NEJAC RECOMMENDATIONS SUMMARY

The document advocates for the EPA to adopt management-zone strategies and community-driven approaches to address cumulative environmental burdens. It emphasizes integrating regulatory tools with pollution reduction, ensuring accountability through Community Benefits Agreements, and preventing resident displacement. The summary highlights the need for interagency coordination and meaningful community leadership in the design and execution of environmental health protections.

• The EPA should utilize management-zone strategies, such as eco-districts, which are co-developed by residents, advocacy groups, and local governments to incentivize environmental best practices and reduce stressors in overburdened areas.
• Regulatory decisions in overburdened communities should be based on firm limits derived from cumulative indices rather than justifying small increases in emissions from single sources.
• To ensure accountability and sustainability, the EPA should use tools like Community Benefits Agreements and memoranda of understanding, and tie outcome tracking to budget decisions by modeling assessments after Health Impact Assessments.
• Interagency and internal coordination is necessary to prevent the unmanaged movement of pollution between environmental media and to ensure that no single agency ignores cumulative risks because another agency has authority.
• Comprehensive community approaches must include evidence-based plans to prevent the displacement of residents, such as through gentrification, and avoid the use of loopholes or waivers that allow disproportionate burdens to persist.

APA

Gehred, N., & Ellickson, K. (2025). NEJAC RECOMMENDATIONS SUMMARY. Union of Concerned Scientists. https://www.ucsusa.org/sites/default/files/2025-02/NEJAC%20CI%20reccs_theme%206.pdf

Chicago

Gehred, Natalie, and Kristie Ellickson. NEJAC RECOMMENDATIONS SUMMARY. Union of Concerned Scientists, 2025. https://www.ucsusa.org/sites/default/files/2025-02/NEJAC%20CI%20reccs_theme%206.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Gehred |first1=Natalie |last2=Ellickson |first2=Kristie |title=NEJAC RECOMMENDATIONS SUMMARY |publisher=Union of Concerned Scientists |date=February 2025 |url=https://www.ucsusa.org/sites/default/files/2025-02/NEJAC%20CI%20reccs_theme%206.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{gehred2025nejac, author = {Gehred, Natalie and Ellickson, Kristie}, title = {{NEJAC RECOMMENDATIONS SUMMARY}}, institution = {Union of Concerned Scientists}, year = {2025}, month = feb, url = {https://www.ucsusa.org/sites/default/files/2025-02/NEJAC%20CI%20reccs_theme%206.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }