By Laura Sanicola
(Reuters) – The U.S. government will award state and local governments, housing authorities and non-profits on the front lines of air pollution 132 new grants totaling $53.4 million for air quality monitoring projects, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said on Thursday.
The grants, which the EPA called the largest investment in air pollution monitoring in its history, come after federal investment in air quality monitoring has waned over several decades. President Joe Biden’s administration has a target to cut pollution in poor and minority communities that often take the brunt of industrial emissions.
“It’s time that we empower American communities with the tools and the resources they need to track critical data about the air that they breathe,” said EPA Administrator Michael Regan.
The Inflation Reduction Act contributed about $30 million to the grants, according to the regulator.
Most applicants across 37 states will receive between $200,000 and $500,000 in grant funding for monitoring hazardous substances such as particulate matter, hydrogen sulfide, and sulfur dioxide from industrial sources including oil and gas projects.
Federal funding for the U.S. air monitoring network, which is overseen by the EPA and operated and maintained by state and local environmental agencies, has faltered in recent years, declining by about 20% from 2004 to 2020, after adjusting for inflation, leaving it in poor condition, according to a 2020 report from the Government Office of Accountability.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency launched a new office earlier this year to focus on the needs of minority communities overburdened by pollution and oversee the delivery of $3 billion in environmental justice grants created by the recent passage of the IRA climate legislation.
Last year, the agency announced $20 million in grants to communities to help them monitor their air for pollutants.
(Reporting by Laura Sanicola; Editing by David Gregorio)
