Integrating Environmental Justice Metrics into Baltimore’s Environmental Impact Assessments: Addressing Community-Level Risk Disparities

Abstract

Baltimore’s environmental challenges, ranging from toxic air emissions to inequitable industrial zoning, disproportionately affect historically marginalized communities. Current Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) emphasize technical outcomes, but fail to capture disparities in exposure, health, and socioeconomic vulnerability. This paper proposes a systematic integration of environmental justice (EJ) metrics into Baltimore’s EIAs, drawing on national frameworks, comparative urban practices, and a case study of West Baltimore. By embedding EJ indicators into scoping, baseline analysis, prediction, and mitigation stages, Baltimore can align environmental policy with equity and justice goals.