Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Roca Honda Mine

Figure 58. Distribution of minority populations by census tract
Chapter 3. Affected Environment and Environmental Consequences
There are two slightly different versions of the Federal poverty measure: poverty guidelines and
poverty thresholds. The poverty thresholds are the original version of the Federal poverty
measure. They are updated each year by the U.S. Census Bureau and are used mainly for
statistical purposes—for instance, preparing estimates of the number of Americans in poverty
each year. Families and persons are classified by the U.S. Census Bureau as “below poverty
level” if their total family income or unrelated individual income was less than the poverty
threshold specified for the applicable family size, age of householder, and number of related
children under 18 that are present. For persons not in families, poverty status is determined by
their income in relation to the appropriate poverty threshold. Thus, two unrelated individuals
living together may not have the same poverty status. The U.S. Census Bureau defines poverty
level thresholds for individuals and a family of three as income levels below $11,139 and
$17,374, respectively (Census, 2010d). A community is considered an environmental justice
community if the total number of individuals living below poverty level is 50 percent or more of
the community or greater than the unit of geographic analysis (State of New Mexico) in a
meaningful way.
Table 43 provides some measures relevant to assessing the importance of low-income populations
and persons living in poverty in the areas that would be affected by the proposed project.
DEIS for Roca Honda Mine, Cibola National Forest 267