The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) first launched the environmental justice mapping and screening tool (EJSCREEN) to the public in 2015. EJSCREEN combined environmental and demographic indicators to identify the communities most impacted by environmental burdens. It became an integral research tool for planning professionals, community leaders, elected officials, legal advocates, academics, grant writers, journalists and other stakeholders. But, a decade later, President Trump signed an executive order called "Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing,” and the EPA took the tool down, leaving users in a lurch. Losing the EPA's EJSCREEN meant researchers, environmental groups, overburdened communities, and the general public lost access to crucial data and analysis.
Building on our data expertise and vast library of data sources, Social Explorer developed a replacement EJSCREEN tool to fill the gap and bring environmental impact and justice research into the future.
Social Explorer’s EJSCREEN:
Available down to the block group level across the entire United States, EJSCREEN data offers the most granular geographic resolution available for national and local environmental justice analysis. This dataset was produced by replicating the EPA EJScreen environmental justice screening tool using publicly available data sources and the methodology described in the official EPA EJScreen Technical Documentation for Version 2.3.
Our dataset covers twelve environmental indicators covering air pollutants, toxic air releases, traffic proximity, lead paint exposure risk, Superfund site proximity, Risk Management Plan (RMP) facility proximity, hazardous waste proximity, underground storage tanks (UST), and wastewater discharge. EJSCREEN integrates that data with six key demographic indicators: minority population percentage, low-income households, unemployment rate, limited English proficiency, educational attainment, and population under age 5 or over age 64.
From these inputs, EJSCREEN calculates Environmental Justice Index scores that reflect the cumulative interaction between environmental burdens and demographic vulnerability. This data helps users pinpoint and analyze areas of disproportionate impact with standardized, nationally-consistent metrics. Check out Social Explorer’s full EJSCREEN documentation for more details on how we made this dataset.
Just like the EPA's old version, Social Explorer's EJSCREEN is available at national, state, county, census tract and block group levels of detail. Additionally, Social Explorer’s EJSCREEN offers Census Place (SL160) level data for cities, towns, and Census Designated Places.
The EPA EJSCREEN calculated both standard indices and supplemental indices, which incorporate more demographic factors and detail. The supplemental indices incorporate data on unemployment, limited English-speaking Households, education level less than high school, and low life expectancy (based on CDC PLACES data). Social Explorer also modeled these supplemental indices to give users the fullest set of tools available.
EJSCREEN brings together multiple environmental impact data sources and demographic details to identify suboptimal conditions and communities at risk. Social Explorer’s reinvention of the defunct EPA measure allows for important environmental justice work to continue with our updated data and tools.
EJSCREEN Analysis of the New Orleans Area:
Social Explorer’s EJSCREEN data and maps open up insights into Louisiana’s environment and the wellbeing of its residents. This interactive map of Louisiana illustrates the high Toxic Air hazards in and around New Orleans:
The industrial corridor along the Mississippi River has earned the tragic nickname, "Cancer Alley” from the emissions and hazards along it. For added context, we marked the location of a recently decommissioned synthetic rubber plant, Denka Performance Elastomer, which operated from the 1960s to 2025 in St. John the Baptist Parish. Several miles west in neighboring St. James Parish sits the proposed site of the Formosa Group 14-plant petrochemical complex named the “Sunshine Project.” Our EJSCREEN data show high exposure to many hazards in the area of these two plants and around neighboring New Orleans.
Orleans Parish, St. James Parish and St. John the Baptist Parish are all in the top 1% nationally on the EJ Index for Toxic Air. Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) also ranks high for all three parishes (Orleans 99.3 percentile, St. John the Baptist 92.9 percentile, St. James 84.1 percentile). Race and income weights amplified the score, especially for St. James Parish, highlighting the need for further analysis and consideration of these areas.
Particulate Matter pollution (PM2.5) also ranks high for all three parishes, rounding out the air pollution picture for the local communities and raising environmental justice concerns across the board.
In addition to EJSCREEN data, Social Explorer offers a variety of other environmental datasets for multidimensional analysis. Visit Social Explorer’s data library to try out the FEMA's National Risk Index, EPA’s Air Quality Index, Census Community Resilience Estimates, NOAA Climate Normals, and more specialized datasets.
Analyze Environmental Data and Impacts Today!
The EPA’s EJSCREEN data identified areas of risk and suboptimal conditions for policy, advocacy, legal cases, media, and a variety of other uses. Social Explorer’s updated EJSCREEN empowers researchers and the public to keep analyzing and visualizing environmental impacts and disparities. This crucial work continues Social Explorer’s commitment to data usability and transparency.
Subscribers can get started with our EJSCREEN’s detailed environmental justice data and analysis tools today. Let Social Explorer’s tools enrich your planning, grantwriting, advocacy, and other research.
Sign up for a free Social Explorer account to try it out today.