The EPA has awarded $53 million in grants for air quality testing in communities around the country, including three in North Carolina. The money will go to areas where pollution and the COVID-19 pandemic have led to environmental and health disparities.
The grants include:
- $500,000 to CleanAIRE NC for a project in Sampson County, where industrial plants and hog farms affect air.
- $499,929 to Research Triangle Institute to monitor air pollution at child care facilities in central North Carolina.
- $365,000 to Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League for a mobile air monitoring unit that will travel the Southeast.
The Charleston Community Research to Action Board in South Carolina also will get $499,715 for air quality monitoring and education.
EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in a press release that the funded projects "will ensure dozens of overburdened communities have the tools they need to better understand air quality challenges in their neighborhoods and will help protect people from the dangers posed by air pollution.”
The money comes from the federal Inflation Reduction Act and American Rescue Plan.
For a full list of grants, visit https://www.epa.gov/arp/selections-arp-enhanced-air-quality-monitoring-competitive-grant
