Environmental Justice Annual Implementation Progress Report: FY 2015 Page: 3 of 17
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I. Introduction
On February 11, 1994, President William Jefferson Clinton issued Executive Order (EO) 12898,
Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income
Populations, requiring each covered agency to "make achieving environmental justice part of its
mission by identifying and addressing, as appropriate, disproportionately high and adverse
human health or environmental effects of its programs, policies, and activities on minority
populations and low-income populations." Although the U.S. Department of Homeland Security
(DHS) did not exist in 1994 and is thus not an agency expressly included in the EO, in August
2011, DHS joined sixteen other federal agencies in signing a Memorandum of Understanding on
Environmental Justice and EO 12898 (EJ MOU),1 agreeing to make achieving environmental
justice part of its mission.
In accordance with EO 12898 and the EJ MOU, DHS has undertaken a number of commitments
to further the aims of environmental justice, including publication of an agency-wide
Environmental Justice Strategy (DHS EJ Strategy)2 and annual progress reports on its
implementation.3 DHS is a member of the EPA-sponsored Federal Environmental Justice
Interagency Working Group (EJIWG), and facilitates an internal DHS Environmental Justice
Working Group (EJWG). The DHS EJWG is co-chaired by the DHS Sustainability and
Environmental Programs office (SEP) within the Office of the Chief Readiness Support Officer
(OCRSO), and the DHS Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL).
As explained more fully in the DHS EJ Strategy, the Department approaches environmental
justice through the missions and general strategic framework set forth in the 2014 Quadrennial
Homeland Security Review (QHSR), which guides the activities of the homeland security
enterprise, including those of the Department.4 Environmental justice considerations can arise
within four of the QHSR's five homeland security missions: Prevent terrorism and enhance
security; enforce immigration laws, secure and manage our borders; and strengthen national
preparedness and resilience; as well as all of the strategic priorities. This report summarizes the
Department's progress toward achieving the goals of EO 12898 during fiscal year (FY) 2015.
1 The EJ MOU is available at http://www.epa.gov/environmentaljustice/resources/publications/interagency/ej-mou-
2011-08.pdf. Concurrently with the MOU, the participating agencies issued a Charter for the Interagency Working
Group on Environmental Justice, available at http://www.epa.gov/environmentaljustice/resources/publications/
interagency/iwg-charter-2011.pdf.
2 Department of Homeland Security, Environmental Justice Strategy (February 2012), available at
http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/mgmt/dhs-environmental-justice-strategy.pdf.
3 Department of Homeland Security, Environmental Justice Annual Implementation Progress Report for the periods
FY 2011, FY 2012, FY 2013, and FY 2014 available at https://www.dhs.gov/dhs-environmental-justice-strategY.
4 Department of Homeland Security, Quadrennial Homeland Security Review Report: A Strategic Framework for a
Secure Homeland (June 2014), available at http://www.dhs.gov/publication/2014-quadrennial-homeland-security-
review-qhsr.Page 1 of 15
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United States. Department of Homeland Security. Environmental Justice Annual Implementation Progress Report: FY 2015, text, 2015; Washington, D. C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc949767/m1/3/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.