Environmental Justice at EPA

Webinar Summary

Dr. Philip Fine will discuss the key priorities and actions being taken by EPA and the Biden-Harris Administration to advance EJ. These actions include EPA’s efforts to bring together the multiple and unprecedented mandates related to equity and justice, including implementation of Executive Orders 13985 (on Racial Equity) and 14008 (on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad) and Justice40, the American Rescue Plan Act, the Investing in Infrastructure and Jobs Act, the Fiscal Year 2022 Omnibus Budget, and EPA’s multiyear strategic plan.

About the Presenter

In the Office of Policy at EPA, Dr. Fine provides advice and leadership on a wide variety of cross-agency and inter-agency policy programs.  These include environmental justice and equity, permitting policy, regulatory design and impacts analysis, sustainable community development, sector—based approaches, and voluntary standards.  He represents EPA on a variety of interagency working groups, including serving as EPA’s EJ officer as a member of the White House Environmental Justice Interagency Council.   

Dr. Fine joined EPA after a 15-year career at the South Coast Air Quality Management District in Southern California where he most recently served as the Deputy Executive Officer leading the Planning, Rule Development & Area Sources Division.  He oversaw all activities of the Division, including development of State Implementation Plans and Air Quality Management Plans, strategies and regulations for air pollution control, meteorology and forecasting, air quality evaluation, air toxics risk assessment, emissions inventories, socioeconomic analyses, transportation programs, and enforcement for area sources.  Prior to this role, Dr. Fine’s previous responsibilities at South Coast AQMD included oversight of ambient air monitoring, laboratory services, quality assurance, and source testing.  

Dr. Fine served on the California Air Resources Board’s legislatively mandated Research Screening Committee, and has also served on several EPA Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee expert panels.  Before joining the South Coast AQMD, Dr. Fine was a Research Assistant Professor at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles where he taught courses and conducted extensive research on particulate pollution, air monitoring technologies, and exposure assessment.  He has over 50 peer-reviewed scientific publications to date.  He received his Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology in Environmental Science & Engineering, and his bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science & Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.

Webinar Format

This will be an interactive session with "live chat" capability. The session is open to environmental engineering and science professionals across all sectors and career stages. Our objective is to offer special insights on leading edge solutions for graduate and undergraduate students as well as early to mid-career environmental professionals who are considering specialty certification.

AAEES Board Certified Individuals: Attend this event and earn 1.5 PDHs towards your PDH requirements for maintaining your specialty certification.

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Thank You to Our Webinar Sponsor

Professor Daniel B. Oerther, PhD, PE, BCEE, BCES is a past President of the American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists and currently serves as the interim Executive Director.  Dan promotes inteprofessional environmental health practice and education including community-engagement achieving equity in access to water sanitation and hygiene (WaSH), food and nutrition security and safety (FNSS), and affordable energy efficiency in the built environment. He is the winner of the 2016 Superior Achievement Award and in 2020 he served as the Kappe Distinguished Lecturer. Dan holds numerous distinctions including: lifetime honorary member of Sigma Theta Tau the International Honor Society of Nursing; Diplomat of the American Academy of Sanitarians; and Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, the Academy of Nursing Education, the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors, the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, the Royal Society for Public Health, and the Society of Operations Engineers. From 2014 through 2019, Dan served as a senior science advisor to the US Secretary of State in the Office of Global Food Security.