Cumulative Impact Assessment Webinar: Research and Regulatory Activities at EPA

About the Webinar 

Watch the Webinar (March 14, 2023)

Individuals, groups, and communities are exposed to numerous chemical and non-chemical stressors found in their built, natural, and social environments (i.e., the total environment) as they go about their everyday activities. Evidence in the literature shows that environmental and social injustices drive health disparities linked to exposure to these stressors. Communities of color, low-income communities, and other underserved communities bear the brunt of these injustices and, as a result, face disproportionate health impacts.

EPA’s approach towards cumulative impacts is multi-pronged and includes engaging communities, governmental partners, and stakeholders; better understanding decision contexts; clarifying the scope of existing legal authorities; extending the consideration of environmental justice concerns in multiple regulatory and permitting contexts where such authority exists; and advancing the science of cumulative impacts to improve the Agency’s capacity in coming years.

During this webinar, the assistant administrator for research and development moderated a panel of representatives from several EPA offices working to incorporate cumulative impacts into research, policy, law, and decision making. Each panel member gave brief remarks followed by a moderated discussion and a questions and answers session with attendees. Learn about EPA's cumulative impacts research.

About the Panelists

Chris Frey, Office of Research and Development (Moderator)
Dr. Frey is the assistant administrator for research and development and the Agency science advisor. Before his confirmation, he served ORD as the deputy assistant administrator for science policy. Prior to joining EPA, Dr. Frey was the Glenn E. and Phyllis J. Futrell Distinguished University Professor at North Carolina State University, where he served on the faculty since 1994. His research includes measurement and modeling of human exposure to air pollution, measurement and modeling of vehicle emissions, and applications of probabilistic and sensitivity analysis methods to emissions estimation, risk assessment, and technology assessment. Dr. Frey has served EPA in a number of advisory roles, including as a member of the EPA FIFRA Scientific Advisory Panel, a member of the EPA Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee, chair of the CASAC, and a member of the EPA Science Advisory Board. He was also the president of the Society for Risk Analysis in 2006. Dr. Frey has a B.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of Virginia, an M.E. in mechanical engineering from Carnegie Mellon University, and a Ph.D. in engineering and public policy from Carnegie Mellon. 

Sarah Mazur, Office of Research and Development
Sarah is the principal associate national program director for EPA’s Sustainable and Healthy Communities Research Program. In this role, she helps lead research planning and partner engagement activities for SHC. She was also the co-lead of the writing team for the Cumulative Impacts Research: Recommendations for EPA’s Office of Research and Development report and is the co-chair of ORD’s Environmental Justice Council. Prior to joining SHC in 2015, Sarah worked in ORD as a special assistant to the deputy assistant administrator for science and acting EPA science advisor and contributed to the development of air and climate regulations in the Office of Science Policy and the Office of Policy. Sarah has a B.A. in biology from Carleton College and an MPP Master of Public Policy and Master of Engineering Management from Duke University.

Charles Lee, Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights
Charles is widely recognized as a true environmental justice pioneer and a founder of the environmental justice movement in the United States. He was the principal author of the landmark 1987 report, Toxic Wastes and Race in the United States, organized the historic 1991 First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit, and helped to spearhead the emergence of federal environmental justice policy, including Executive Order 12898, EPA’s Office of Environmental Justice, National Environmental Justice Advisory Council (NEJAC), and the Federal Interagency Working Group on Environmental Justice. Charles is currently the senior policy advisor for environmental justice at the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights. He has served in multiple capacities, ranging from creating the United Church of Christ’s environmental justice program to directing EPA’s environmental justice office. He was a charter member of the NEJAC, where he chaired its Waste and Facility Siting committee, and served on the National Academy of Science/Institute of Medicine Committee on Environmental Justice as well as numerous other panels. In these capacities, he led efforts to incorporate environmental justice into EPA’s rulemaking process, develop models for collaborative problem-solving, transform brownfields redevelopment into a community revitalization paradigm, advance approaches to address cumulative risks and impacts, lay a strong science foundation for integrating environmental justice into decision-making, advancing environmental justice at the state level, and the development of a framework for assessing and addressing cumulative impacts. Charles has authored numerous papers, reports, journals, and articles on environmental justice over the past four decades, most recently on Confronting Disproportionate Impacts and Systemic Racism in Environmental Policy and the award winning Another Game Changer in the Making? Lessons from States Advancing Environmental Justice through Mapping and Cumulative Impact Strategies. He has taught or presented at numerous schools and conferences, including the seminal academic conference on “Race and the Incidence of Environmental Hazards” at the University of Michigan. Charles is the recipient of many awards for his work, including the American Public Health Association’s first Damu Smith Environmental Achievement Award and the National Association of Asian American Professionals’ prestigious NAAAP100 Award. EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy presented to him the EJ Pioneer Award at the 20th anniversary of the signing of Executive Order 12898. In February 2017, the 122nd Session of the South Carolina House of Representatives passed Resolution H*3732 to honor his lifetime of accomplishments in environmental justice and contributions to bettering the lives of communities in that state.

Ann Wolverton, Office of Policy–National Center for Environmental Economics
Dr. Wolverton is a senior research economist in the National Center for Environmental Economics where she currently heads a team tasked with reviewing environmental justice analyses conducted for major rulemakings. She also leads a team building computable general equilibrium modeling capacity for the Agency. In the past, Dr. Wolverton has been involved in developing EPA technical guidance for conducting economic analysis and for the analysis of environmental justice concerns, and in interagency efforts to develop social cost of carbon estimates for use in federal regulatory analysis. She served as a senior economist at the Council of Economic Advisers in 2006-2007 and again in 2009-2010. Dr. Wolverton has a B.A. in economics and a B.A. in English from Arizona State University and an M.S. and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Texas at Austin.

Helen Serassio, Office of General Counsel
Helen is the associate general counsel for the Office of General Counsel’s Cross-Cutting Issues Law Office. This office provides legal advice under the numerous federal statutes, Executive Orders, and policies that affect all of EPA’s programs, including the Administrative Procedure Act, environmental justice, the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act, Indian law, Scientific integrity, and children's health issues. Prior to joining EPA, Helen was the acting general counsel/deputy general counsel of the Corporation for National and Community Service for three years. Prior to her current position, she practiced environmental law in various roles at the U.S. Department of Transportation for 18 years. Helen has a B.S. in political science from the University of Utah and a J.D. from the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law. 

Alan Walts, Region 5
Alan is the director of the Tribal and Multi-media Programs Office in Region 5, which serves Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Wisconsin and 35 federally recognized tribes. This office manages the Region’s tribal, international, National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), environmental justice, children’s health, environmental education, and schools programs. Alan joined EPA Region 5 as a staff attorney in 1996; and from 2007-2019 directed the Region’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. Alan has a B.A. from Wesleyan University and a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School.