Front and Centered stands with academic, state, and national environmental organizations this week to press the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to reveal why the agency abruptly terminated a multi-year contract on Cumulative Impact Assessment without public notice or explanation. On May 26, 2026, the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), with Earthjustice and the Environmental and Climate Justice Initiative at NYU Law, filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the EPA to uncover information as to why the EPA stopped a multi-year project of such public importance without explanation.  

The Front and Centered coalition has for years prioritized utilizing a cumulative health impact approach in the research, development, and implementation of policies that impact communities across Washington state, as many regulations fail to account for the combined and connected exposures facing families and neighborhoods overburdened by toxic chemicals and other health and environmental threats. 

As part of this work, Esther Min, Director of Community Innovation, Evaluation, and Learning at Front and Centered, served as a Community and Tribal Liaison for the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) who was commissioned by the EPA in 2023 to advise the committee and facilitate input from community on the state-of-the-science underlying the practice of assessing how multiple sources of pollution and social stressors combine to affect community health and well-being. Other local liaisons included representatives from the Washington State Department of Health and King County Public Health.

“For too long, communities across Washington and the nation have been burdened by multiple sources of pollution across jurisdictional boundaries, or regulatory silos. This report is critical for our communities to better understand community experiences and impacts from the compounding efforts of pollution and health harms,” said Min. “Communities need partnership across all levels of government to focus on improving health wellbeing of us all – and this report highlights the importance of exactly that.”  

Following release of a “pre-publication” copy of NASEM’s 2025 report, State of the Science and the Future of Cumulative Impact Assessment, after years of work and community engagement, the EPA directed NASEM to terminate all remaining activity on the report. In fall 2025, without any advance notice or opportunity for public input, the EPA cancelled the contract with NASEM, terminating remaining activity. EPA has provided no public explanation for this cancellation. 

“Communities contributed their lived experiences to this report, expecting the final results to be disseminated to the public.” said Marianne Engelman-Lado, Director of the Environmental and Climate Justice Initiative at NYU Law. “That’s why we’re seeking information on what’s behind EPA’s decision to cancel this important scientific study just as the report reached its final stages of activity, including community engagement and public education on its scientific findings. The final stages of the NASEM’s work were critical to get the report into the hands of state, Tribal, and local governments, and the people they serve, who were looking to NASEM and EPA for a distillation of the best available science on cumulative impacts in order to make better-informed decisions about their own policies and programs.” 

Front and Centered’s work on cumulative impacts has and continues to influence state policy with highlights including:

• The interactive Washington Environmental Health Disparities Map which provides policy leaders and advocates with data-driven insights into where people experience the greatest environmental health risk factors in Washington. 
• The Healthy Environment for All (HEAL) Act is landmark environmental justice legislation that works to reduce health disparities in our most overburdened and polluted communities in Washington State.
• Advocating in recent legislative sessions to advance a bill that would require the consideration of cumulative impacts as part of state permitting processes to fully consider a project’s potential adverse impacts to communities that are already facing high levels of pollution and increased health disparities.

“Frontline communities have long awaited efforts to develop specific tools to put the science into action and policies to address and reduce cumulative impacts,” said Jamie Hearn, Front and Centered Climate & Community Planning Policy Lead. “Shutting down vital research and findings only removes another tool from our state lawmakers and agencies to effectively protect families and communities who are facing some of the most serious harm from toxic chemicals and pollution.”