Environmental Justice Screening Tool Act of 2025
Summary
What This Bill Does
The Environmental Justice Screening Tool Act directs the EPA Administrator to publish, within one year, a public geospatial mapping tool that identifies disproportionately burdened communities. EPA must set thresholds by census tract for environmental, climate, health, economic, and social factors. Environmental factors include air quality, drinking water, Superfund sites, brownfields, oil and gas wells, pipelines, refineries, downstream processing facilities, and municipal solid waste landfills. Climate factors include disasters such as wildfires, hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, landslides, and flooding. The tool is meant to guide federal agencies in prioritizing funding and resources for identified communities.
Who Benefits and How
Environmental justice communities benefit because federal agencies would have a common screening tool for identifying cumulative burdens. State, local, and Tribal governments in identified areas may benefit from stronger evidence for grant applications and resource prioritization. Environmental justice organizations, public health researchers, and community planners benefit from public geospatial data. Agencies benefit from a uniform tool rather than ad hoc screening methods.
Who Bears the Burden and How
EPA must build the tool, choose thresholds, publish data, and maintain the website. Federal agencies must adopt the tool in funding and resource-priority decisions. Industrial facilities near identified communities, including refineries, oil and gas infrastructure, landfills, Superfund sites, and brownfields, may face greater scrutiny. Census tracts identified as burdened may generate disputes over methodology, data quality, and funding priorities.
Key Provisions
- Requires EPA to publish a public Environmental Justice Screening Tool within one year.
- Requires thresholds for environmental, climate, health, economic, and social burden factors by census tract.
- Directs federal agencies to use the tool to prioritize funding and resources for disproportionately burdened communities.
- Includes proximity to Superfund sites, brownfields, oil and gas facilities, and municipal landfills among environmental factors.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Requires EPA to create a public Environmental Justice Screening Tool that identifies disproportionately burdened census tracts using environmental, climate, health, economic, and social factors and requires federal agencies to use the tool to prioritize funding and resources.
Key Policy Areas
Environment, Public Health, Government Data, Environmental Justice
Primary Purpose
Requires EPA to create a public Environmental Justice Screening Tool that identifies disproportionately burdened census tracts using environmental, climate, health, economic, and social factors and requires federal agencies to use the tool to prioritize funding and resources.
Policy Domains
Substantive provisions
Identified Gains
- Environmental justice communities
- State governments
- Local governments
- Tribal governments
- Environmental justice organizations
- Public health researchers
Identified Costs
- EPA mapping staff
- Federal agency program staff
- Petroleum refineries
- Oil and gas facilities
- Municipal landfill operators
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeMs. Rivas (for herself, Ms. Ansari, Ms. Barragán, Mr. Carson, …
Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in …
Introduced in House
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
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