EPA’s Cumulative Impacts Addendum

In January 2023, EPA released a new playbook for confronting the onslaught of pollutants in low-income and minority communities across the country. The Cumulative Impacts Addendum informs how the federal government considers pollution and climate change in communities of color when enforcing environmental statutes. The new Addendum provides detail and analysis on the Agency’s legal authority to address the cumulative impacts of fossil fuel pollution affecting communities with environmental justice concerns. In certain contexts, such actions include directly “addressing” cumulative impacts by taking cumulative impacts into account during decision-making or taking actions to avoid or mitigate cumulative impacts. The addendum provides examples of the agency’s legal authorities on permitting, regulations, cleanup, emergency response, funding, planning, state oversight and grants — in order to consider the experiences of communities burdened by industry.