Environmental Justice in the Ompo Planning Process: Defining Environmental Justice Populations
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ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE IN THE OMPO PLANNING PROCESS: DEFINING ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE POPULATIONS March 2004 Oahu Metropolitan Planning Organization 707 Richards Street, Suite 200 Honolulu, Hawaii 96813 Department of Planning and Permitting City and County of Honolulu 650 South King Street Honolulu, Hawaii 96813 ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE IN THE OMPO PLANNING PROCESS: DEFINING ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE POPULATIONS March 2004 Oahu Metropolitan Planning Organization 707 Richards Street, Suite 200 Honolulu, Hawaii 96813 Department of Planning and Permitting City and County of Honolulu 650 South King Street Honolulu, Hawaii 96813 The preparation of this document was financed in part through grants from the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Transit Administration and Federal Highway Administration, under Chapter 53 of 49 U.S.C. and 23 U.S.C. The contents of this document do not necessarily reflect the official views or policies of the U.S. Department of Transportation. TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Introduction 1 2. Incorporating 2000 Census Data 5 3. Racial Diversity of Oahu 7 4. FHWA Definition of Environmental Justice Groups 9 5. Settlement Pattern of Minority Groups on Oahu 13 6. Identification of Minority Concentration 49 7. Analysis of Low-Income Population 57 8. Summary of Environmental Justice Areas 65 9. References 69 List of Figures 1A Comparison of Oahu and US Racial Composition 7 1B Proportion of Mixed Race in Racial Tallies by Race 7 2A Percent of Total Income in Excess of Percent of Total Households in the US 11 2B Percent of Total Income in Excess of Percent of Total Households in Oahu 11 3 Population Distribution of Oahu by Block Group 14 4A Dot Density Map of Block Group Population on Oahu 15 4B Characteristic Curve of Block Group Population 16 F For Oahu (all races) 5A Settlement Curves of White Population 18 5B Distribution of White Population 19 6A Distribution of Black Population 20 6B Settlement Curves of Black Population 21 7A Distribution of American Indian and Alaska Native Population 22 7B Settlement Curves of American Indian and Alaska Native Population 23 8A Distribution of Asian Population 24 8B Settlement Curves of Asian Population 25 8.1A Distribution of Chinese Population 26 8.1B Settlement Curves of Chinese Population 27 8.2A Distribution of Japanese Population 28 Defining Environmental Justice Populations Page i 8.2B Settlement Curves of Japanese Population 29 8.3A Distribution of Filipino Population 30 8.3B Settlement Curves of Filipino Population 31 8.4A Distribution of Vietnamese Population 32 8.4B Settlement Curves of Vietnamese Population 33 8.5A Distribution of Korean Population 34 8.5B Settlement Curves of Korean Population 35 9A Distribution of Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander Population 36 9B Settlement Curves of Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander Population 37 9.1A Distribution of Native Hawaiian Population 38 9.1B Settlement Curves of Native Hawaiian Population 39 9.2A Distribution of Samoan Population 40 9.2B Settlement Curves of Samoan Population 41 10A Distribution of Some Other Race Population 42 10B Settlement Curves of Some Other Race Population 43 11A Distribution of Hispanic Population 44 11B Settlement Curves of Hispanic Population 45 12 Indices of Disproportionate Settlement 46 13 Relative Concentration of Minority versus Relative Size of Block Groups 51 14 Normalized Concentration of Minority in Block Groups 51 15 Frequency Distribution of Incremental Changes in Normalized Minority Concentration 52 16 Minority Environmental Justice Areas 56 17A Distribution of Low-Income Population 58 17B Settlement Curve of Low-Income Population 59 18 Relative Concentration of Low-Income versus Relative Size of Block Groups 60 19 Normalized Concentration of Low-Income in Block Groups 61 20 Frequency Distribution of Incremental Changes in Normalized Low-Income Concentration 61 21 Low-Income Environmental Justice Areas 62 22 Oahu Environmental Justice Areas 65 List of Tables 1 DHHS 1999 Poverty Guidelines 9 2 Minority Environmental Justice Areas 54-55 3 Low-Income Environmental Justice Areas 63 4 Oahu Environmental Justice Areas 66-68 Page ii Environmental Justice in the OMPO Planning Process Acronyms The following is a list of acronyms used throughout this report. AIAN American Indian or Alaska Native CTPP Census Transportation Planning Package DHHS Department of Health and Human Services (Federal agency) DOT Department of Transportation DPP Department of Planning and Permitting (City agency) EJ Environmental Justice FHWA Federal Highway Administration GIS Geographic Information System GISAT Geographic Information System Analysis Tool MORPC Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission MPO Metropolitan Planning Organization MTC Metropolitan Transportation Commission NC Normalized Concentration NHOPI Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander NHTS National Household Travel Survey OKI Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Council of Governments OMPO Oahu Metropolitan Planning Organization PSRC Puget Sound Regional Council RC Relative Concentration RS Relative Size RTP Regional Transportation Plan SCAG Southern California Association of Governments SD Standard Deviation SF Summary File TAZ Traffic Analysis Zone TDFM Travel Demand Forecasting Model TIP Transportation Improvement Program WILMAPCO Wilmington Area Planning Council Defining Environmental Justice Populations Page iii 1. INTRODUCTION In 1994, President Clinton issued Executive Order 12898 pertaining to environmental justice. The order brought to the forefront issues of discrimination that were enacted in 1964 under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. In addition to emphasizing race and ethnicity as described in Title VI, the executive order highlighted the matter of income as it relates to the distribution of benefits and burdens to those impacted as a result of federal dollars being spent in communities. In 1999, the United States Department of Transportation (US DOT) issued a memorandum to all federally-funded transportation agencies, including state DOTs and metropolitan planning organizations (MPO), and required such agencies to comply with Title VI and environmental justice. Noting that issues of Title VI and environmental justice were raised by concerned citizens primarily during project development phases of projects, the US DOT urged that compliance be evaluated as early as possible, specifically, in the planning stages of the transportation process. Role of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Shortly thereafter, FHWA ramped up their efforts in providing training with respect to Title VI and environmental justice to DOTs and MPOs, and introduced their environmental justice website1 as a resource from which to garner information regarding fulfillment of the law and executive order. FHWA defined Environmental Justice persons as anyone belonging to any of the following groups: o Black - a person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa. o Hispanic - a person of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central or South American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race. o Asian - a person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent. o American Indian and Alaskan Native - a person having origins in any of the original people of North America and who maintains cultural identification through tribal affiliation or community recognition. o Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander - a person having origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands. o Low-Income - a person whose household income (or in the case of a community or group, whose median household income) is at or below the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services poverty guidelines. In addition, FHWA identified three fundamental environmental justice principles: o To avoid, minimize, or mitigate disproportionately high and adverse human health and environmental effects, including social and economic effects, on minority populations and low-income populations. o To ensure the full and fair participation by all potentially affected communities in the transportation decision-making process. o To prevent the denial of, reduction in, or significant delay in the receipt of benefits by minority and low-income populations. 1 http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/ej2000.htm Defining Environmental Justice Populations Page 1 With regard to implementation, FHWA left considerable flexibility to DOTs and MPOs. Agencies were given significant latitude as to how to identify environmental justice populations, what criteria to use to evaluate compliance, and how to measure effectiveness. To support agencies, FHWA provided examples about various ways to undertake an environmental justice evaluation with a website devoted to ten case studies of best practices. Incorporating Environmental Justice in the OMPO Planning Process In 2000, the Oahu Metropolitan Planning Organization (OMPO) undertook an effort to evaluate its regional transportation plan (RTP) and transportation improvement program (TIP) using the principles of Title VI and environmental justice. The region for which OMPO is responsible is the island of Oahu. Using 1990 and 2000 Census data, OMPO identified environmental justice populations based on income and racial groups as defined by FHWA. OMPO also established seven performance measures to ascertain the effects of RTP and TIP projects on environmental justice and non-environmental justice populations. OMPO used the performance measures to evaluate the impacts of the