CalEPA Spotlight

New Updates to Groundbreaking CalEnviroScreen Environmental Justice Tool Released for Public Input

The public is invited to review the draft update to CalEnviroScreen, the mapping tool that tracks which communities bear the greatest burden of environmental pollution in California. It is being updated to include children’s exposure to lead from housing, new census data, other pollution data and enhanced methodology to help policy makers and others prioritize programmatic and other resource investments on communities that need it most. In addition to lead, CalEnviroScreen version 4.0 adds pollution from chrome plating facilities, dairies and feedlots, and certain industrial and manufacturing pollution sources in Mexico. Read the CalEnviroScreen 4.0 press release | (en español) (2/22/21) 

News & Updates

CalEPA Now Accepting Applications for Environmental Justice Grants

CalEPA is accepting applications for its Environmental Justice Small Grants Program. The maximum grant amount is $50,000. This year the grant will go to support environmental justice projects that focus on climate change, threats to health and safety, and rebuilding from the COVID-19 pandemic. Read the press release (comunicado de prensa). (3/29/21)

New, Cross-sector Work Group will Speed California’s Shift to Safer Pest Management

The California Department of Pesticide Regulation and California Department of Food and Agriculture launched a broad new work group to accelerate the systemwide adoption of safer, sustainable pest control practices. The 25-member Sustainable Pest Management Work Group includes farmers, community members, university researchers and representatives from commodity groups and the pesticide industry. Read the press release. (3/10/21)

New Tool Provides Human Right to Water Maps and Data 

California has a new tool to assess the status of water quality, accessibility and affordability across the state. It was developed by CalEPA’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment to help measure California’s progress toward providing access to clean drinking water, which is lacking for nearly one million Californians. Use the interactive map, read the report on Achieving the Human Right to Water in California and learn more at Human Right to Water Framework and Data Tool (CalHRTW 1.0).

Pollution and Prejudice: CalEPA Releases Redlining StoryMap

As part of its commitment to racial equity, CalEPA has released a draft StoryMap highlighting the connection between racist land use practices of the 1930s and environmental injustice, as reflected by CalEnviroScreen scores. Redlining practices systematically included both race and environmental factors as criteria in assessing the credit-worthiness of neighborhoods. Explore the StoryMap: Pollution and Prejudice | Contaminación y Prejuicio  (Download English, español) (02/01/21)

Governor’s Task Force Outlines Actions to Reduce Wildfire Risk, Improve Health of Forests and Wildlands

Following the most destructive wildfire season in California’s recorded history, the Governor’s Forest Management Task Force today issued a $1 billion comprehensive action plan in the Governor’s budget to reduce wildfire risk for vulnerable communities, improve the health of forests and wildlands and accelerate action to combat climate change. Read the press release. (1/8/21)