DEP Citizens Advisory Council Meets March 10 To Hear Presentation On Final DEP Environmental Justice Policy

The DEP Citizens Advisory Council is scheduled to meet March 10 to hear a presentation on DEP’s Final Environmental Justice Policy.

Also on the agenda is an update on agency activities by DEP Secretary Jessica Shirley. 

A legislative update will be presented by Glendon King, Democratic Executive Director of the House Environmental Protection and Natural Resources Committee and House Energy Committee.

Click Here for the complete agenda.

Environmental Justice Policy

Fernando Trevino, DEP Special Deputy Secretary for Environmental Justice, will give the presentation on the Final Environmental Justice Policy.

On January 3, DEP formally announced the Final Environmental Justice Permit Review and Public Participation Policy and updates to the PennEnviroScreen EJ Tool and methodology. Read more here.

The policy contains these major sections--

-- Introduction: includes history and background.

-- Definitions: describes key terms used in the policy to help clarify the document for the public, DEP staff, and the regulated communities.

-- Environmental Justice Criteria: describes where the policy applies. Environmental Justice areas are determined by the PennEnviroScreen tool described in more context on our website’s PennEnviroScreen Page.

-- Proactive Community Engagement: describes ways to increase proactive outreach and engagement across Pennsylvania and build long-lasting relationships with communities outside of individual projects.

-- Enhanced Public Participation Process: describes the process provided for reviews associated with public participation Trigger or Opt-In Projects, including outreach activities and other support for EJ communities that is in addition to minimum requirements.

-- Inspections, Compliance, and Enforcement: describes how DEP can prioritize EJ within regulatory limits after permits are approved.

-- Community Development and Investments: seeks to prioritize DEP resources and facilitate financial assistance to communities facing environmental justice issues.

-- Climate Initiatives: clarifies ways that EJ can be integrated in the climate action plan and other climate change related efforts.

-- Policy Updates: specifies the review and revision cycles for the policy to ensure policy responsiveness and data reliability and applicability.

Revised Trigger Projects

The final policy has the same permit types triggering enhanced public participation, but eliminated the projects related to Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations and now lists them as Opt-In projects.

No application types were added.

Opt-In Projects Changes

The final policy includes these same list of opt-in permit types, including unconventional oil and gas development, but adds--

-- Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations; and

-- Projects in census block groups recognized as EJ Areas in PennEnviroScreen’s immediately preceded update which may no longer meet the 80th percentile score that have one of the above-listed permits.

The general “Other projects as identified by the community” is retained.

Data Centers

There is no specific reference to permits related to A.I. data centers, but they could be included in the final policy through the opt-in project provisions.

Click Here for a copy of the Final Policy.  Click Here for the PennEnviroScreen Tool.

Click Here for Comment/Response Documents.

Click Here for a copy of the Interim Final EJ Policy published in 2023.

For more information, visit DEP’s Environmental Justice Policy webpage.

Public Comment Period

Individuals interested in providing public comment during the meeting must sign up 24-hours in advance of the meeting by contacting Ian Irvin at iirvin@pa.gov.  

Commenters are asked to limit comments to 3 minutes to accommodate other commenters and the rest of the agenda.

Click Here for more information (bottom of the page).

Join The Meeting

The meeting will be held in Room 105 of the Rachel Carson Building in Harrisburg starting at 12:30 p.m. 

Click Here to join the meeting online or by telephone +1 267-332-8737 Conference ID #: 541 794 634#.

For available handouts and other information, visit the DEP Citizens Advisory Council webpage.  Questions should be directed to Ian Irvin at iirvin@pa.gov.

[Posted: March 5, 2026]  PA Environment Digest