On May 17, 2024, Fred Wagner was featured on Environmental Professionals RADIO, where he discussed NEPA rules and environmental justice (EJ). The following is an excerpt:
There's the risk of overdoing it and then diluting the impact… I think the key is going to be as we get more and more able to look into communities beyond census tracts, we're going to be able to do community level analyses and detailed analyses. I've done linear projects as well, and you see the line down the middle of the map, and you see the EJ communities on either side of the map and their county level or their census tract level. They extend far, far beyond the linear project. It doesn't answer the question about exactly where the people in relation to the linear project are. And so to me, I think the trick is going to be as the tools are more sophisticated, we're going to be able to dive into that type of analysis. So instead of seeing a big blue blob, but the entire county adjacent to the linear project, you're going to see a more zoomed in map.
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