The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced that the New Mexico Energy Department and the Pueblo de San Ildefonso will receive $545,099 from President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act and American Rescue Plan to enhance air quality monitoring in marginalized communities. The projects are focused on communities that are underserved, historically marginalized, and overburdened by pollution, supporting President Biden’s Justice40 Initiative.
“I’ve traveled across the country and visited communities who’ve suffered from unhealthy, polluted air for far too long. I pledged to change that by prioritizing underserved communities and ensuring they have the resources they need to confront longstanding pollution challenges,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. “The air monitoring projects we are announcing today, which include the first EPA grants funded by President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, will ensure dozens of overburdened communities have the tools they need to better understand air quality challenges in their neighborhoods and will help protect people from the dangers posed by air pollution.”
“EPA has prioritized cutting harmful pollution in communities and this announcement delivers on that promise,” said Regional Administrator Dr. Earthea Nance. “We are pleased to award these grants to the state, local, tribal agencies and community-based groups to monitor air pollution in their areas. “This funding will allow vulnerable communities to have better data on toxic pollutants and allows for development on community led strategies that achieve healthy air quality.”
“Thanks to historic investments secured by Democrats in the American Rescue Plan and Inflation Reduction Act, New Mexico is on a path to enjoying cleaner and healthier air. That means fewer children with asthma and fewer seniors with breathing conditions,” said U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich. “Securing this federal funding for the New Mexico Environment Department will further our understanding of harmful air pollutants, allowing us to create better strategies to mitigate the impacts on public health and improve air quality. I’m also pleased to see these laws support the establishment of air quality monitoring programs for Tribes like the Pueblo de San Ildefonso, so that they too can reap the benefits of cleaner air.”
“Harmful air and pollutants are an environmental injustice that affects millions of Americans every day,” said U.S. Senator Ben Ray Luján. “I’m proud to welcome this funding that will establish air quality monitoring to sensor the smoke and dust quality throughout New Mexico and the San Ildefonso Pueblo. Air quality monitoring is essential in protecting our communities from harmful pollutants by minimizing future exposure and health risks.”
“I’m excited to learn that the New Mexico Environment Department and the Pueblo of San Ildefonso will be awarded key funding for projects to conduct air monitoring in our communities, reduce emissions, and safeguard the health of our communities,” said Representative Melanie Stansbury. “For far too long, Tribes, Pueblos, and historically underserved communities across our state have suffered the impacts of environmental pollution and poor air quality. I’m proud that the Inflation Reduction Act is supporting investments that will help us to protect our environment while decreasing pollution and protecting the health and wellbeing of our communities across New Mexico.”
“The Inflation Reduction Act and the American Rescue plan are working in New Mexico. I am pleased to see these grants awarded to the state’s Environment Department and San Ildefonso Pueblo,” said Representative Leger Fernández. “Better air quality monitoring and data give us the solutions to reduce harmful pollution. This is how we keep our communities healthy and create a more prosperous future para todos. We will be seeing more awards benefiting New Mexico directly to protect our natural resources.”
The New Mexico Energy Department received $59,633 to monitor several pollutants in the Carlsbad area and study health impacts. Data will be used to determine appropriate, effective strategies to reduce emissions.
The Pueblo de San Ildefonso will receive $485,466 to install air monitors to measure the levels of pollutants and to monitor smoke and dust concentrations near the Pueblo. The data from these monitors will help with developing strategies to minimize residents’ exposure to harmful pollutants.
The air pollution monitoring projects are made possible by more than $30 million in Inflation Reduction Act funds, which supplemented $20 million from the American Rescue Plan and enabled EPA to support 77 additional projects, more than twice the number of projects initially proposed by community-based nonprofit organizations, state and local governments, and Tribal governments. More than $4 million will be awarded to communities visited by EPA Administrator Michael Regan during his first Journey to Justice tour.
These grant selections further the goals of President Biden’s Justice40 Initiative and Executive Order, Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad, which directed that 40 percent of the overall benefits of certain Federal investments flow to overburdened communities that face disproportionately high and adverse health and environmental impacts. By enhancing air monitoring and encouraging partnerships with communities, EPA is investing in efforts to better protect people’s health, particularly those in underserved communities.
The amount of the anticipated grant funding ranges from $57,000 to $500,000, which will enhance air monitoring in communities and establish important partnerships to address air quality concerns. More than half of the selected applications are from community and nonprofit organizations. Tribes are receiving 12 percent of the total funding for this competition. EPA will start the process to award the funding by the end of 2022, once the grant applicants have met all legal and administrative requirements. The grantees will have three years to spend the funds from the time EPA awards the grants.
The announcement today delivers on Administrator Regan’s commitment to action following his ongoing Journey to Justice tour. Following the first leg of the tour through Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas in November 2021, EPA encouraged communities to apply for the grants. Today’s selectees include eight projects in communities from the tour, totaling nearly $4 million from this grant program. These awards to communities from Journey to Justice and additional awards to underserved and overburdened communities reflect the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to deliver environmental justice and the whole-of-government approach to addressing these issues in communities that are historically marginalized.
See the list of applications selected for award.
Background
In spring 2021, Congress passed the American Rescue Plan, providing EPA with a one-time supplemental appropriation of $100 million to address health outcome disparities from pollution and the COVID-19 pandemic. Half of that $100 million, was dedicated to air quality monitoring. EPA Regions began awarding nearly $22.5 million from this appropriation in 2022 as direct awards to state, tribal, and local air agencies for continuous monitoring of fine particle and other common pollutants. In addition, EPA Regions are in the process of procuring monitoring equipment using $5 million in American Rescue Plan funding to advance the EPA Regional Offices’ mobile air monitoring capacity and establish air sensor loan programs. These investments will improve EPA's ability to support communities that need short-term monitoring and air quality information.
In July 2021, EPA announced the $20 million American Rescue Plan Enhanced Air Quality Monitoring for Communities Grant Competition. The goal of this competition was to improve air quality monitoring in and near underserved communities across the United States, support community efforts to monitor their own air quality, and promote air quality monitoring partnerships between communities and tribal, state, and local governments. EPA received more than 200 applications in response to the competition.
The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 provides funding to EPA to deploy, integrate, support, and maintain fenceline air monitoring, screening air monitoring, national air toxics trend stations, and other air toxics and community monitoring. Specifically, the Inflation Reduction Act provides funding for grants and other activities under section 103 and section 105 of the Clean Air Act. EPA is using approximately $32.3 million of this funding to select 77 high-scoring community monitoring applications.
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