Minnesota Department of Transportation

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Environmental Justice

Environmental justice at MnDOT

MnDOT supports environmental justice through every stage of our planning, construction and maintenance processes. This ensures MnDOT gains input from the community that will help shape how we build and maintain roads, bridges, regional airports, rail lines, ports and trails that are critical to connecting us to our destinations.

We do this by working to:

  • Avoid, minimize or mitigate disproportionately high and adverse human health and environmental effects, including social and economic effects, on minority populations and low-income populations
  • Ensure the full and fair participation by all potentially affected communities in the transportation decision-making process
  • Prevent the denial of, reduction in, or significant delay in the receipt of benefits by minority and low-income populations

About environmental justice

  • Ensures public agencies treat people fairly and involve them in a meaningful way during the development, implementation and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations and policies
  • Based on a 1994 federal executive order requiring agencies to identify and address the effects of all programs, policies and activities on minority, underserved, underrepresented and low-income populations