Consensus
Every community across the United States faces impacts on their health and well-being from a wide range of sources including pollution of air, water, and soil and extreme events such as wildfires and other natural or human-caused disasters. Impacts may be heightened by factors such as unaffordable housing, limited or no access to healthcare, poverty, and unemployment. Cumulative impact assessment (CIA) is a tool to help environmental and other relevant decision-makers consider multiple factors in evaluating priorities and potential changes in policies or regulations, with a focus on improving health and well-being.
In response to a request from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), this report provides recommendations on the state of the science of CIA and on fostering its application at the community, state, regional, tribal, and national levels. On the basis of input gathered in a number of public meetings, the report recommends EPA expand its CIA framework in important conceptual ways, including to encompass multiple dimensions of health and well-being. Further, the factors that undermine health and well-being (stressors) should be distinguished from those that promote health and well-being (resources).
State of the Science and the Future of Cumulative Impact Assessment lays out an expanded, five-step process for cumulative impact assessment that is driven by ongoing meaningful engagement and includes a final step of monitoring and evaluation of decisions implemented. This report's authoring committee applied its recommended five-step process to eight case studies across different contexts and scales - including the region in Louisiana known as "cancer alley"; a tribal population in Colorado; the train derailment and chemical fire in East Palestine, Ohio; the Los Angeles, California wildfires; and the replacement of lead service lines across the nation - concluding that the recommendations can increase the effectiveness of actions to improve health and well-being.
276 pages
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7 x 10
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paperback
ISBN Paperback: 0-309-99446-2
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-60061-8
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/29182
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. State of the Science and the Future of Cumulative Impact Assessment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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