Pennsylvania DEP’s Environmental Justice Policy and PennEnviroScreen: what it means for permit applicants
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) final Environmental Justice Policy took effect January 3, 2026, replacing an interim-final policy in effect since September 16, 2023; applications submitted between September 16, 2023 and January 2, 2026 are handled under the interim-final policy. It gives communities in mapped Environmental Justice (EJ) Areas added outreach and public participation on certain permit applications.
A project that needs one of the permits listed in the policy, and whose Area of Concern (half a mile in all directions from the project’s perimeter) touches an EJ Area (including a project inside one), is a Trigger Project: DEP automatically conducts Enhanced Public Participation, outreach beyond the minimum legal requirements, such as added notice, public meetings, hearings and comment opportunities. DEP may also treat other projects as Opt-In Projects. Concentrated animal feeding operations are now opt-in rather than trigger projects, as are projects in areas that are no longer designated EJ Areas.
EJ Areas are census block groups identified with DEP’s PennEnviroScreen tool. DEP updates the tool’s data from time to time, which can change EJ Areas without a formal comment period when the updates concern indicators already in the model; DEP intends to take comment on substantive changes to the method. The EJ Area at the time a permit application or renewal is first submitted is the one used for that permit. DEP will review the policy every five years.
DEP describes the policy as nonbinding: it adds no regulatory requirements, and DEP says it cannot create new standards for granting or denying permits without specific statutory authority (DEP’s comment-response document, as quoted by Manko, Gold, Katcher & Fox).
The rules
- DEP Doc. 015-0501-002 (EJ Policy, Jan. 3, 2026)DEP Environmental Justice Policy and PennEnviroScreen
DEP's final Environmental Justice Policy (January 3, 2026) gives communities extra outreach and public participation on major permits within half a mile of a mapped EJ Area. It adds no permit deadline and no new regulation.