Health Impacts Analysis in CEQA: New Tools for Environmental Health and Justice

1. Health Impacts Analysis in CEQA: New Tools for Environmental Health and Justice California Environmental Health Tracking June 3rd, 2005

2. NUTRITION SANITATION CHILD LABOR LAW WORKER SAFETY McKeown T. The modern rise of population. New York: Academic Press, 1967:176

3. Looking at San Francisco neighborhoods through a lens of health and social equity……

6. Residential Overcrowding 2000 Source: 2000 US Census

7. Asthma Map

18. How do we apply health research and evidence to public policy?

19. Health Impact Assessment “...a combination of procedures or methods by which a policy, program, or project may be judged as to the effects it may have on the health of a population.” - WHO Regional Office for Europe

20. Approaches to Health Impact Assessment • Conducting health impact assessment as an independent process • Integrating health analysis into environmental impact assessment • Integrating health analysis into social impact assessment

21. CEQA Legislative Intent • Provide a high-quality environment that at all times is healthful and pleasing to the senses and intellect of man • Understand the relationship between the maintenance of high-quality ecological systems and the general welfare of the people of the state • Provide the people of this state with clean air and water, enjoyment of aesthetic, natural, scenic, and historic environmental qualities, and freedom from excessive noise. • Create and maintain conditions under which man and nature can exist in productive harmony to fulfill the social and economic requirements of present and future generations

22. Environmental Impact Assessment • The purpose of an environmental impact report is to identify the significant effects on the environment of a project, to identify alternatives to the project, and to indicate the manner in which those significant effects can be mitigated or avoided. Assesses alternatives and mitigations and their feasibility

23. CEQA and People • If the physical change causes adverse economic or social effects on people, those adverse effects may be used as a factor in determining whether the physical change is significant. • A lead agency shall find that a project may have a significant effect on the environment … where there is substantial evidence…that …the environmental effects of a project will cause substantial adverseeffects on human beings, either directly or indirectly.

25. Trinity Apartments Redevelopment Health Concerns • Eviction of current tenants • Loss of Community ties • Loss of affordable housing supply Outcomes • EIR acknowledged displacement • Developer negotiating with tenants

26. Rincon Hill Area Plan Health Concerns • Absence of Schools and Family amenities • Housing not affordable to workforce • Exclusionary neighborhood Outcomes: • Attention to Jobs-housing balance • Plans integrate low-income housing

27. Automobile Level of Service (LOS) Health Concerns • Barrier to transit oriented development, higher residential density, transit, bike lanes and pedestrian safety improvements Outcomes • Collaboration among groups led to legislative action to change LOS

28. Oakland’s Central Station Health Issues • Displacement of low-income tenants • Demolition of historic train station • Location adjacent to freeway • No affordable housing Outcomes • City Negotiation with community organizations

29. Obstacles and Challenges • Technical Barriers • Separating Social and Physical Effects • Cultural Assumptions • Ignoring Benefits • Power and Money • Localism • Ignoring People

30. Housing Quality Jobs-Housing Balance Community Cohesion Living Wage Jobs Noise Air Quality Access to Parks and Open Space Community Schools Pedestrian Safety Public Transit Access Physical Activity Possibilities for Health Analysis within CEQA

31. Environmental Trackingand Action—At What Level Effect Cause

32. Environmental Trackingand Action—At What Level Causes Effects

33. Cumulative Impacts—At What Scale • Exposure • Body burden • Physiology and Pathology • Individual Health • Community Health • Ecological Health