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Undersecretary María Belén Power previews draft MassEnviroScreen to flag 'burdened areas' for energy siting
Summary
State officials presented a draft MassEnviroScreen tool that combines 30 indicators of pollution, climate risk and population vulnerability to score census block groups; communities at or above the 75th percentile or with median household income ≤65% of statewide median would be flagged for cumulative impact analysis.
Undersecretary María Belén Power told the Environmental Justice Council in Leominster that the state is piloting a draft MassEnviroScreen to ‘‘help us identify burdened areas for cumulative impact analysis for the siting of energy infrastructure.’’ The tool combines environmental, health, climate and socioeconomic indicators into a single cumulative burden percentile for each census block group.
The draft, presented by Power and Syenna Mashmasarmi, ranks communities using 30 indicators grouped into environmental exposures, environmental effects, climate risk, sensitive population measures and socioeconomic factors. ‘‘It will give us a cumulative burden score for every census block in the state,’’ Mashmasarmi said, explaining that component percentiles are averaged and then combined to produce a final score.
Officials said the tool will mark a community as a ‘‘burdened area’’ if its MassEnviroScreen score is at or above the 75th percentile statewide or if its annual median household income is 65% or less of the statewide median. A demonstration map shown to the council indicated that, under current settings, about 34.5% of census block groups would be designated as burdened.
Power and Mashmasarmi stressed limits of the tool. ‘‘What the tool is not intended to do is speak to causation or liability,’’ Mashmasarmi said, adding that MassEnviroScreen is not a substitute for site‑specific cumulative impact analyses supplied by project applicants. Presenters also noted the map is a snapshot that may miss local conditions and does not equate to regulatory thresholds.
Officials asked for public feedback on indicator choices and lived experience to improve accuracy and usability. They said the web application will be released for public review before a cumulative impact analysis (CIA) webinar scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 6, and invited additional meetings or a special session with the council to review the draft.
The presentation traced the tool’s legislative mandate to the 2024 Climate Act, which established the Office of Environmental Justice and Equity and directed the development of guidance for cumulative impact analysis. Power said the tool is intended to be ‘‘transparent, collaborative, and equitable’’ and to support siting and permitting by highlighting where multiple burdens overlap.
Next steps offered to the council included a public comment period and technical documentation that will accompany the tool when the web application is published. Officials encouraged communities to submit local data or lived-experience feedback to help refine indicators and mapping.
