EPA Press Office:

EPA News: Biden-Harris Administration Announces $500,000 for Community Air Pollution Monitoring Project in the District of Columbia

Largest investment for community air monitoring in EPA history funded by President Biden’s Climate and Economic Plans

PHILADELPHIA (Nov. 3, 2022) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has selected the Distrct of Columbia Department of Energy and Environment (DOEE) to receive $500,000 for a project to monitor air quality in neighborhoods overburdened with poor air quality.  The project is among 132 air monitoring projects in 37 states which will receive $53.4 million from President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act and American Rescue Plan to enhance air quality monitoring in communities across the United States.

The projects are focused on communities that are underserved, historically marginalized, and overburdened by pollution, supporting President Biden’s Justice40 Initiative.

DOEE will select three neighborhoods to participate in its Enhancing Air Quality Data with Storytelling to Advance Environmental Justice project. 

“Funding for this project will finally give communities, some who for years have been overburdened by polluted air and other environmental insults, the data and information needed to better understand their local air quality and have a voice for real change,” said EPA Mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator Adam Ortiz.  “This air monitoring work will also be useful as communities and local leaders work to revitalize neighborhoods and grow their local economy.”

The air pollution monitoring projects are made possible by more than $30 million in Inflation Reduction Act funds, which supplemented $20 million from the American Rescue Plan and enabled EPA to support 77 additional projects, more than twice the number of projects initially selected for funding. 

These grant selections further the goals of President Biden’s Justice40 Initiative and Executive Order, Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad, which directed that 40 percent of the overall benefits of certain Federal investments flow to overburdened communities that face  disproportionately high and adverse health and environmental impacts. 

See the full list of applications selected for award.