality and multi-source environmental pollution.”
4.2.2 U.S. Executive Order 14096, Revitalizing Our Nation’s Commitment to Environmental Justice for All, which makes clear that the pursuit of environmental justice is a duty of all executive branch agencies and should be incorporated into their missions, and directs federal agencies to consider measures to address and prevent disproportionate and adverse environmental and health impacts on communities.
4.3 The large variety of mapping tools currently available can make choosing the best tool a potentially daunting task. Decision makers and the public need guidance on how to select the optimal tools to meet their requirements.
4.4 This guide describes a number of tools that are free and publicly available for use by the public and decision makers. This includes: International; federal; state; Tribal; regional and local governments; community groups; Indigenous communities; and the private sector. The tools identify communities threatened by climate change and multi-source environmental pollution.
4.5 This guide offers insights on how to select appropriate tools and describes how these tools can be used to make decisions. Uses may include satisfying Federal, state, Tribal and local requirements, meeting climate and resilience program priorities, evaluating resilience investments, providing transparency, supporting stakeholder involvement and maximizing community benefits (see Executive Orders 14008 and 14096 and § 40202, 40803, 50106, 50216, and 50217 of the IIJA).
4.6 This guide provides a workflow to help tool users understand how to evaluate the quality of data used to create the tools and assumptions or bias in tool outputs. This document also offers recommendations for tool developers on providing feedback to correct misinformation.
4.7 Selected U.S. Federal and State Requirements, Policies and Initiatives:
4.7.1 Executive Order 13985—Advancing Racial Equity And Support For Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government, issued on January 20, 2021, established that the Federal government should pursue a comprehensive approach to advancing equity for all, including people of color and others who have been historically underserved, marginalized, and adversely affected by persistent poverty and inequality.
4.7.2 Executive Order 14008—Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad, issued on January 27, 2021, created a government-wide Justice40 Initiative with the goal of delivering 40 percent of the overall benefits of certain federal investments to disadvantaged communities and tracks performance toward that goal through the establishment of an Environmental Justice Scorecard and development of a Climate and Environmental Justice Screening Tool (CEJST).
4.7.3 US EPA Climate Adaptation Action Plan—In response to Executive Order 14008, the US EPA's Climate Adaptation Action Plan (10/2021) addresses US EPA's tools such as EJScreen , Climate Resilience Evaluation and Awareness Tool (CREAT), and the Stormwater Calculator with Climate Assessment Tool.
4.7.3.1 US EPA Administrator also issued a directive to “strengthen enforcement of violations of cornerstone environmental statutes in communities overburdened by pollution”. The Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) issued a memorandum, “Strengthening Enforcement in Communities with Environmental Justice Concerns” on April 30, 2021 which includes the steps to advance environmental justice goals, including (1) Identifying EJ Communities with mapping tools, and (2) building and maintaining good relationships with local communities to develop strategies addressing public health and EJ issues.
4.7.4 Following the issuance of Executive Order 14008, FEMA developed a 2022-2026 Strategic Plan (https://www.fema.gov/about/strategic-plan) to increase climate literacy among emergency managers, build climate resilient communities and empower risk-informed decision making. FEMA developed a National Risk Index Map to meet its strategic objectives. The mapping tool illustrates communities most at risk in the US for 18 hazard types: avalanche, coastal flooding, cold wave, drought, earthquake, hail, heat wave, hurricane, ice storm, landslide, lightning, riverine flooding, strong wind, tornado, tsunami, volcanic activity, wildfire and winter weather.
4.7.5 Pursuant to Senate Bill 535 May 2022, the California Environmental Protection Agency (Cal EPA) finalized an update to CalEnviroScreen Version 4.0 (https://oehha.ca.gov/calenviroscreen/sb535) that identifies designation of disadvantaged communities through Census tracts and features a pollution burden function that can be used to help identify California communities that are disproportionately burdened by multiple sources of pollution that exacerbate climate change impacts.
4.7.6 The New Jersey Environmental Justice Law (N.J.S.A. 13:1D-157) (https://dep.nj.gov/wp-content/uploads/ej/docs/ej-law.pdf), enacted in Sept. 2020, requires the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) to evaluate the contributions of certain facilities to existing environmental and public health stressors in overburdened communities (OBC) when reviewing certain permit applications. NJ is the first state required to issue denials for new facilities that cannot avoid disproportionate impacts on OBCs or serve compelling public interest. The Environmental Justice Mapping, Assessment and Protection (EJMAP) Tool (https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/548632a2351b41b8a0443cfc3a9f4ef6) was created to aid this effort.
4.7.7 Executive Order 14096.
4.7.8 The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (Public Law 117-58).
4.7.9 Section 6040 of the Inflation Reduction Act on 2022 (Public Law 117-169).
Technical characteristics
| Publisher | American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM International) |
| Publication Date | 12/01/2024 |
| Collection | |
| Page Count | 52 |
| Themes | Pollution, pollution control and conservation |
| EAN | --- |
| ISBN | --- |
| Weight (in grams) | --- |
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