The 25 selected applications for the EPA’s Climate Pollution Reduction Grant are from 13 state applicants, 11 municipal applicants, and 1 Tribal applicant and will fund projects in 30 states, according to the EPA. Eight of the selected applications were submitted by coalitions of multiple entities that will collaborate to implement the proposed projects. (Courtesy of the Environmental Protection Agency)
The Nez Perce Tribe is receiving a $37 million grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to cut climate pollution, improve air quality and advance environmental justice efforts.
The funds are coming from the Climate Pollution Reduction Grant, which is authorized under the Inflation Reduction Act. The program provides nearly $5 billion in grants to states, local governments, tribes and territories to develop plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and harmful air pollution.
The grant will fund residential energy efficiency and weatherization retrofits, wood stove replacements, renewable energy infrastructure, and electric vehicle transportation networks on the Nez Perce Tribe’s facilities in Idaho and Oregon, according to a press release from the EPA.
Nez Perce Tribe Chairman Shannon Wheeler said the tribe is honored to receive the award, and it will enable his people to implement “bold and necessary” climate actions to protect their culture, identity, economy and way of life.
“As the original stewards of this land, we must also fulfill our sacred promise to speak for and protect the fish, animals, and other life sources that long ago gave themselves to sustain and nourish us and whose fate, like ours, depends on a healthy environment,” Wheeler said in the press release. “These initiatives will enhance our community resilience, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and create high-quality jobs in our homelands. Finally, this funding is a crucial step towards securing a sustainable and climate-safe future vital to safeguarding our sovereignty and treaty-reserved rights and resources for generations of Nimiipuu to come.”
The Nez Perce Tribe is one of 25 applicants selected for the grant out of nearly 300 total applicants.
The grants are estimated to reduce greenhouse gas pollution by as much as 148 million metric tons by 2030 and by 971 million metric tons by 2050, based on estimates provided by the selected applicants, according to the EPA press release.
“Every community is feeling the impacts of climate change, from heat waves and drought conditions to increased wildfire smoke and severe winter storms,” EPA Regional Administrator Casey Sixkiller said in a press release. “We must act collaboratively to reduce carbon emissions and to address the adverse impacts on people’s health and our economic prosperity. Through the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act, EPA is partnering with states and local communities to make the largest investments ever in green buildings, clean energy transportation, and climate justice, and the Pacific Northwest continues to lead the way.”
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