Improving Air Quality in Overburdened Communities Initiative

The "Improving Air Quality in Overburdened Communities Initiative" is a new effort to reduce air pollution in Washington communities highly impacted by air pollution. While the Climate Commitment Act (CCA) focuses on greenhouse gas emissions, Section 3 of the CCA also requires that we work to reduce other forms of air pollution — like ozone and fine particles — in overburdened communities highly impacted by air pollution.

This new law requires us to:

Identify which Washington communities are overburdened by air pollution and the significant sources of this pollution.
Expand and improve Washington's air quality monitoring network.
Develop strategies to reduce criteria air pollutants in overburdened communities.
Conduct periodic analysis to make sure reduction goals for air pollution are being met.

Environmental justice is at the center of this initiative. We are building this initiative over time to best serve the needs of the public.

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Fall 2022

The Fall 2022 public comment period has closed. We are reviewing public comments and revising draft factors to determine the method for identifying which Washington communities are most impacted by criteria air pollutants. Thank you for your participation. We anticipate finalizing identification of overburdened communities by the end of the year and announcing them in early 2023.

Supporting documents

Future work

Input from community members across Washington is essential to the "Improving Air Quality in Overburdened Communities Initiative." Based on the expanded air quality monitoring network, we will work with local governments, local clean air agencies, Tribes, and other stakeholders to develop new emission control mechanisms and potential regulations to address criteria air pollution in the identified communities through separate processes, with additional opportunities for involvement.

2022-2023 Timeline
Jan. - March 2022	Used community feedback from a survey and listening sessions to develop draft indicators to identify overburdened communities.
Late Summer 2022	Informed communities about common themes from our first public comment period and how we used public input to develop draft indicators.
Fall 2022	Gathered public comment about draft indicators and the process to determine overburdened communities.
Winter 2022-2023	Finalize indicators and use them to identify communities. Inform communities about the results. Start air monitor placement process in identified communities.

The Climate Commitment Act defines an overburdened community as

a geographic area where people are exposed to environmental pollutants or contaminants through multiple pathways, which may result in significant adverse health outcomes or effects.

Since January 2022, Ecology has been conducting public outreach and technical analysis to create a process to identify communities that meet this definition and are highly impacted by air pollution.

We are identifying boundaries that are best aligned with the relevant environmental, health, and socioeconomic data we use. Boundaries may be informed by census boundaries (such as tract or block groups), city/town boundaries, and neighborhood districts/planning areas. We would like your feedback on our draft factors for determining boundaries, and we will share our work and decisions at every stage of boundary determination.

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We offer free language services about our programs and services for people whose primary language is not English. We can provide written information in your preferred language and interpreters in person or over the telephone.

Contact our Language Access team: civilrights@ecy.wa.gov

Contact information

Susan Woodward
Communications Manager
su san.woodward@ecy.wa.gov
360-688-8070

Erin Torrone
CCA Community Engagement Specialist
erin.torrone@ecy.wa.gov
564-200-4426

Caroline Mellor
CCA Environmental Justice Planner
caroline.mellor@ecy.wa.gov
360-628-4666

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