New York State DEC Environmental Justice Report

ejreporter
Aug 8, 2023
3 min read

Rescheduled Bond Act Session, New Funding, and Deadline Reminders

In this Issue:

Rescheduled Bond Act Listening Session
Pilot Program for Water Resources Projects for Small or Disadvantaged Communities
EPA Great Lakes Restoration Initiative for Environmental Justice Grant Programs
EPA National Environmental Youth Advisory Council

Environmental Bond Act Listening at Saranac Lake Rescheduled

The Clean Water, Clean Air and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act listening session in Saranac Lake is rescheduled for Friday, Aug. 11, from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m., at Harrietstown Town Hall, 39 Main Street in Saranac Lake. The event, originally scheduled for mid-July, was postponed following extensive flood damage to North Country communities.

The $4.2 billion Clean Water, Clean Air, and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act prioritizes investments in environmental justice, climate change mitigation, shoreline restoration, flood resilience, water quality, open space conservation, recreational resources, and green jobs. You can learn more about the Bond Act by attending an educational listening session. Two sessions have been held. Register to attend any of the remaining sessions:

Brooklyn: August 9, 6 to 8 p.m., Brooklyn College
Saranac Lake: August 11, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Harrietstown Town Hall
Lower Hudson: August 15, 1 to 3 p.m., Westchester County Center, Little Theater
Bronx: August 22, 6 to 8 p.m., La Central YMCA Gymnasium
Brentwood: August 24, 1 to 3 p.m., Suffolk County Community College

Missed the in-person session near you? View the virtual session recording.

Sessions feature a presentation on the Bond Act and an opportunity for one-on-one discussion with State experts.

Pilot Program for Water Resources Projects for Small or Disadvantaged Communities

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is launching a pilot program to fully fund small water resources projects for economically disadvantaged communities (based on the federal definition of disadvantaged communities (PDF)). This program was directed by Section 165 of the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2020. Project proposals are due by August 21, 2023.

Find information on how to apply, a fact sheet, a template letter of intent, and program requirements on the WRDA 2020 website.

There’s Still Time to Apply for The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative for Environmental Justice Grant Programs!

EPA’s Great Lakes National Program Office (GLNPO) is helping fulfill EPA’s commitment to Environmental Justice (EJ) by establishing Great Lakes Community Environmental Justice Grant Programs to be used for issuing and overseeing subawards for environmental restoration projects in historically underserved Great Lakes communities.

This opportunity is targeted at a pass-through entity or entities ("principle recipients") with established relationships with underserved communities or with the ability to quickly build and sustain such relationships with those communities in order to develop and implement a subaward funding program to fund projects in those communities pursuant to the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Action Plan III (PDF).

Under this competition, approximately $30,000,000 may be awarded for one to six cooperative agreements over approximately six years.

This RFA expects to provide funding available for two types of applications: applications that aim to provide funding for projects in a particular region of the Great Lakes Basin, and applications that aim to provide funding for projects across the entire Great Lakes Basin.

For the basin-wide applications, EPA aims to provide funding for one application that will operate across the entire Great Lakes Basin. Basin-wide applicants may request between $10 million and $20 million. For the applications focused on a particular region, EPA aims to provide funding for approximately 5 applications. Regional applicants may request between $2 million and $10 million for their program.

The deadline for this application is August 11th.

For more information, head to the EPA website.

Reminder: Application for EPA's National Environmental Youth Advisory Council Is Still Open

As a reminder, EPA is soliciting applications for youth to fill sixteen vacancies on the National Environmental Youth Advisory Council (NEYAC), running through August 22, 2023. All members of NEYAC will be U.S. citizens between the ages of 16 and 29. As part of the agency’s commitment to centering environmental justice communities, at least 50% of the overall membership of NEYAC will come from, reside primarily in, and/or do most of their work in disadvantaged communities as defined by the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool (CEJST) as part of Justice40.

On June 22, 2023, EPA announced the formal establishment of NEYAC. As a first-of-its-kind federal advisory committee, the NEYAC will provide independent advice and recommendations to the Administrator on how to increase EPA’s efforts to address a range of environmental issues as they relate to youth communities, with an emphasis on communities with ages below 29 years of age. The NEYAC will provide a critical perspective on how the impacts of climate change and other environmental harms affect youth communities.

Applications are due August 22, 2023, at 11:59 p.m. ET. All applicants must be U.S. citizens between 16 to 29 years on age by August 22, 2023. For more information on how to apply, please visit EPA's website. For any questions, please email NEYAC@epa.gov.

For other tools and resources from the EPA, check out this resource guide (PDF).