Power plants, manufacturers, asphalt batch plants, and other industrial operators hoping to expand in Massachusetts will soon have to determine whether the resulting air pollution would disproportionately harm communities of color or low-income areas.
That’s because Massachusetts is attempting to regulate what is called the “cumulative impact” of pollution — among the first states in the nation to do so.
Typically, environmental regulators treat each plant as its own island when permitting new sources of pollution, ignoring how many polluting facilities already exist in an area. New permits, then, can further concentrate air pollution in already polluted neighborhoods. But under the revised air quality rules finalized Thursday by Governor Maura Healey’s administration, how much air pollution a community is already burdened with will be a factor in the permitting process.
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Bonnie Heiple, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection commissioner, said the agency wants to prevent permitting decisions from being made “in a vacuum.”
State regulators will specifically scrutinize facilities that attempt to locate near environmental justice populations, defined by the state as communities with a low median household income, a significant number of non-English speakers, or a relatively high percentage of people of color.
Air pollution can lead to community-wide health problems, including higher asthma rates (Black residents of Massachusetts have on average higher rates of asthma than white communities). Low-income communities and communities of color have historically been more polluted than affluent and predominantly white communities, in part due to legacy discriminatory housing policies.
“We hope to set the standard for others to follow as we seek to right past wrongs and build healthier, more inclusive communities,” said Healey, in a statement.
Under the rules, companies applying for permits will gather data on 33 different environmental, economic, and health metrics when applying for air pollution permits near an environmental justice area. For example, ozone levels, median household income, and asthma rates would be considered.
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David Cash, EPA administrator for Region 1, which includes Massachusetts, called the state’s regulations an important “pilot” for the rest of the nation in how the country could address historical environmental discrimination by race and income.
“[Massachusetts] is taking the first step from a regulatory perspective,” Cash said.
A company applying for a permit would then need to compile the information in a report — called a “cumulative impact analysis” — and submit it to the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection as part of the permit application.
Companies will also be required to do more public engagement meetings than is typically required and model how any new air pollution could be distributed throughout the community.
“These regulations certainly provide hope that we’re ready to turn a corner,” said Cindy Luppi, national field director for the environmental group Clean Water Action.
About 1,500 facilities in Massachusetts have an air permit, and the state’s environmental agency receives dozens of applications each year. Most of the air pollution in Massachusetts comes from transportation — cars, trucks, buses, and trains — but the electric power sector accounts for about a fifth of the state’s emissions.
Luppi is part of the Massachusetts Environmental Justice Table, a coalition of environmental and community organizations formed in 2019 to pressure the Commonwealth to emphasize environmental justice in its policies. The “cumulative impacts” regulations were a major priority, Luppi said.
It’s unclear whether the rules would cause state regulators to deny a permit, though. Heiple, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection’s commissioner, said that would still be a “case-by-case” decision.
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Companies will need to assess how their added emissions could affect the community, said the agency’s director of air and climate programs, Glenn Keith, but the process won’t result in a fixed rule on whether the permit would be rejected.
Keith said the process should result in more pollution control technologies that reduce overall emissions. He added that the additional requirements will also likely deter companies from locating in environmental justice communities.
“It’s going to be a higher hurdle for any facility that wants to locate in or near an environmental justice community,” Keith said.
Sophia Owens, a senior attorney for Alternatives for Community and Environment, an environmental justice advocacy organization, praised the regulations — “There’s a lot to feel positive about,” she said. But whether the rules will actually stop new sources of pollution from being built is still “an open question.”
The Healey administration is charting into largely unknown territory. But some other states have sought similar measures: Last year, New Jersey finalized environmental justice regulations for certain large facilities, requiring them to minimize emissions in highly polluted parts of the state. Keith said Massachusetts’ rules go further by evaluating air quality permits based on risk, not by comparisons to other areas.
The revised regulations will apply to permit applications filed with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection after July 1.
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Erin Douglas can be reached at erin.douglas@globe.com. Follow her @erinmdouglas23.