The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is giving a boost to San Diego efforts to improve chronic air quality problems in the region.
It is part of a statewide investment by the EPA in environmental justice programs that totals $13 million.
The federal agency has granted the San Diego Air Pollution Control District $1 million to help eight community organizations monitor air pollution in portside neighborhoods and communities near the border.
“There’s a lot that can be done,” said Laura Ebbert of EPA Region 9. “And a lot that’s important to do in terms of making sure that folks understand, and have access to information that makes sense to them about air quality issues or about environment issues.”
The money is being directed to community organizations that are focused on serving communities which carry disproportionately large pollution burdens.
That includes neighborhoods like Barrio Logan, National City and San Ysidro.
“Finding ways to help communities better understand air quality challenges and to take direct action to mitigate those challenges in partnership with government is very exciting,” Ebbert said.
Two other San Diego organizations stand to see investments from the federal government.
The San Diego Quail Botanical Garden Foundation is set to receive nearly $500,000 to strengthen partnerships with local tribes and their efforts to increase climate resilience. That includes initiatives involving wildfire prevention, drought, climate change and plants of cultural significance.
And San Ysidro-based Casa Familiar is getting $500,000 to invest in a seed project aimed at expanding shared spaces for environmental justice activities, housing and increasing connections to green technology.
“Together these community driven projects will improve the health, equity and resilience of communities while setting a blueprint for local solutions that can be applied across the nation,” said Michael Regan, the EPA administrator.
In total, 17 organizations in California are getting federal dollars as part of the Biden Administration’s Investing in America Agenda.
