[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 206 (Tuesday, October 25, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Page 66087]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-27505]
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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Request for Comments Under Executive Order 12898
AGENCY: Office of the Assistant Secretary of Policy, Labor.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The Department of Labor (DOL or Department) is committed to
Environmental Justice (EJ). President Obama has renewed agencies'
environmental justice planning by reinvigorating Executive Order 12898
(EO 12898), which tasked several Federal agencies with making
environmental justice part of their mission. The agencies were directed
to do so by identifying and addressing, as appropriate, the
disproportionately high and adverse human health or environmental
effects of their programs, policies, and activities on minority and
low-income populations. In August 2011, agencies listed in EO 12898
signed a Memorandum of Understanding (EJ MOU), which, among other
things, commits agencies to develop a final Environmental Justice
Strategy. The purpose of this notice is to invite public comment on how
the Department of Labor can address environmental justice through its
programs, policies, regulations or reporting requirements.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before November 18, 2011.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments through http://dolenvironmentaljustice.ideascale.com/.
All comments will be available for public inspection at http://dolenvironmentaljustice.ideascale.com/.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: E. Christi Cunningham, Associate
Assistant Secretary for Regulatory Policy, U.S. Department of Labor,
200 Constitution Avenue, NW., Room S-2312, Washington, DC 20210,
[email protected], (202) 693-5959; (this is not a toll-free
number). Individuals with hearing impairments may call 1-800-877-8339
(TTY/TDD).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Executive Order 12898 did not create a new
legal remedy. As an internal management tool of the Executive Branch,
the Order directs Federal agencies to put in place procedures and take
actions to make achieving environmental justice part of their basic
mission. Former President Clinton explained that Federal agencies have
the responsibility to promote nondiscrimination in Federal programs
substantially affecting human health and the environment. Accordingly,
agencies must implement actions to identify and address
disproportionately high and adverse human health or environmental
effects of their programs, policies, and activities on minority and
low-income populations and federally-recognized Indian tribes. The
Department views Environmental Justice from a workplace training,
health and safety perspective. The Department is developing an
Environmental Justice Strategy that is in line with the mission of the
Department and Secretary Solis' vision for the future: good jobs for
everyone. The vision of good jobs for everyone includes ensuring that
workplaces are safe and healthy; helping workers who are in low-wage
jobs or out of the labor market find a path into middle-class jobs; and
helping middle-class families remain in the middle-class. The
Department's Environmental Justice Strategy focuses on agencies
directly involved with worker training (the Employment Training
Administration (ETA)), and health and safety issues (the Occupational
Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Mine Safety and Health
Administration (MSHA)).
Request for Comments: As part of our development of the DOL
Environmental Justice Strategy, we are soliciting public comment. Your
input is important to us. Please provide responses that are supported
with specific examples and data, where possible.
This request for public input will inform development of the
Department of Labor's draft Environmental Justice Strategy. To
facilitate receipt of the information, the Department has created an
Internet portal specifically designed to capture your input and
suggestions, http://dolenvironmentaljustice.ideascale.com/. The portal
contains a series of questions designed to gather information on how
DOL can best meet the requirements of the Executive Order. The portal
is open to receive comments through November 18, 2011.
Questions for the Public: The Department of Labor intends the
questions on the portal to represent a starting point for discussion of
the draft Strategic Plan. The questions are meant to initiate public
dialogue, and are not intended to restrict the issues that may be
raised or addressed. The questions were developed with the intent to
probe a range of areas.
When addressing these questions, the Department of Labor requests
that commenters identify with specificity the program, policy,
regulation or reporting requirement at issue, providing legal
citation(s) where available. The Department also requests that
submitters provide, in as much detail as possible, an explanation of
why a program, policy, regulation or reporting requirement should be
modified, streamlined, expanded, or repealed as well as specific
suggestions of ways the Department of Labor can better achieve
environmental justice. Whenever possible, please provide empirical
evidence and data to support your response.
The Department of Labor is issuing this request solely to seek
useful information as it develops its plan. While responses to this
request do not bind the Department of Labor to any further actions
related to the response, all submissions will be made available to the
public on http://dolenvironmentaljustice.ideascale.com/.
Authority: Executive Order 12898, ``Federal Actions to Address
Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income
Populations,'' February 11, 1994. 59 FR 7629 (Feb. 16, 1994).
Dated: October 12, 2011.
William E. Spriggs,
Assistant Secretary for Policy.
[FR Doc. 2011-27505 Filed 10-24-11; 8:45 am]
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