Analysis of Air Force Environmental Justice Methodology

The purpose of this study is to analyze AFCEE's draft environmental justice methodology. The study provides background on the meaning of environmental justice along with related terminology, and covers historical events of the environmental justice movement leading up to the publication of EO 12898. A discussion of EO 12898, subsequent draft guidance, and other pertinent literature leads to the development of evaluation criteria used to analyze both AFCEE's methodology and an application of that methodology: the March AFB Disposal Final Environmental Impact Statement Given that AFCEE formed their own methodology to address environmental justice prior to any definitive guidance regarding the interpretation of EO 12898, the methodology and its application do extremely well at meeting the intent of EO 12898, per the evaluation criteria developed in the study. The framework for the evaluation criteria consists of four categories: demographic analysis, impact analysis, integration of demographic analysis and impact analysis, and community involvement There are a total of 17 criteria within this framework. With respect to reflecting the requirements of EO 12898, AFCEE's draft methodology met ten criteria, was limited in five criteria, and did not meet two of the criteria. When a sample AFCEE application was analyzed, eight of the criteria were met, and nine were not met This was due, in part, to the fact that the application analyzed was a Base Realignment and Closure Environmental Impact Statement.