American Rescue Plan PERFORMANCE REPORT CUMULATIVE RESULTS AS OF MARCH 31, 2022 ------- Table of Contents Introduction 3 Environmental Justice Grants and Technical Assistance 6 Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA) Funding 8 Civil and Criminal Enforcement 9 Brownfields 10 Children's Health 12 Drinking Water 14 Community Technical Assistance 16 Tribal Engagement (Public Participation) 18 Development and Enhancement of Environmental Justice Tools 19 Environmental Justice Analytical Projects 20 Policy Outreach for the Oil and Gas Sector 21 Enhanced Air Quality Monitoring Funding 22 EPA Publication Number: 190R22002 ------- Introduction The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP) provided the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with $100 million dollars to address health outcome disparities from pollution and the COVID-19 pandemic. Learn more about ARP funding at EPA. On June 25,2021, EPA announced its plan to use the $50 million of the $100 million designated by the law for"grants, contracts, and other agency activities that identify and address disproportionate environmental or public health harms and risks in minority populations or low-income populations"1 by directing it toward Environmental justice (EJ) initiatives. EPA defines environmental justice as the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income, with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies. This EJ work is authorized under several existing EPA funding authorities.2 Addressing asthma-triggering air pollution through Clean Air Act (CAA) 103(b)(3) projects reduces the chances of severe illness from COVID-19, as people with moderate-to-severe or uncontrolled asthma are more likely to be hospitalized from COVID-19. In addition, Safe Drinking Water Act 1442 grant projects heip provide clean water for handwashing in combatting the spread of COVID-19, as handwashing is a well-accepted approach to combating the spread of viruses. This funding through ARP also supports implementation of the Fiscal Year 2022-2026 EPA Strategic Plan, particularly Goal 2 (the new strategic goal on EJ and civil rights) and the Agency's new foundational principle to advance justice and equity. Learn more about EJ funding under ARP. 1 The American Rescue Plan Act of 2.021 Section 6002. 2 (A) section 103(b) of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7403(b)); (B) section 1442 of the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300j-1); (C) section 104(k)(7)(A) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (42 U.S.C. 9604(k)(7)(A)); (D) sections 791 through 797 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 16131 through 16137). UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN PERFORMANCE REPORT ------- 4 On July 7,2021, EPA announced its plan to use the $50 million of the $100 million designated by the law for "grants and activities authorized under subsections (a) through (c) of section 103 of the CAA (42 U.S.C. 7403) and grants and activities under section 105 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 7405)"to improve ambient air quality monitoring under the CAA. This work is crucial to communities overburdened by air pollution, which often experienced worse outcomes from COVID-19.Through ARP, EPA has supported community grants, local monitoring efforts, and short-term monitoring at the regional level to support public health research to protect communities most affected by COVID-19.This funding also supports implementation of the Fiscal Year 2022-2026 EPA Strategic Plan, particularly Goal 4, Objective 1 - Improve Air Quality and Reduce Localized Pollution and Health Impacts. Learn more about EPA's enhanced air quality monitoring funding under ARP. As part of the Agency's commitment to transparency, EPA is releasing this performance report and will continue to release updated ARP reports on a regular basis. All data in this report are for the period through March 31, the end of the second quarter of Fiscal Year 2022. This report includes EPA's financial status by funding categories (including total funding, obligations, and remaining funding) and an overview of the performance results achieved to date. EPA posts ARP financial status by fund quarterly on its site. EPA is in the process of developing performance measures to track and report results on use of ARP funds. While the timing for completion of measure development will vary by program, the Agency's goal is to establish ARP measures by the end of the calendar year. EPA has ten regional offices, each of which is responsible for the execution of the Agency's programs in states, tribes, and U.S. territories. In this report, regional offices are referred to by number.Table 1 is included as a reference. Learn more here about how EPA is organized. Table 1: EPA Regional Structure Region States/Territories/Number of Tribes in each Region EPA Reaion 1 Connecticut. Maine. Massachusetts. New Hampshire. Rhode Island. Vermont, and 10 federally recoanized tribes EPA Reaion 2 New Jersev. New York. Puerto Rico. US Virain Islands, and 8 federally recoanized tribes EPA Reaion 3 Delaware. District of Columbia. Maryland. Pennsylvania. Virainia. West Virainia. and 7 federally recoanized tribes EPA Reaion 4 Alabama. Florida. Georaia. Kentucky. Mississippi. North Carolina. South Carolina. Tennessee, and 6 federally recoanized tribes EPA Reaion 5 Illinois. Indiana. Michiaan. Minnesota. Ohio. Wisconsin, and 35 federally recoanized tribes EPA Reaion 6 Arkansas. Louisiana. New Mexico. Oklahoma. Texas, and 66 federally recoanized tribes EPA Reaion 7 Iowa. Kansas. Missouri. Nebraska, and 9 federally recoanized tribes EPA Reaion 8 Colorado. Montana. North Dakota. South Dakota. Utah. Wvomina. and 28 federally recoanized tribes EPA Reaion 9 Arizona. California. Hawaii. Nevada. Pacific Islands, and 148 federally recoanized tribes EPA Reaion 10 Alaska. Idaho. Oreaon. and Washinaton. and 271 federally recoanized tribes UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN PERFORMANCE REPORT ------- Table 2 is a summary of the financial status for each category and will be updated with each iteration of this report. Allocations show how much EPA has budgeted for each line item. Obligations show how much EPA awarded in grants and contracts and used for payroll and other costs.The Remaining column is the difference between how much was allocated and obligated for each line item (Allocation Obligation = Remaining).The table includes line items for administrative costs as specified by ARP. Table 2. EPA American Rescue Plan - Major Line Items Financial Status as of March 31,2022 Dollars in Thousands Category Titles Allocations Obligations Remaining Environmental Justice Grants and Technical Assistance $16,650 $7,338 $9,312 Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA) Funding $7,000 $6,900 $100 Civil and Criminal Enforcement $5,130 $1,287 $3,843 Brownfields $5,000 $5,000 $0 Children's Health $4,850 $2,646 $2,204 Drinking Water $4,700 $3,250 $1,450 Community Technical Assistance $2,150 $133 $2,017 Tribal Engagement (Public Participation) $1,600 $0 $1,600 Development and Enhancement of Envi- ronmental Justice Tools $720 $182 $538 Environmental Justice Analytical Projects $700 $700 $0 Policy Outreach $500 $228 $272 Enhanced Regional Capacity for Short Term Community Monitoring Needs $5,000 $286 $4,714 Direct Awards for Continuous Monitoring of PM25and Other Common Air Pollutants $22,500 $0 $22,500 Grant Competition for Community Air Monitoring $20,000 $0 $20,000 EJ Administrative Costs $1,000 $89 $911 Air Monitoring Administrative Costs $2,500 $174 $2,326 EPA ARP Totals $100,000 $28,214 $71,786 The following sections provide details on progress, performance, and results for each of these allocations. UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN PERFORMANCE REPORT ------- Environmental Justice Grants and Technical Assistance EPA provides EJ grants and technical assistance directly to community-based organizations, federally recognized tribes, state governments, local governments, and U.S. territories for projects that support underserved communities and build partnerships to address local environmental and public health issues. EPA has allocated a total of $16.65 million of EPA's $50 million in ARP EJ funding to EJ grants and technical assistance as follows: $5.25 million:The Environmental Justice Small Grants (EJSG) Program supports and empowers communities working on solutions to local environmental and public health issues and is designed to help communities understand and address exposure to multiple environmental harms and risks posed by air pollution and unsafe drinking water. $4.3 million: The Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem-Solving (EJCPS) Cooperative Agreement Program provides funding for eligible applicants for projects that address local environmental and public health issues stemming from air pollution and unsafe drinking water and assists recipients in building collaborative partnerships to help them understand and address environmental and public health concerns in their communities.$4.1 million:The State Environmental Justice Cooperative Agreement Program (SEJCA) provides funding to eligible applicants to support or create model state activities that lead to measurable environmental or public health results in communities adversely and disproportionately burdened by environmental harms and risks relating to air pollution and unsafe drinking water. UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN PERFORMANCE REPORT ------- 7 $3 million: EPA provides technical assistance to address adverse and disproportionate health outcome from pollution and the COVID-19 pandemic or other adverse and disproportionate environmental or public health harms and risks in communities, including underserved communities. While all EJ grants recipients have been selected, EPA is continuing to review applications in the financial award process during the second quarter. As a result, some of these funds as follows do not yet appear as obligated in Table 2 above: EJSG:The full $5.25 million has been allocated for 99 projects in the Agency's first competitive grant opportunity addressing adverse and disproportionate health outcomes from pollution and the COVID-19 pandemic that have affected and/or currently affect people/communities of color and low income, per Section 6002 of ARP, and other vulnerable populations, such as, the elderly, children, and those with pre-existing medical conditions, consistent with EPA'sTechnical Guidance for Assessing Environmental Justice in Regulatory Analysis. EJCPS:The full $4.3 million has been allocated for 34 competitively selected projects addressing adverse and disproportionate health outcomes from pollution and the COVID-19 pandemic that have affected and/or currently affect people/communities of color and low income, per Section 6002 of ARP. and other vulnerable populations, such as, the elderly, children, and those with pre- existing medical conditions, consistent with EPA's Technical Guidance for Assessing Environmental Justice in Regulatory Analysis. SEJCA:The full $4.1 million has been allocated for 21 competitively selected projects to develop innovative plans and processes to conduct effective outreach to pollution-overburdened and underserved communities during pandemic social-distancing and local stay-at-home orders, especially in places where internet access may not be readily available to all residents. • Technical assistance funding:The $3 million has been split between several programs and projects and will be implemented with contractual support in partnership with community-based organizations (CBOs) in each location to ensure that the projects are centered on the vision of those who live and work in these communities—especially those whose voices have historically been underrepresented. Performance measures to track and report results are in development. Potential performance measures for these grant programs include: New partnerships formed. Number of recipients. Number of new recipients. Percentage of recipients in underserved communities. Status UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN PERFORMANCE REPORT ------- Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA) Funding EPA's Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA) Program3 funds grants and rebates that protect human health and improve air quality by reducing harmful emissions from diesel engines. EPA allocated a total of $7 million of EPA's $50 million in ARP EJ funding to fund electric school bus rebates in underserved communities. Selected applicants will receive $300,000 for each bus replacement, and applicants could request up to four new buses. Status The 2021 ARP Electric School Bus Rebates program opened for applications on September 29,2021 and closed on November 5,2021. EPA selected applications for the rebate via a lottery conducted in November 2021 .The ARP Electric School Bus Rebate program was open only to underserved school districts, tribal schools, and private fleets that serve those schools. Eligible school districts were estimated to have 30% or more students living in poverty, based on the U.S. Census Small Area income and Poverty Estimates (SAIPE) School District Estimates for 2019. EPA announced 11 ARP awards to replace 23 school buses with electric models in March 2022. Selected applicants will receive funds later in calendar year 2022 after they have completed the process, which includes scrapping the old bus(es). Performance measures to track and report results are in development, such as performance measures around emissions reductions associated with replacing older diesel buses with electric school buses. 3 Authorized under sections 791 through 797 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C, 16131 through 16137), UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN PERFORMANCE REPORT ------- 9 Civil and Criminal Enforcement EPA's Civil and Criminal Enforcement Program ensures compliance with environmental requirements. When warranted, EPA may take civil or criminal enforcement to ensure compliance with environmental laws. EPA allocated a total of $5.13 million of the $50 million in ARP EJ funding to support civil and criminal enforcement as follows: $4.75 million:To increase monitoring of sources for pollution impacting pollution-overburdened and underserved communities, including monitoring for hazardous air pollutants, hazardous metals in drinking water, and other drinking water contaminants. $300,000:To enhance environmental crime victim outreach in pollution-overburdened and underserved communities using social media. $80,000:To support EJ analyses related to compliance monitoring at oil and gas production and refining facilities in EPA Region 8. Air and drinking water monitoring near low-income communities: EPA has identified potential areas of noncompliance in and near communities with EJ concerns and plans to deploy Clean Air Act monitoring and/or Safe Drinking Water Act monitoring to gather information to determine compliance and to share with communities. Approximately $1.2 million of the $4.75 million has been obligated to contracts for monitoring equipment purchases and to provide air and drinking water monitoring in and near pollution-overburdened and underserved communities with potential areas of noncompliance. Environmental crime victim outreach:Through online engagement, EPA has identified 10 communities in which to begin this outreach. Oil and gas production and refining compliance monitoring analyses projects: All $80,000 has been obligated. Performance measures to track and report results are in development. Potential performance measures (to be finalized by September 30,2022) include: Number of air and drinking water inspections in or near overburdened and underserved communities. Number of people to view environmental crime victim outreach ads on social media. Status UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN PERFORMANCE REPORT ------- 10 EPA's Technical Assistance to Brownfields (TAB) Program4 helps communities and other stakeholders to understand the risks and challenges posed by brownfield sites and to learn how to safely assess, clean up, revitalize, and reuse brownfields properties. TAB grant recipients (also known as TAB providers) serve as an independent resource and can provide expert technical assistance and guidance to help communities. EPA allocated $5 million of EPA's $50 million in ARP EJ funding to fund TAB cooperative agreements for organizations serving as technical assistance providers for activities targeted towards underserved communities. In addition, it will help TAB providers offer services that primarily benefit communities without the capacity or experience to apply for or administer a competitive brownfields grant, with $500,000 allocated to each of the ten EPA regions as follows: $500,000: University of Connecticut in EPA Region 1. $500,000: New Jersey Institute of Technology in EPA Region 2. $500,000: West Virginia University Research Corporation in EPA Region 3. $500,000: International City/County Management Association in EPA Region 4. $2 million: Kansas State University in EPA Regions 5,6, 7, and 8. $1 million: Center for Creative Land Recycling in EPA Regions 9 and 10. 4 Authorized under section 104(k)(7)(A) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (42 U.S.C. 9604(k)(7)(A)). UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN PERFORMANCE REPORT ------- Status EPA announced all TAB selections on April 19,2021 and awarded cooperative agreements in the first quarter of Fiscal Year 2022. Performance measure results to date include: Q1 FY 2022 Q2 FY 2022 # Of New Communities* Receiving Technical Assistance 57 50 # Of Communities Receiving Technical Assistance 118 121 % Of Assistance Going to Overburdened Communities** 62% 59% Grant Applications Reviewed 114 0 * This includes all communities that have not received any form of Brownfields funding over the past 9 years. ** Preliminarily determined using the Beta version of the White House Council on Environmental Quality's Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool (CEJST). developed to identify disadvantaged communities for purposes of Justice40. UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN PERFORMANCE REPORT ------- Children's Health EPA works to protect children from environmental exposures by consistently and explicitly considering early life exposures and lifelong health in all human health decisions. Children who live in pollution- overburdened or underserved communities may have reduced biological resilience and ability to recover from exposure to environmental hazards.5 EPA allocated $4.85 million of EPA's $50 million in ARP EJ funding to fund four children's health programs as follows: $2.5 million:The Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Units (PEHSUs), a national network of experts in the prevention, diagnosis, management, and treatment of health issues that arise from environmental exposures, funded by EPA through an interagency agreement to add programming on children's health in communities with EJ concerns. $2 million:The Children's Healthy Learning Environments in Low-Income and/or Minority Communities initiative to provide competitive funding to ten organizations to build capacity and technical assistance to address children's environmental health issues relating to air pollution and unsafe drinking water in schools and/or childcare settings. $200,000: The Identify and Implement Improved Consideration of Children's Health Outcome Disparities in Policy Making project to characterize the social costs of attention disorders from environmental factors for economic and environmental analysis. S For more, see EPA's 2021 Policy on Children's Health. UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN PERFORMANCE REPORT ------- 13 $150,000:The Children's Environmental Health Susceptibility project to establish best practices to integrate susceptibility/vulnerability information into human health risk assessment and produce a state-of-the-science report. PEHSUs:The full $2.5 million has been obligated to an Interagency Agreement between EPA and the Agency forToxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR).The funding targets the PEHSUs' children's environmental health programming. • The Children's Healthy Learning Environments in Low-Income and/or Minority Communities initiative: Requests for Applications had a deadline of February 2,2022. Ten organizations have been selected as of May 2022. • The Identify and Implement Improved Consideration of Children's Health Outcome Disparities in Policy Making project: The $200,000 in funding has not yet been obligated. • The Children's Environmental Health Susceptibility project:The $150,000 in funding has been obligated. Performance measures to track and report results are: Number of health and public health providers in underserved communities trained. Number of virtual home assessments to explore environmental exposures of concern for pediatric health. Number and types of community outreach education and events. Number of health care providers earning free Continuing Medical Education credits. Children's Healthy Learning: Number of cooperative agreement applications received. Number of cooperative agreements awarded. Number of cooperative agreement applications awarded to pollution-overburdened and underserved communities. Number of children served by projects conducted under a cooperative agreement. Status PEHSUs: UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN PERFORMANCE REPORT ------- Drinking Water EPA's drinking water initiatives in rural and tribal areas ensure that assistance is provided to communities through specific regional projects. For example, EPA's Compliance Advisors for Sustainable Water Systems Program (Compliance Advisors) provides one-on-one direct technical assistance, assesses barriers to compliance, and provides written recommendations and tools to help systems return to compliance. A total of $4.7 million of EPA's $50 million in ARP EJ funding was allocated to fund thirteen technical assistance programs to improve drinking water and compliance monitoring in urban, rural, and tribal areas as follows: $2 million: Nationwide Compliance Advisors'Technical Assistance focused on operators of small drinking water systems, including tribal nations. $360,000: Expansion of R8 Tribal Circuit Rider contract for tribes in EPA Region 8. $350,000: Technical support to underserved drinking water systems in West Virginia. $250,000: Local Compliance Advisors'Technical Assistance in Southeast Chicagoland, Illinois. $350,000: Lead pipe inventory and public engagement demonstration grant in New England. $250,000: Improve drinking water and compliance monitoring in rural/tribal areas in New Mexico. $250,000: Assistance to Jackson, Mississippi. UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN PERFORMANCE REPORT ------- $250,000:Technical assistance and training to tribal water systems in Nevada and Eastern California. $250,000: Develop water infrastructure training program for 271 federally recognized tribes in EPA Region 10. $175,000:"Work in Water"workforce training in high schools in Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, and Missouri. $90,000:Tribal drinking water compliance and technical operator assistance in Kansas. $75,000: Institutional capacity study/training for water utilities at the U.SVMexico Border. $50,000: Integrating EJ into EPA permit writing. Status $3.25 million of the allotted $4.7 million has been obligated. Potential performance measures (to be finalized by September 30,2022) include: Number of drinking water systems supported that serve overburdened and underserved communities. Number of tribal drinking water systems supported. UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN PERFORMANCE REPORT ------- Community Technical Assistance EPA's community technical assistance efforts support community-driven solutions to collaboratively build community capacity to address air and drinking water issues in underserved communities. A total of $2.15 million of EPA's $50 million in ARP EJ funding was allocated to fund four programs as follows: $1 million: The Community-Driven Assistance to Communities project will build the capacity of community-based organizations (CBOs) to focus on air and drinking water issues in communities with EJ concerns through two distinct project areas:The Communities and Highways Project and the Resilient Communities Project.The Communities and Highways Project is designed to meaningfully engage CBOs to participate in decision-making about transportation investments in their communities.The Resilient Communities Project is designed to serve several EJ communities across multiple regions by engaging and paying CBOs for their contributions to addressing environmental issues in these communities. $500,000: The Equitable Resilience Technical Assistance project will work with tribes and states to identify projects and funding that reflect the goals of communities seeking to build resilience to climate change impacts and other natural disasters such as wildfire and flooding while also addressing air quality concerns and the availability of safe drinking water. $400,000: The Building Blocks for Sustainable Communities project will work with communities with EJ concerns that have received Community Development Block Grants from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to help reduce the impact of the built UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN PERFORMANCE REPORT ------- 17 environment on environmental and public health outcomes related to air quality and drinking water. $250,000: The Schools as Community Cleaner Air and Cooling Centers project will provide technical assistance to four communities seeking to advance health equity goals by analyzing gaps where populations that are more vulnerable to poor air quality and heat events lack access to community shelters. Status • The Community-Driven Assistance to Communities project: $133,000 of the $1 million has been obligated to contracts to provide assistance; this work is scheduled to begin in Spring and Summer of 2022. • The Equitable Resilience Technical Assistance project: $455,000 of the $500,000 will soon be obligated for contracts used to provide assistance to two tribes and two states to identify projects and build the capacity of project partners to collaborate on future projects. • The Building Blocks for Sustainable Communities project: The $400,000 has not yet been obligated. • The Schools as Community Cleaner Air and Cooling Centers project: The $250,000 will soon be obligated to provide technical assistance for the development of neighborhood cleaner air and cooling centers in public school facilities. Performance measures to track and report results are in development. UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN PERFORMANCE REPORT ------- Tribal Engagement (Public Participation) EPA supports federally recognized tribal governments to establish or modify public participation programs where fair treatment and meaningful participation priorities have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. EPA allocated $1.6 million of EPA's $50 million in ARP EJ funding to support tribal public participation efforts. Status These funds have not yet been obligated. A request for applications (competed through the EJ Small Grants Program) was announced on March 21,2022. Awards are expected to be made by September 2022. Performance measures to track and report results are in development. UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN PERFORMANCE REPORT ------- 19 Development and Enhancement of Environmental Justice Tools EPA works to develop and enhance EJ tools to improve evaluation of communities adversely and disproportionately impacted by environmental and human health harms or risks (communities with EJ concerns) in EPA decision making across multiple environmental media (e.g., air, water, land). EPA allocated $720,000 of EPA's $50 million in ARP EJ funding to support four areas of work, as follows: $100,000, Literature reviews:This project will summarize what is already known about EJ and disparities related to specific air and drinking water pollutants and specific regulated sectors. EPA will use these summaries to supplement EJ analyses for rulemakings. $120,000,Training and workshops: EPA is developing in-house interactive training modules and workshop materials to improve EJ analyses for air and drinking water rulemakings and hosting workshops to make progress on some of the remaining analytic gaps and challenges. $400,000, Environmental Justice Multisite Tool: EPA is developing a new Environmental Justice Multisite (EJAM) tool, a user-friendly web application that summarizes environmental conditions and demographics near a specified set of regulated facilities.The tool will provide immediate access to a report with tables and interactive graphics summarizing data provided through EJScreen (EPA's EJ mapping and screening tool), and other user-provided indicators.The tool will eventually be made public, with open-source code and data, to build upon and complement EJScreen and other media-specific analytical tools. $100,000, Sector reports and cross-sector report: EPA will create an EJAM-based report characterizing each key industrial sector. A cross-sector report will compare sectors in EJ terms, based on where facilities within each sector are located. Status Literature reviews: $62,000 has been obligated.The first two reports address PFAS and drinking water, and upcoming reports will address meat and poultry processing and animal feeding operations. • Training and workshop materials: $120,000 was obligated to a contract in November 2021 for the development of training and workshop materials. EJAM: An internal team has developed prototypes of certain components. Contractor-supported work has commenced. Sector reports and cross-sector report: Work will start once the first version of EJAM is developed. Performance measures to track and report results are in development. UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN PERFORMANCE REPORT ------- Environmental Justice Analytical Projects EPA's EJ analytical projects under ARP aim to enhance our ability to understand adverse and disproportionate impacts on communities by environmental and human health harms and assess potential air pollution policies' abilities to reduce disproportionate health risk. EPA is developing data tools with improved socio-economic and geospatial detail, which will help the Agency identify populations facing multiple cumulative burdens and consider actions that improve environmental outcomes for Americans facing disproportionate impacts of pollution. EPA allocated $700,000 of EPA's $50 million in ARP EJ funding to support two EJ analytical projects as follows: Advancing regulatory analytics and policy modeling to better incorporate socio-economic and EJ considerations: This activity supports EPA's ability to identify how air rules can mitigate the impacts of the combination of multiple pollutants and other factors (e.g., geography) on communities and will inform EPA's Integrated Planning Model (IPM), the National Energy Modeling System (NEMS), and the Regional Energy Deployment System (ReEDS models). Advancing data analytics to identify communities experiencing many socio-economic and environmental burdens with increased geospatial detail:This project supports the development of an open source, integrated toolkit for understanding demographic and economic detail at scales ranging from national to local.The tool will help identify communities facing multiple cumulative burdens by using publicly available datasets to reflect key demographic, economic, environmental, and community information.This toolkit is intended to contribute to the ability of EPA, other agencies, and other levels of government to assess the outcomes of possible actions by better characterizing potentially affected communities. Status The full $700,000 has been obligated to support the development of data and modeling tools in the two EJ analytical projects. Work on integrating demographic information is underway. Performance measures to track and report results are in development. UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN PERFORMANCE REPORT ------- 21 Polfcy Outreach for the Oil and Gas Sector EPA used its policy outreach funding to elevate consideration of EJ and equity issues in the development of the Agency's regulations affecting the oil and gas sector. EPA allocated $500,000 of EPA's $50 million in ARP EJ funding for three oil and gas EJ impact analyses and outreach activities as follows: Support for oil and gas regulatory development as it relates to data gathering/analysis, documentation, and preamble rule language explaining relevant EJ and equity issues. Enhancement of an internal tool to better support analytical capabilities with respect to the Office of Air and Radiation's (OAR) EJ efforts for oil and gas. Improved outreach to affected communities, tribes, small businesses, and other stakeholders that live near oil and gas development sites to address EJ and equity issues. Status $228,000 of the allotted $500,000 has been obligated. EPA plans to obligate the remaining funds by October 2022. Performance measures to track and report results are in development. UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN PERFORMANCE REPORT ------- Enhanced Air Quality Monitoring Funding Of the $100 million in ARP funding, $50 million was allocated to improve ambient airquality monitoring for communities across the United States and to address adverse and disproportionate health outcomes from pollution and the COVID-19 pandemic. EPA's $50 million in ARP ambient air quality monitoring funding was allocated to fund four components as follows: $20 million: A grant competition seeking proposals from community groups; state, tribal and local government air agencies; and other eligible entities. $22.5 million: Direct awards to air agencies for continuous monitoring of fine particles and the five other criteria pollutants covered by the National Ambient Air Quality Standards under the Clean Air Act. $5 million: Enhanced EPA regional capacity for short-term community monitoring. $2.5 million for support to administer the funding. UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN PERFORMANCE REPORT ------- 23 Status On December 13,2021, EPA announced the availability of $20 million in American Rescue Plan funding through competitive grants to enhance ambient air quality monitoring in and near underserved communities to assist communities to address health outcome disparities from pollution and the COVID-19 pandemic. EPA will award funds to support community and local efforts to monitor air quality and to promote air quality monitoring partnerships between communities and tribal, state, and local governments. 0 Prior to the December announcement, EPA held feedback sessions in the summer of 2021 with interested stakeholders to discuss ideas on what the Agency should consider in drafting the solicitation (e.g., identification of the most important needs for ambient air monitoring, regulatory vs. non-regulatory air monitoring, and approaches to empower communities with air monitoring data to help address disproportionate exposures). 0 EPA also hosted a general grants training for community organizations, tribes, and air agencies on September 29,2021, in preparation for the grant competition. The presentation was recorded and posted on EPA's ARP website. 0 After the announcement, on January 11,2022, EPA hosted an informational webinar about the funding.The presentation was recorded and posted on EPA's ARP website. 0 Based on requests from eligible entities, EPA extended the initial application deadline and closed the grant competition on March 25,2022. 0 EPA received over 200 applications from across the country. EPA is beginning the review and selection process, with awards expected to be made no later than November 2022. In the summer and fall of 2021, EPA engaged state, local, and tribal air agencies to better understand equipment needs for existing air monitors used to detect pollutants covered by the National Ambient Air Quality Standards under the Clean Air Act. Over the coming months, EPA Regions will distribute $22.5 million in direct awards to state, local, and tribal air agencies to enhance continuous monitoring of fine particle pollution (PM25) across the United States and support replacement of other aging air monitoring equipment. These investments support the national ambient air quality monitoring networks that provide standardized information for implementing the Clean Air Act and protecting public health. EPA is enhancing regional capacity for short-term community monitoring through $5 million in total investments to support mobile monitoring labs and air sensor loan programs. Regions are in the process of ordering equipment they identified as needed to address community needs, including underserved and overburdened communities with health outcome disparities from pollution and the COVID-19 pandemic. Performance measures to track and report results are in development. A potential performance measure is,"Percentage of air monitoring funds supporting activities that address health outcome disparities from pollution and the COVID-19 pandemic." UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN PERFORMANCE REPORT ------- EPA.GOV ------- |