EPA Press Release:

Biden-Harris Administration Selects District of Columbia Department of Energy and Environment to Receive a $500,000 Pollution Prevention Grant to Advance Environmental Justice

PHILADELPHIA (Oct. 12, 2023) - Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the DC Department of Energy and Environment (DOEE) has been selected to receive a  $500,000 pollution prevention grant through President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, a key pillar of Bidenomics. The funding to DOEE was made possible by President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, to develop and adopt practices that prevent pollution at the source in local communities.

District of Columbia Department of Energy and Environment’s proposed project will provide technical assistance to District cleaning service providers to transition to Safer Choice– and eco-certified cleaning products. Technical assistance will include conducting pollution prevention (P2) assessments, providing participant support costs to cover expenses related to transitioning to eco-label cleaning products, and training on sustainable cleaning practices and procurement requirements for cleaning products and janitorial services. The proposed project will improve human health and the environment in disadvantaged communities by reducing waste, workplace exposure to hazardous chemicals for cleaning personnel, the release of harmful substances, and resource consumption in Wards 5, 7, and 8 of the District of Columbia.

“Achieving lasting environmental justice requires community-driven solutions boosted by federal resources,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. “President Biden has secured historic levels of funding to address environmental harms in vulnerable communities under his Investing in America agenda. These dollars have supercharged our ability to empower a wide range of businesses from across the country to deploy solutions that prevent pollution while strengthening economic growth.”  

“This funding to DC DOEE is yet another investment the Biden-Harris Administration is making to improve the health and future of communities in the Mid-Atlantic Region and nationwide,” said EPA Mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator Adam Ortiz. “Getting businesses committed to improving peoples’ lives and reducing pollution is helping create healthier, stronger and more sustainable communities.” 

The Environmental Justice Through Safer and More Sustainable Products grant program will assist businesses to increase the supply, demand, and use of safer and more sustainable products, such as those certified by EPA’s Safer Choice program, or that conform to EPA’s Recommendations for Specifications, Standards and Ecolabels for Federal Purchasing. 

EPA’s Pollution Prevention Grant Program advances President Biden’s Justice40 Initiative, which aims to deliver 40 percent of the overall benefits of certain federal investments to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution.

 

Ensuring greater availability and use of safer and more sustainable products can reduce harmful chemical exposures and their human health and the environmental impacts in disadvantaged communities and create a more sustainable and accessible marketplace. These efforts will continue to benefit businesses and communities across the nation by capturing what works and what can be adjusted in other communities. Recipients will share successful practices that are new or not widely known, as well as lessons learned, so that future businesses and communities can continue to innovate.

EPA anticipates awarding the grant once all legal and administrative requirements are satisfied.

Read more about P2 and the P2 Grant Program.

For further information: r3press@epa.gov