EPA: SMART GROWTH, ENVA JUSTICE

From USEPA:
Communities across the country are integrating smart growth and environmental justice approaches to achieve development that is healthy, environmentally and economically sustainable, and beneficial for all residents, regardless of race, ethnicity, and income. Creating Equitable, Healthy, and Sustainable Communities: Strategies for Advancing Smart Growth, Environmental Justice, and Equitable Development aims to build on past successes and help other low-income, minority, tribal, and overburdened communities implement their own versions of equitable development. It identifies strategies that bring together smart growth and environmental justice principles and goals and can be used by community-based organizations, local and regional decision-makers, developers, and other stakeholders to shape land use decisions where they live.
To ensure that this publication is as helpful as possible for communities, EPA is soliciting comments on the draft through March 1, 2012.
EPA seeks input on the following questions. Comments should focus solely on these questions as they relate to the content of the publication, and should be labeled to indicate which topic they correspond to. Please note the section or page number of the draft that your comments refer to, and please be as brief as possible.
1) Does this document accurately express the connections between environmental justice, equitable development, and smart growth? If not, please elaborate.
2) Does this document provide the most useful strategies for low-income, minority, tribal, and overburdened communities seeking to create equitable, healthy, and sustainable development? Are there other land use or planning strategies the document should include? If so, please describe them.
3) Please describe any other successful examples you are familiar with of equitable, healthy, and environmentally sound development in low-income, minority, tribal, and overburdened communities.
 Please submit your comments to EquitableDevelopment@sra.com by 5 p.m. EST on March 1, 2012. If you are affiliated with an organization and wish to include its name and location, please provide this information.
We greatly appreciate your time in reviewing this draft. Where appropriate, comments will be incorporated into the publication and will inform EPA’s work on smart growth and environmental justice. Please note that commenters will not receive individualized responses.
The final publication will be posted on www.epa.gov/smartgrowth and www.epa.gov/environmentaljustice in late spring or early summer 2012. If you have questions about the draft or the review process, contact EquitableDevelopment@sra.com.
The draft can be reviewed at: http://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/pdf/2012_0208_creating-equitable-healthy-sustainable-communities.pdf