HARRISBURG, PA — Pennsylvania recently rolled out a far-reaching overhaul of how environmental decisions are made in communities most vulnerable to pollution, marking the first major update to the state’s environmental justice policy in more than two decades.
The Department of Environmental Protection released its final Environmental Justice Policy, a framework designed to strengthen safeguards for neighborhoods facing the greatest environmental and health burdens by expanding public participation, sharpening enforcement priorities, and deepening engagement between state regulators and residents.
“Vulnerable communities exist in every region of the Commonwealth — rural and urban alike,” DEP Secretary Jessica Shirley said. “This updated policy builds on DEP’s commitment to proactively educate, engage, and empower Pennsylvanians living in EJ areas.”
At the core of the policy is a directive that DEP’s inspections, compliance reviews, and enforcement actions more explicitly account for the environmental, health, and socioeconomic risks borne by communities identified as environmental justice areas. Those areas are defined using 32 indicators that measure pollution exposure, public health outcomes, and economic stress.
State officials say the goal is not to create new regulations, but to ensure the voices of impacted residents are heard earlier and more clearly when permits are sought or projects are proposed — often before conflicts harden.
The new policy also calls for a broader and more proactive outreach strategy, aiming to build long-term relationships between DEP staff and communities that have historically been left out of environmental decision-making.
The update follows a year-long public review process that drew more than 700 comments from residents, advocacy groups, and local governments. DEP said the feedback has been addressed in a formal Comment Response Document accompanying the final policy.
Governor Josh Shapiro elevated environmental justice shortly after taking office by creating the state’s first Special Deputy Secretary for Environmental Justice and assigning an environmental justice coordinator to each of DEP’s six regional offices, embedding the issue into the agency’s daily operations.
Alongside the policy, DEP has also overhauled PennEnviroScreen, the state’s mapping platform used to identify and analyze environmental justice areas. The updated tool now incorporates 2020 Census boundaries and the most current environmental and health data, and features clearer visuals and simplified descriptions intended to make it easier for residents, planners, and researchers to understand conditions in their communities.
State officials say the upgraded system will not only improve transparency but also speed up permitting by giving both applicants and the public a shared, data-driven picture of local environmental conditions.
By modernizing both its policy and its data tools, Pennsylvania is betting that earlier engagement, better information, and a sharper focus on vulnerable communities can reduce conflict, improve trust, and ultimately lead to cleaner air, safer water, and healthier neighborhoods across the Commonwealth.
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