WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will provide $50 million dollars for Environmental Justice (EJ) initiatives through funds allocated to EPA under the American Rescue Plan (ARP). In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress designated this funding for grants, contracts, and other agency activities that identify and address disproportionate environmental or public health harms and risks in underserved communities through a range of local initiatives.
"We know how important it is to put funding to work in environmentally overburdened, economically underserved areas, and today we’re excited to let our communities know that thanks to the American Rescue Plan, help is here,” said Administrator Michael S. Regan. "EPA is drawing on its many years of experience working with communities and organizations that strive for environmental justice to ensure these funds will deliver real-world results for those who need it most.”
At an event at the Ashburton Filtration Plant in Baltimore, Maryland, Administrator Regan announced that $200,000 is going to the YH2O mentoring program in Baltimore City – an on-the-job training program that prepares young adults to be employed in full-time jobs within the water industry. Participants are involved in water quality monitoring, sampling, and reporting as they develop skills to improve water quality in urban and rural communities and ultimately transition into water infrastructure jobs.
Moving forward, EPA will also work to award an additional $50 million provided under the ARP for enhanced air quality monitoring, including plans to use a portion of these funds to solicit proposals from community groups, state, local and tribal air agencies to conduct monitoring of pollutants of greatest concern in communities with health outcome disparities.
"Taking on environmental injustice is necessary for present and future generations to thrive. I thank the EPA for recognizing this and bolstering our local efforts to build a cleaner, greener, more equitable Baltimore. This investment will support Baltimore YH2O, a six-month program that extends opportunity to young adults through full-time employment in the water industry,” said Baltimore Mayor Brandon M. Scott.
EPA is assisting under-resourced communities by quickly getting out ARP funding to leverage important programs that improve air quality, drinking water, revitalization of brownfields, diesel emissions from buses in low income communities and communities of color. Under EPA’s State Environmental Justice Cooperative Agreement (SEJCA) program, the agency is awarding its first competitive grants focusing directly on the unequal impacts the COVID-19 pandemic has had on communities of color, low income communities, and other vulnerable populations. Projects include training, developing citizen-science tools, pollution monitoring, and educational campaigns to enable EJ advocates, scientists, and decision-makers to address pollution and create thriving communities.
Funding currently being distributed totals approximately $2.8 million for 14 EJ-focused projects, with more to be announced soon throughout the country. A full list of projects to be funded is available on the EPA website.
