In President Obama's address to the nation Tuesday, he pledged to create a "Gulf Coast restoration plan" for families and workers whose lives have been negatively affected by the BP oil spill. "The plan," said the president, "will be designed by states, local communities, tribes, fishermen, businesses, conservationists and other Gulf residents."

For that to happen, he'd be best served by consulting with the community-based organizations throughout the Gulf region that are fully engaged in "the worst environmental disaster America has ever faced." Otherwise, the most vulnerable communities might not get the recovery resources from the federal government that they need, as happened after hurricanes Katrina and Rita. There's no reason this needs to happen.

Gulf Coast communities are often environmental justice communities, overburdened by sickness and poverty, and located in places that federal safety nets don't reach, or where state safety nets don't exist. They are also in areas where polluting industries operate with impunity even though their emissions, leaks and spills have a disproportionate impact on already disadvantaged families.

The federal government is bound by Executive Order 12898, a 1994 order signed by Bill Clinton that compels federal departments and agencies to consider any environmental justice implications before implementing an action. The Environmental Protection Agency is the guardian of that order, and Administrator Lisa Jackson, who grew up in New Orleans, has honored environmental justice policy like no administrator before her.

But community organizations along the Gulf feel that many of their concerns still aren't being heard and are dissatisfied with the federal government's response. After the 2005 storms and floods, there was an enormous effort to bring together dozens of social and environmental justice organizations in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. The hundreds of nonprofit organizations that came online after Katrina were added into the mix. Birthed from that effort were coalitions such as STEPS and the Equity and Inclusion Campaign, which clustered small, local organizations into unified fronts, spurred by resources from the Gulf Coast Fund, Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation, Oxfam America and many others.