From Bed Bugs to Micmacs: EPA Offers New Round of 'Environmental Justice' Grants

By Susan Jones October 16, 2012 Subscribe to Susan Jones's posts

Ladies and gentlemen, step right up to the public trough: The Environmental Protection Agency is seeking applicants who want a piece of the $1.5 million set aside for "environmental justice" grants to be awarded in 2013. The taxpayer money goes to non-profit and tribal groups that address health and environmental issues in minority, low-income, and indigenous communities. These places are "overburdened by harmful pollution," as the EPA phrases it. Applicants must be incorporated non-profits or tribal organizations that are working to "educate, empower and enable" their communities to understand and address local environmental and public health issues.  Previous grants have supported projects that seek to improve -- or raise awareness of -- air and water quality, lead contamination, energy efficiency, even healthy food. In 2011, for example, the Aroostock Band of Micmacs in Presque Isle, Maine, received money for a project establishing "a sustainable approach for disseminating air quality information" to communities susceptible to air pollution.  To Read More......