Key Points
- In Washington, state and local agencies are starting to use environmental impacts mapping for investments, policies, and program decisions.
- The new Washington Environmental Health Disparities Map is a science-based tool that combines data on pollution and vulnerability to pollution to compare the cumulative impacts for Washington communities statewide.
- The Map has many applications, including designating communities with cumulative impacts, prioritizing resources, hiring, and enforcement; and improving land use regulation, public participation and accountability, and data accuracy.
- States like California have used a similar cumulative impacts map to prioritize billions of dollars in environmental investments and to improve the effectiveness of their policies.
