EPA announces $128M for 186 environmental justice projects to help disadvantaged communities

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is investing nearly $128 million into 186 environmental justice-related projects in disadvantaged communities across the country that have historically suffered from underinvestment.

“Together, these community-driven projects will improve the health, equity, and resilience of communities while setting a blueprint for local solutions that can be applied across the nation,” said EPA Administrator Michael Regan in a statement about the initiative. The funding comes through the Inflation Reduction Act. “No president has invested more in environmental justice than President Biden, and under his leadership we’re removing longstanding barriers and meaningfully collaborating with communities to build a healthier future for all.”

Ninety-eight of the projects, which will be awarded through the EPA’s Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem Solving Cooperative Agreement, will receive up to $500,000 each, and 88 recipients will get up to $1 million each. Eleven of the projects are small nonprofit organizations (with about five employees each), receiving more than $1.6 million in total. Of the $128 million total, $104 million comes from the Inflation Reduction Act, the rest through regular annual appropriations to the EPA.

“By providing these investments to community-led initiatives that will protect and clean up our nation’s air and water, we are helping protect the health and safety of all of America’s families,” said U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill). “As co-founder of the Senate’s first-ever Environmental Justice Caucus, I’m proud to see the Biden Administration continue to prioritize long-underserved communities that have been disproportionally saddled with pollution and abandoned infrastructure, by providing them with the ability to achieve the cleaner air and water they need and deserve.”

Selected initiatives include: 2CMississippi, which will replace abandoned, blighted properties in the most overburdened and underserved communities in Jackson, Miss. with 15 microparks to address flood risk. TerraGraphics International Foundation Inc in Boise, Idaho will adapt the federal National Incident Management System (NIMS4MIM) framework rapid response strategy for disaster preparedness, including wildfire and mining emergencies, in Shoshone-Paiute Tribe of the Duck Valley Indian Reservation. This system will increase local knowledge of emergency preparedness, enhance technical capacity to assess potential mining impacts, strengthen collaborative decision making in emergency response for mines, protect DVIR’s environmental, wildlife, and cultural resources for future generations, and support adaption of the response system with other Tribes. In Boston, The Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health, a small non-profit organization, will engage, educate, and organize Boston Public School youth through youth-led workshops held in classrooms, clubs, and after-school programs. This will help build their collective power and influence over repairs, renovations, and new construction in the school district.

And in North Dakota, The North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality and its partners will fill gaps in radon awareness, testing, and mitigation in a campaign to reduce radon’s impacts in low-income homes in three pilots across North Dakota. NDDEQ and partners will distribute 600 radon tests to the pilot regions, improve existing and develop new radon information for Limited English Proficiency individuals, and create healthy homes for 50 low-income families by providing radon testing and mitigation services.