Orestimba Creek Feasibility Study - Stanislaus County

Economics Appendix – Draft Report - Orestimba Creek Feasibility Study, Stanislaus County, California – September 2012
• The minority population percentage of the affected area is meaningfully greater than the
minority population percentage in the general population or other appropriate unit of geographic
analysis.
The same rule would apply to the presence of a low-income population. A low income
population is present if the project study area is composed of 50 percent or more people living
below the poverty threshold, as defined by the US Census Bureau, or is significantly greater than
the poverty percentage of the general population or other appropriate unit of geographic analysis.
The second step of an environmental justice analysis requires a finding of a high and adverse
impact, which is discussed below.
Basis of Significance
While there are no laws specifically associated with limits to socioeconomic impacts, and
environmental justice, (EO 12898) and (EO 13045) speaking to the health effects on children are
addressed below. The executive orders address the impacts on the demographic, economic, and
social factors that could measurably alter the economic conditions (the availability of
employment and income), the accessibility of goods, infrastructure, and services, and the quality
of life in the area of influence. These types of impacts would be significant to the affected
population. More specifically, a proposed project alternative would have a significant
socioeconomic impact if it were to result in any of the following effects:
• Long-term increase in population that could not be accommodated by regional
infrastructure (for example, housing, utilities, roads, hospitals, and schools) or services
(such as police and emergency services);
• A reduction in the availability of affordable housing (which could occur either through
a large increase in housing prices or a large decline in the supply of affordable housing);
• Long-term displacement of population that could not be accommodated within the
region;
• Long-term displacement or disruption of local businesses that could not be
accommodated within the region;
• A loss in community facilities, events, population, or major industry that would result in
an overall loss in community cohesion; or
• Disruption of emergency services or creation of a public health risk that could not be
avoided by the public, especially if it would particularly affect the health and safety of
children.
Likewise, a proposed project alternative would have an environmental justice impact if it were to
cause impacts that are “disproportionately high and adverse,” either directly, indirectly, or
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