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FIRST ON FOX: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) promotes activities such as tree planting, “pruning workshops” and “expanding tree acceptance” from President Biden’s $ 1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package to environmental justice and climate. Spent $ 4.3 million on a variable program. ..
Last April, the EPA focused on the impact of COVID-19 and climate and disaster resilience in the “poorly serviced community” through the Collaborative Problem Solving (EJCPS) Cooperation Agreement Program for Environmental Justice. Announced that it will award $ 200,000 each to dozens of projects. .. The program awarded a total of 34 organizations We are spending $ 4.3 million from Biden’s American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act and $ 2.5 million from EPA’s annual budget for environmental justice.
An Indianapolis-based organization called KeepIndianapolis Beautiful has been awarded $ 200,000 for an initiative called the “Greening Urban Neighborhoods” that includes educating residents about increasing “tree benefits” and “tree acceptance in the city.” I did.
Another organization, New Mexico-based TreeNewMexico, has received ARP funding to plant trees in “a poorly serviced area of the southeastern quadrant of Albuquerque.” The project includes the provision of “pruning workshops” and “tree management education”, with more residents becoming “citizen tree managers taking care of new and old trees” and occurring in urbanization. The purpose is to reduce the “heat island effect”. area.
EPA spends $ 7 million on US Rescue Planning Fund to replace diesel school buses with electric buses
The Houston-based Texas Black United Foundation is the EPA for a project to develop “transport container farms, residential gardens, green technology, tree and native habitat planting, labor development, and public education.” Received ARP funding through the program.
According to the EPA website, Hourcar, based in St. Paul, Minnesota, will also be awarded an ARP-funded EJCPS fund and will feature 150 shared electric vehicles supported by 70 curbside charging stations. We have launched the all-electric car sharing program “Evie car share”. Focuses on services to the low-income and BIPOC communities. “
The USASpending.gov website, which documents government spending, has The $ 200,000 ARP fund for the grant was “mandatory.”
Just before the Democratic Party passed ARP in March 2021, without Republican support, Biden stated that all allocation of funds in legislation was essential.
“We need Congress to pass my American bailout plan to deal with the urgent crisis, the urgency,” the president said at the time. “Now, critics say my plan is too big and costs $ 1.9 trillion. That’s too much. So let them ask. What do they make me cut? They What can I omit? “
ARP is currently under close scrutiny of its role in the current inflation crisis, which reached 8.6% last month. Some economists, including the former Obama administration’s economic adviser, have accused ARP of overheating the economy.
“Our country is a $ 30 trillion hole and bleeding money at the federal level, but news like this should offend all taxpayers,” said a member of the House Commission on Surveillance and Reform. One Congressman Ralph Norman told Fox. Statement news digital. “These examples are not the proper functioning of government, they are just the tip of the iceberg. The EPA (and I claim all agencies) is to explain how public funds are being used. Must be held at. “
Fox News Digital previously used EPA’s $ 5.25 million ARP funding through the 2021 Environmental Justice Small Grants Program to subsidize projects that have little to do with dealing with the effects of COVID-19 and pandemics. Reported that it was awarded.
One of the nonprofits that received grants through the program was the Massachusetts-based organization Speak for the Trees, which used techniques such as “storytelling” and “treewalking” to “unfair.” The purpose was to raise awareness and dialogue surrounding the canopy cover. “Impact on the health of residents living in [environmental justice] community. “
Based in Charlotte, North Carolina, CleanAir Carolina has received a grant from a project to set up a public Level 2 EV charging station and create an educational video as a way for community members to participate to mitigate air pollution. ..
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In a statement submitted to Fox News Digital Wednesday evening, the EPA stated that all applications for the EJCPS program were “to ensure that the project’s activities and goals were consistent with the language and intent of the statutory authorities and ARP. Has undergone a rigorous scoring and approval process. “
“All applications selected for funding have been reviewed by the EPA’s Legal Advisory Office,” the statement read. “The EJ Grant Program funds community-led projects. The basic belief in environmental justice is that the community is in the best position to speak for themselves and find out how to solve the challenges they face. The EJ Grant Program is now nearly 30 years old. Has experience in granting effective grants to communities across the country, in a responsible way, to meet the needs of the community and to revitalize the community in the long term. We have a track record of investing taxpayers’ dollars in places that support these goals. “