Archive notice
This Working Group is no longer active. The content below is preserved as a historical record of the group's past work. For current SOPHIA Working Groups, see Working Groups.
Advancing the Practice of HIA at the State, Regional and Federal Level Working Group
Improving the Visibility and Use of HIA in NEPA
Leads
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In Brief
As its first undertaking, this working group tackled how to advance HIA and enhanced human health considerations in environmental impact assessment (EIA), specifically in federal actions taken under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). While NEPA requires the explicit consideration and analysis of direct, indirect, and cumulative human health effects for proposed actions, considerations of health and the broader determinants of health have largely been left out of the NEPA process. The practice of HIA has been seen as a way to not only enhance human health considerations, but also ensure considerations of environmental justice in NEPA. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has recently undertaken an effort to promote the use of HIA and/or HIA elements to address human health considerations in federal agency actions under NEPA. This working group looked to leverage and compliment this opportunity to increase the visibility and use of HIA at the federal level.
Objectives
The objective of this working group was to identify how the HIA community of practice could leverage recent events to advance the use of HIA in state, regional, and federal plans, policies, and decisions. The working group:
- identified and prioritized concrete actions to increase the visibility and use of HIAs at these higher levels of decision-making; and
- advanced HIA and the consideration of health in environmental impact assessments conducted under NEPA.
History
This working group was first convened at the 2014 HIA of the Americas Workshop, and identified extensive opportunities for advancing HIA at state, regional, and federal levels. As part of its initial undertaking to advance HIA in NEPA, the working group drafted a guide for HIA practitioners interested in integrating HIA and explicit consideration of direct and indirect health impacts into environmental impact assessments conducted under NEPA.
2016 Working Group Meeting Highlights
Seven (7) of the approximately 20 current working group members and eight (8) additional individuals participated in the working group meeting at the 2016 HIA Practitioner Workshop. These individuals, from universities, non-profits, federal agencies, and state health departments and organizations, came together to advance the visibility and consideration of HIA in federal actions conducted under NEPA by moving forward the guide for HIA practitioners currently under development by the working group and messaging to promote the use of HIA in NEPA.
The working group:
- Discussed the purpose of the working group and how it can move the field of HIA forward
- Provided an overview of the working group’s activities to date and the products expected from the working group’s efforts
- Discussed the NEPA process, the need for enhanced health considerations in NEPA, and how HIA can be used to integrate health in federal EIAs conducted under NEPA
- Solicited input on the general content and utility of the Draft HIA Practitioner’s Guide (a working group product that explains the NEPA process, illustrates the points of integration for HIA in NEPA, and identifies considerations and strategies for advancing HIA in NEPA)
- Identified potential audiences for messaging HIA in NEPA
- Solicited participants’ successes and challenges in past messaging efforts
- Established a path forward to focus messaging in the Transportation sector initially due to the prevalence of evidence linking transportation and health
- Established next steps