Potential Environmental Justice Population. The February 11, 1994 Executive Order 12898 (Federal Register, 1994) states: each federal agency shall make achieving environmental justice part of its mission by identifying and addressing, as appropriate, disproportionately high and adverse human health or environmental effects of its programs, policies, and activities on minority populations and low-income populations According to the FHWA Order “FHWA Actions to Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations:” [xxxx://xxx.xxxx.xxx.xxx/environment/guidebook/vol2/doc16a.pdf]. • Low-income means a household income at or below the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) poverty guidelines, and • Minority means a person who is: o Black (having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa); o Hispanic (of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central or South American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race); o Asian American (having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, or the Pacific Islands); or o American Indian or Alaskan Native (having origins in any of the original people of North America and who maintains cultural identification through tribal affiliation or community recognition). • Disproportionately high and adverse effects on minority and low-income populations means an adverse effect that is predominately borne by a minority population and/or a low-income population; or will be suffered by the minority population and/or low-income population and is appreciably more severe or greater in magnitude than the adverse effect that will be suffered by the non-minority population and/or non-low-income population. Complete 2000 Census data are not yet available at the level of detail needed for this analysis. However, based on 1990 U.S. Census estimates, the 2000 U.S. Census data available, and knowledge of the study area, it has been determined that the areas proposed for development of the project alternatives do not contain populations that are considered environmental justice communities. The HHS 2001 poverty guideline for Alaska is $22,070 for a family of four; 79% of households in the affected area made more than $25,000 per year in 1989—this is illustrated in Table 2-1. Table 2-2 shows that all of the census tracts in the Ketchikan Gateway Borough are mostly white—the percentages range from 65 to 88% of the population. In addition, borough planners have indicated that the neighborhoods t...
