马修·特哈达（Matthew Tejada）joined the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2013 as Director of the Office of Environmental Justice. Now a key focus of President Joe Biden's administration under its Justice40 initiative, environmental justice has moved into the conversational and governmental mainstream. ENR talked to Tejada about what changes the initiative will bring to communities, how project planners and developers can address environmental justice concerns and how tndustry professionals can use EPA's environmental justice mapping tool to make the process go more smoothly.

这次采访已被编辑和凝结，以确保清晰。

新利18备用ENR：随着环境正义脱颖而出，项目规划人员，工程师和承包商期望将看到什么样的变化？您认为他们需要真正考虑哪些事情？

马修·特哈达（Matthew Tejada）：我们将做出与现实无关的决定的日子 - 我们将颁发许可证，我们对该许可证的所有思考都将涉及该设施，好像没有其他设施，好像没有其他设施在该提议的设施的另一面上，已经很脆弱的人口 - 我认为那些日子开始过去。当我们考虑允许或所编写的规则之类的事情时，我们将开始在分析和欣赏最受影响的社区的现实的宇宙中，通常被污染来源包围，通常充满了人们生活在那个比大多数人口或全国其他地区更容易受到伤害的社区中，并开始确保我们做出这些决定时，他们对现实的现实做出了反应，而不是一些小说，没有other pollution exists, so this solution isn’t too bad.

新利18备用ENR：到目前为止，您看到环境正义映射工具EJScreen的何处和类型的方案具有最大的影响？

EPA可以与州坐下，或者一个国家可以与部落聚在一起，或者社区组织者可以与当地政府或其他任何人坐下来，而不是进行抽象对话，他们可以看待EJSCREENand say, why is this red over here? Being able to start from that data-driven, clear and scientifically supported area of having a conversation about environmental justice is hugely powerful.

它已用于许多其他非常实用的程序化事物。当我们开始回应发生的一些自然灾害时，我们的应急响应团队会打开EJSCREEN，以确保他们将要去工具ELLS的位置。他们实时使用它。

Whether for building roads bridges or rail lines, plannera scross the U.S. are using it everywhere because EJSCREEN is, in a few seconds, doing a month’s work of data digging and analysis that frankly, a lot of folks wouldn't do because it was too hard trying to figure out how to consider environmental justice on the ground for some actual place-based decision or project.

新利18备用ENR：您刚刚提到的计划者。您是否还为承包商，工程师和其他建筑中的其他EJSCREEN用例看到吗？

One of the first things it allows you to do is better understand a community and then engage with it focused on a project site locaton. In environmental justice terms, that is absolutely critical. You have to understand where the community is at, its needs and challenges, and its thoughts about the thing you’re thinking about. EJSCREEN gets you to a place immediately where you can have that conversation intelligently, ask very meaningful questions and start to contextualize ideas and thoughts to meet needs of that local community. This is instead of, what has been the practice for far too long, we just make decisions and start doing things on the ground, and local communities find out and they don't like it. Then you have a huge conflict on your hands, and then project gets more expensive. Deadlines start getting missed. You get lawyers involved, they get litigious.

For a lot of stakeholders, but really for the private sector, EJ is oftentimes seen as this dangerous thing that they shouldn't approach because it makes things harder. Our view is thatnot做EJ - 是什么使事情变得更加困难。如果人们实际上将时间放在首位，那么您实际上使事情变得更便宜，更快，因为您正在消除战斗。您正在淘汰法院。在很多情况下，您正在消除抗议活动。

ENR: Outside of EJSCREEN, have there been any recent changes or plans for changes in how community input is sought and leveraged?

In the 1990s, the big 'aha' in engaging communities, was, oh, we shouldn’t have a public hearing at a downtown hotel in the middle of the day on a Wednesday because folks in the community are never going to go to that hotel. We actually need to have a public hearing in the evening, or on the weekend, and it needs to be in a place where people are comfortable and can access.

现在我们在这地方不仅仅是足够的to create a space for the community to come and engage with us, but we need to provide support to do so. Very few people outside EPA know what theTSCA，，，，FIFRA或者Cerclafederal laws are, or know what the niche application is as opposed to the max in the Clean Air Act. If you're gonna engage with us about our decisions, you need to know what those things are so you can engage meaningfully and lift your voice up in a way that we can respond to.

我们对环境正义的社区的责任在于我们，政府确保那些受影响的社区具有他们所需的能力和资源来坐在桌子上并提升声音，以便我们回应。

新利18备用ENR：对于我们的读者而言，还有其他重要的知识吗？

我认为，在初次相遇时，很多时候都可以看到环境正义，这要么太难，具有挑战性，有些神秘甚至危险，而且他们不确定该怎么办。

我想确保人们知道他们不是一个人在那里，这就是为什么有EJ程序的原因。

我们不仅在这里与社区互动，而且我们在这里与所有人互动。我们在这里为您提供帮助。他们不必自己弄清楚。同样重要的是要记住，如果您遇到环境正义，并且不确定该怎么做，可以做的最好的事情之一就是与社区交谈。

这对我们来说也很重要。我们一直在吸引美国各地的社区，组织和EJ领导者，他们是为我们绘制课程并描述视野的人。然后实际实施这是我们的工作。对于外面的其他人看着EJ并想知道该怎么办？答案在您的社区中。您只需要与人们交谈以了解更多。