Today, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) has been selected to receive a $325,000 pollution prevention grant through President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, a key pillar of Bidenomics. EPA has selected IDEM to receive the funding, made possible by President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, to develop and adopt practices that prevent pollution at the source in local communities.
“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.”
The Indiana Department of Environmental Management has been selected to receive $325,000. IDEM will use their grant funding to help small and medium-sized businesses in Indiana implement changes such as identifying and repairing compressor leaks and cleaning out barrels properly. They will provide training, peer mentoring, toolkits and environmental management systems planning. The project will help reduce the use of hazardous chemicals.
"Preventing pollution is a crucial part of environmental justice efforts across the Great Lakes region,” said EPA Region 5 Administrator Debra Shore. “Thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the grants being announced today will encourage businesses to help overburdened and underserved communities become cleaner, healthier places to live, learn and work.”
“Thank you to all of the leaders at the Environmental Protection Agency and the State of Indiana for this action to support small businesses and enhance the resources available to improve health outcomes and prevent pollution,” said Rep. Frank J. Mrvan. “I was proud to support the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and I appreciate that it continues to deliver positive and impactful resources for everyone in our communities.”
The Environmental Justice in Communities grant program will provide pollution prevention technical assistance to businesses to improve human health and the environment in disadvantaged 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 grants once all legal and administrative requirements are satisfied.
Background:
The United States generates millions of tons of pollution each year and spends billions of dollars per year controlling this pollution. Once in our environment, this pollution harms human and environmental health, which disproportionally impacts underserved communities. Preventing pollution at the source, also known as P2 or source reduction, rather than managing waste after it is produced, is an important part of the solution landscape, and advances a sustainable infrastructure that supports local economies while better protecting public health and the environment. P2 practices can reduce exposure to toxic chemicals, conserve natural resources, and reduce cleanup and financial costs for businesses, particularly for waste management and environmental liability. Practicing P2 is essential for protecting public health and improving environmental conditions in and around disadvantaged communities that have long been overburdened by pollution.
Between 2011-2021, EPA’s Pollution Prevention program has issued nearly 500 grants totaling more than $50 million, which have helped businesses identify, develop and adopt P2 approaches. These approaches have resulted in eliminating 19.8 million metric tons of greenhouse gases, saving 49 billion gallons of water, reducing 917 million pounds of hazardous materials and pollutants, and saving more than $2.2 billion for business.
President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure is boosting these efforts by providing a historic $100 million to support the program’s continued efforts. Thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, state and Tribal programs that are awarded grants will not be required to provide matching funds, which has helped expand access to these resources and broadened the applicant pool.
Read more about P2 and the P2 Grant Program.
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from EPA News Releases https://ift.tt/hgX0jyU