EPA Seeks Applications for Environmental Community Grants

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is making $2 million available in 2010 to reduce pollution at the local level through the Community Action for a Renewed Environment (CARE) program. CARE is a community-based program that works with county and local governments, tribes, non-profit organizations and universities to help the public understand and reduce toxic risks from numerous sources.

Applications for the CARE grants are due March 9, 2010. EPA will conduct three Webcasts to answer questions from prospective applicants about the application process on Feb. 2, 23, and 26 from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.

EPA will award CARE cooperative agreements in two levels. Level I awards range from $75,000 to $100,000 and will help establish community-based partnerships to develop local environmental priorities. Level II awards, ranging from $150,000 to $300,000 each, will support communities that have established broad-based partnerships, have identified the priority toxic risks in the community, and are prepared to measure results, implement risk-reduction activities and become self-sustaining.

In 2009, EPA’s CARE program distributed $2 million to nine communities. Examples of projects that received grants include addressing waste and storm water issues in Kennett, Mo.; reducing air and water pollution in Holyoke, Mass.; addressing water pollution from coal slurry in Wheeling, W.Va.; reducing radon and other indoor air pollutants in Pueblo, Colo.; and tackling the problem of hazardous waste materials and open dumping in Toksook Bay, Alaska.

More information

Environmental Justice Volume 2, Number Four, Dec 2009

Environmental Justice Vol. 2, No. 4, December 2009 is now available online‏

The table of contents for this issue is listed below. More information.

Guest Editorial:

Climate Justice
Peggy M. Shepard and Cecil Corbin-Mark

Original Articles

The Environmental Injustice of “Clean Coal”: Expanding the National Conversation on Carbon Capture and Storage Technology to Include an Analysis of Potential Environmental Justice Impacts, Stephanie Tyree and Maron Greenleaf

Minding the Climate Gap: Environmental Health and Equity Implications of Climate Change Mitigation Policies in California, Seth B. Shonkoff, Rachel Morello-Frosch, Manuel Pastor, and James Sadd

Best in Show? Climate and Environmental Justice Policy in California, Julie Sze, Gerardo Gambirazzio, Alex Karner, Dana Rowan, Jonathan London, and Deb Niemeier

The International Dimension of Climate Justice and the Need for International Adaptation Funding, J. Timmons Roberts

Facilitating Climate Justice through Community-Based Adaptation in the Health Sector, Kristie L. Ebi

Climate Change, Heat Waves, and Environmental Justice: Advancing Knowledge and Action Jalonne White-Newsome, Marie S. O'Neill, Carina Gronlund, Tenaya M. Sunbury, Shannon J. Brines, Edith Parker, Daniel G. Brown, Richard B. Rood, and Zorimar Rivera

U.S. Childhood Obesity and Climate Change: Moving Toward Shared Environmental Health Solutions, Perry E. Sheffield and Maida P. Galvez

Book Review: Race, Place, and Environmental Justice after Hurricane Katrina: Struggles to Reclaim, Rebuild, and Revitalize New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, Brentin Mock

EPA 2009 Environmental Justice Achievement Awards

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is awarding five multi-stakeholder partnerships, representing a total of 60 organizations, for their efforts to address environmental justice concerns. The multi-stakeholder partnerships included at least one community organization and two or more representatives from: academic institutions; business and industry; non-governmental and environmental organizations; state and local governments; and tribal government and indigenous organizations.

The EPA Environmental Justice Achievement Awards recognize the distinguished accomplishments of partnerships that work collaboratively in communities disproportionately exposed to environmental and human health risks. Winning applications were reviewed and selected based on six criteria by an independent, non-EPA review panel:

1) Partnerships and Collaboration
2) Innovation
3) Community, Equity, and Public Involvement
4) Integration
5) Leveraged Resources/Capacity Building/Sustainability
6) Demonstrated Results/Effectiveness

The 2009 Environmental Justice Achievement Award winners:

Coalition to Prevent Lead Poisoning for outstanding leadership in community-based efforts to prevent childhood lead poisoning in the City of Rochester, New York.

Fish Contamination Education Collaborative for outstanding efforts to reduce the consumption of contaminated fish by the local Vietnamese, Chinese, and angler populations near the Palos Verdes Shelf Superfund site, Los Angeles, California.

Mitigation Agreement Commission and the Lowcountry Alliance for Model Communities for outstanding efforts to work with the City of North Charleston and the South Carolina Ports Authority to foster environmental protection and economic revitalization in distressed neighborhoods.

ReGenesis Project for outstanding leadership and efforts to address environmental protection and community revitalization issues in the Arkwright community of Spartanburg, South Carolina.

The Clean Trucks Program for outstanding efforts to significantly reduce air pollution from big truck rigs around Long Beach and Los Angeles, California port facilities.

Details on the winning projects of the 2009 Environmental Justice Achievement

John Rosenthall On WSFA News 12 in Tuskegee, Alabama

National Small Town Alliance

Assists With Tuskegee Development Project

WSFA News 12 Reporter Melissa McKinney

Interviews John Rosenthall

VIDEO

Rosenthall: "As the community prospers so does the university."

McKinney: "He's working to restore cities with historically black colleges and universities."

Rosenthall: "The parents really don't want to carry their kids to a school where there's a problem in the community."

McKinney: "Tuskegee is first in line for a facelift."

Rosenthall: "We could have gone to a lot of other places, but they're not as well known as Tuskegee."

McKinney: "Community leaders and students are tossing around ideas like building renovations, downtown design, and clean-up. If those ideas become Tuskegee's master plan - then the real work begins. "

Rosenthall: "We don't have any money to work with and my theory is that once we put together a great plan, once we put together the people to make this work, it will be our job to find the money."

(WSFA 12 News, Tuskegee, Alabama)