After weeks of taking public comment and working with the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA), the California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA) announced on Friday, October 31, 2014 how it will set the definition of “disadvantaged communities” for the purposes of complying with Senate Bill 535 (De León).  The bill, passed in 2012, requires 25 percent of all Cap and Trade auction proceeds to be spent for the benefit of disadvantaged communities.  Ten percent of those funds must be spent on projects directly in those communities.  

The process of defining disadvantaged communities for the purposes of SB 535 has not been without controversy.  Even though it is not required in statute, CalEPA made clear early on that they would be using CalEnviroScreen to determine which communities would be eligible for the funds set aside by SB 535.  CalEnviroScreen is a tool which “scores” communities based on air quality, asthma incidents, unemployment, and a number of other factors.  The tool itself has come under fire from many stakeholders who call the methodology flawed, and an inaccurate predictor of what a disadvantaged community looks like.  During its development, the State assured stakeholders that CalEnviroScreen was only being developed as a tool for voluntary use in planning activities, and would not be mandated by the State.

Last Friday’s announcement revealed that CalEPA would consider the top 25 percent of “scoring” communities for SB 535 funds.  Those communities mainly include urban areas in Los Angeles, San Diego, and the Bay Area, the I-5 corridor of the Central Valley, and a large part of Imperial County.  Only two communities in the entire north part of the state will qualify under CalEPA’s definition, leaving many RCRC member counties to compete with urban and suburban counties for the remaining 75 percent of available funds.  RCRC has actively opposed the use of CalEnviroScreen to allocate Cap and Trade funding throughout the process, and will continue to pursue a more equitable, accurate way to define disadvantaged communities.

Detailed information, including maps of California’s disadvantaged communities as defined by CalEnviroScreen, can be accessed here.