WASHINGTON ( Associated Press) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded grants to projects to monitor air quality in 37 states, with a focus on minority communities and other areas overwhelmed by pollution.
A total of 132 projects to improve air quality monitoring near chemical plants, refineries and other industrial sites will receive $53.4 million by the Joe Biden administration to focus on environmental justice in communities adversely affected by decades of industrial pollution. Part of the commitment.
The grants are funded by a climate and health law passed in August and a coronavirus relief plan passed by Congress last year.
“This money goes where it’s most needed,” said EPA Administrator Michael Regan. The newly funded projects “will ensure that dozens of overwhelmed communities have the tools they need to better understand the air quality challenges in their neighborhoods and help protect people from the dangers posed by air pollution.”
There are eight funded projects in neighborhoods visited by Regan on a tour of pollution-stricken communities. “Everyone, regardless of where they live, deserves clean water and clean air and the opportunity to live a healthy life,” said Regan, the first African-American to head the Environment Agency.
The grant follows actions announced in January to conduct unannounced inspections of chemical plants, refineries and other industrial sites in three Gulf of Mexico states, polluting water and air and causing health problems for neighboring residents.
Grant recipients include the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice, a Louisiana-based advocacy group that has pushed for tighter federal oversight of the 85-mile (137-kilometre) stretch from New Orleans to Baton Rouge, officially known as Mississippi River Chemical. known as the corridor. But commonly called “cancer alley”.
Associated Press
