EPA Environmental Justice Grant Will Help Educate Buffalo Area Residents about Air Pollution

EPA Press Release:

EPA Environmental Justice Grant Will Help Educate

Buffalo Area Residents about Air Pollution

Contact: John Martin 212-637-3662; martin.johnj@epa.gov  

(New York, N.Y. – December 28, 2012) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has awarded nearly $25,000 to the Clean Air Coalition of Western New York to work with people in Buffalo, New York to reduce air pollution and to support local air sampling. People living on Buffalo’s west side, which is the focus of the project, are negatively impacted by air pollution from heavy commercial traffic. The grant was awarded under the EPA’s Environmental Justice Small Grants Program, which supports and empowers communities working on solutions to local environmental and public health issues.

“EPA environmental justice grants provide much needed funds to tackle local pollution problems in low income communities," said Judith A. Enck, EPA Regional Administrator. "By training people to take their own air pollution samples, the Clean Air Coalition of Western New York is providing this community with an important tool that ultimately should improve air quality in Buffalo.”

Using the EPA grant funding, the Clean Air Coalition of Western New York will educate residents about the affect of transportation on air quality and on people’s health in a low income community on the west side of Buffalo. A key part of the project involves training residents to collect air samples in their neighborhood and communicate the results to the broader community. The Clean Air Coalition of Western New York will use a curriculum called “Gearing Up For Action,” which is designed to train the public to take samples. The project’s goal is to increase the residents’ capacity to advocate for improved pollution controls and promote policies that reduce their community’s exposure to diesel pollution.

Since 1994, EPA’s environmental justice small grants program has supported projects to address environmental justice issues in more than 1,300 communities. The grants represent EPA’s continued commitment to expand the conversation on environmentalism and advance environmental justice in communities across the nation.

2012 EJ Small Grant recipients and project descriptions: http://www.epa.govenvironmentaljustice/resources/publications/grants/ej-smgrants-recipients-2012.pdf.

More information about EPA’s Environmental Justice Small Grants program: http://www.epa.gov/environmentaljustice/grants/ej-smgrants.html.

Request for Proposals (RFP) for the FY 2013 Environmental Justice Small Grants and schedule of pre-application teleconference calls: http://www.epa.gov/environmentaljustice/resources/publications/grants/ej-smgrants-rfp-2013.pdf.

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