Arizona environmental justice, climate resiliency projects to receive federal funding
Six projects in Arizona were among the 186 successful applicants that will receive federal funding to address environmental justice inequities across the country, the Biden administration announced Tuesday.
The opportunities span two programs led by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that draw from money set aside for climate and environmental initiatives in the Inflation Reduction Act, historic climate legislation passed in August 2022.
A total of $43.8 million will fund 98 proposals from community-based nonprofit organizations nationwide as part of the EPA's Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem Solving Program. These projects will receive up to $500,000 each to work toward reducing the historically inequitable effects of environmental and public health issues, including wildfires, indoor and outdoor air quality, food access, community agriculture, green jobs and infrastructure, emergency planning, toxic exposures, water quality, and healthy homes projects such as wood burning stove replacement, solar panel installation and water sampling.
About a third of the awards went to projects in rural areas, and a majority will help address climate change disaster resilience.
Another $84.1 million will support 88 projects led by governmental agencies, often in collaboration with local nonprofit organizations, across the country as part of the EPA's Environmental Justice Government-to-Government Program. These projects will receive up to $1 million each to address issues similar to those funded by the community-based program, plus storm water infrastructure installation, equitable transportation and toxic cleanup efforts at sites and homes.
Questions arise: Without an energy office, will Arizona get its full share of the Inflation Reduction Act?
The programs stem from two executive orders that President Joe Biden signed in January 2021 aimed at mitigating the effects of climate change and addressing inequities faced by racial minorities and other underserved communities who often bear their brunt.
Executive order 14008 established an intention to center the climate crisis in U.S. foreign policy and national security by "taking a government-wide approach to the climate crisis." Executive order 13985 required the federal government to "pursue a comprehensive approach to advancing equity for all, including people of color and others who have been historically underserved, marginalized, and adversely affected by persistent poverty and inequality."
The $128 million in funding announced Tuesday represents progress toward Biden's Justice40 Initiative, which aims to direct 40 percent of benefits from certain federal investments to communities that have been underserved and overburdened by environmental harms like pollution.
In Arizona, the EPA funding will support environmental justice initiatives in locations ranging from the Navajo Nation to Flagstaff to Bisbee.
Four proposals in Arizona were selected to receive up to $500,000 through the Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem Solving Program:
On the Navajo Nation, the Red Feather Development Group was awarded funds to address indoor air quality for Hopi and Navajo families using coal and wood to heat their homes. In addition to generating emissions particularly harmful for the climate, burning these solid fuels releases high levels of pollution into homes that contribute to respiratory disease and other health complications while increasing the risk of chimney and structure fires. The "Healthy Heating Education and Access Program" will support heating system upgrades, installation and maintenance classes for trade professionals and do-it-yourself workshops for homeowners.
In Superior, Rebuild Superior Inc. will launch a blight reduction program to assess and finance the cleanup of larger properties left as hazardous and unsightly blights on the landscape by copper mining activities and to create a revolving blight reduction fund model that could be replicated in other rural parts of Arizona.
In Tucson, a project led by Amistades Inc. will address the disproportionate and growing impacts of extreme heat on Latino-dominant communities. The efforts will contribute to goals outlined in the "2022 Tucson Resilient Together Climate and Adaptation Plan" by building resilience to heat severity in the 85706 ZIP code, a predominantly Latino region with a higher-than-average heat index and lower-than-average tree shade. This work will involve educating residents about the urban heat island effect, building capacity to respond to extreme heat, increasing access to resources and strategies to stay cool, planning for climate resiliency and training youth and adult advocates in regional environmental justice mobilization.
In Bisbee, funds will support the Bisbee Science Exploration and Research Center's Community Environmental Field Station in reimagining eight unused acres at a decommissioned middle school near the border with Mexico as an outdoor educational facility designed to engage and educate the community on the most urgent local environmental issues.
More from Meiners: The latest from Joan Meiners at azcentral, a column on climate change that publishes weekly
Two proposals in Arizona were selected to receive up to $1 million through the Environmental Justice Government-to-Government Program:
Flagstaff will receive funds to create three "Resilience Hubs," two as physical spaces in underserved neighborhoods and one mobile unit serving unsheltered people. The stationary hubs will be led by the Southside Community Association in central Flagstaff and the Sunnyside Neighborhood Association in east Flagstaff, while the mobile hub will be operated by the Community Assistance Teams of Flagstaff. All three will offer information, food, health care, resilience training and entrepreneurship activities for residents from marginalized populations. The project also will advance emergency preparedness with safe heating and cooling centers, improve air quality data and outcomes for victims of wildfire smoke and dust and increase awareness of zero-emissions technologies and climate-resilient systems.
Gila County will receive funds to address environmental injustices related to historic copper mining activities that contaminated surface waters and air quality, left lead, arsenic and other heavy metal deposits in residential areas and resulted in abandoned and deteriorated properties becoming unsightly health risks in overburdened, rural communities. Grant funds will support a study of how mining tax distribution may be unfairly benefitting more populous communities affected by mining. The county also will survey lead and asbestos contamination, conduct public outreach and create a program to finance cleanups and demolitions.
The White House has not shared exact funding amounts or timelines for project benchmarks.
Joan Meiners is the climate news and storytelling reporter at The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com. Before becoming a journalist, she completed a doctorate in ecology. Follow Joan on Twitter at @beecycles or email her at joan.meiners@arizonarepublic.com. Read more of her coverage at environment.azcentral.com.
Sign up for AZ Climate, The Republic's weekly climate and environment newsletter.
Support climate coverage and local journalism by subscribing to azcentral.com at this link.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona environmental justice projects win federal funding
