To require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to develop a geospatial mapping tool to identify disproportionately burdened communities, and for other purposes.
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
IntroducedMs. Rivas (for herself, Ms. Ansari, Ms. Barragán, Mr. Carson, …
Summary
What This Bill Does
The Environmental Justice Screening Tool Act of 2025 requires the EPA to create a publicly accessible online mapping tool that identifies communities facing disproportionate environmental and health burdens. The tool will use data on air quality, water access, proximity to pollution sources (like refineries and landfills), health indicators, poverty rates, and demographic factors to determine which census tracts qualify as "disproportionately burdened." All federal agencies must then use this tool when deciding how to prioritize funding and resources.
Who Benefits and How
Low-income communities and communities of color living near environmental hazards will benefit most, as this tool creates a standardized way to identify them for federal assistance programs. Environmental justice advocacy organizations gain a powerful data-backed tool to support their policy arguments. State, local, and tribal governments in identified areas may receive prioritized federal funding and resources. Academic researchers will have access to new datasets for studying environmental justice issues.
Who Bears the Burden and How
The EPA must develop, publish, and annually update this complex geospatial tool, requiring significant staff time and technical resources. All federal departments and agencies must adopt the tool and potentially restructure how they allocate resources. Industries operating facilities identified as environmental hazards (petroleum refineries, oil/gas producers, landfill operators, companies near Superfund sites) face increased scrutiny as their presence becomes a factor in community burden calculations.
Key Provisions
- EPA must develop the Environmental Justice Screening Tool within one year of enactment
- Tool must identify communities as "disproportionately burdened" based on environmental, climate, health, economic, and social factors
- Factors include proximity to refineries, pipelines, landfills, Superfund sites, and brownfields
- EPA must solicit input from universities, nonprofits, and state/local/tribal governments on threshold settings
- All federal agencies must adopt the tool for prioritizing funding to identified communities
- EPA must submit annual reports to Congress on tool updates and changes to identified communities
Evidence Chain:
This summary is derived from the structured analysis below. See "Detailed Analysis" for per-title beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
Primary Purpose
Requires the EPA Administrator to develop and publish a geospatial mapping tool (Environmental Justice Screening Tool) to identify census tracts with disproportionately burdened communities based on environmental, climate, health, economic, and social factors.
Policy Domains
Legislative Strategy
"Create a standardized federal tool to identify environmental justice communities using multiple quantitative indicators across environmental, health, economic, and social domains, then require federal agencies to adopt it for funding prioritization"
Likely Beneficiaries
- Low-income communities near environmental hazards
- Communities of color disproportionately affected by pollution
- Communities near Superfund sites, brownfields, and oil/gas facilities
- Environmental justice advocacy organizations
- Academic researchers studying environmental justice
Likely Burden Bearers
- Environmental Protection Agency (new tool development and maintenance requirements)
- All federal departments and agencies (required to adopt tool for resource allocation)
- Industries operating facilities that may be identified as environmental hazards (oil/gas, landfills)
- State and local governments (may face increased scrutiny or funding reallocation)
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_administrator"
- → Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency
- "federal_department_heads"
- → Head of each Federal department or agency
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
The Committee on Appropriations and the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives; and the Committee on Appropriations and the Committee on Environment and Public Works of the Senate
Has the meaning given that term in section 101 of CERCLA (42 U.S.C. 9601)
Has the meaning given such term in section 101 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001)
Includes each territory or possession of the United States
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology