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DNR details HEAL implementation, $130 million in FY25 investments and mapping approach; committee presses on timber and timing of EJ assessments
Summary
DNR officials Jerry Rivera and Corina Allen told the House committee that DNR embedded environmental justice in its 2025–29 strategic plan, launched a Community Access and Impact Plan, and reported roughly $130,000,000 in HEAL‑related investments for fiscal year 2025. Committee members pressed DNR on mapping criteria, whether timber sales trigger EJ assessments, and how agency-request legislation is handled in the OFM notices process.
Jerry Rivera, director of the Office of Equity, Environmental Justice and Civil Rights at the Department of Natural Resources, and Corina Allen, an environmental justice adviser, presented the department’s HEAL Act implementation work to the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee on Feb. 20.
Rivera said DNR is integrating environmental justice into its 2025–29 strategic plan and moving toward earlier, co‑developed community engagement rather than top‑down outreach. He highlighted a new Community Access and Impact Plan (CAPE) designed to remove barriers to DNR services and improve participation by historically excluded communities.
Allen described how environmental justice assessments (EJAs) function and read the statutory triggers for…
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