2024 Air Pollution Mitigation

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is pleased to announce $3,000,000 in funding for projects that will implement State assistance funding through the Disadvantaged Community Air Pollution Mitigation Grant program to support Indian Nations/Tribal Organizations and not-for-profit (NFP) community-based organizations in Disadvantaged Communities (DAC) and Environmental Justice (EJ) Areas for projects that address ambient air pollution mitigation strategies. The focus should be on evaluating the effectiveness of mitigation strategies so that effective strategies can be replicated in other communities across the State. The data collected will be made publicly available.

The DEC and the Office of Environmental Justice note that ambient air pollution can compromise human health and the environment in many ways. Per the EPA, “Air pollution is associated with several human health effects including heart attacks, asthma attacks, bronchitis, hospital and emergency room visits, work and school days lost, restricted activity days, respiratory symptoms, and premature mortality.”

The Disadvantaged Community Air Pollution Mitigation Grant is being offered to support effective action to reduce air pollution and exposure within Disadvantaged and Environmental Justice Communities. Air Pollution mitigation projects are intended to further the goals of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (Climate Act) in Disadvantaged Communities throughout New York. Projects should be designed to reduce or mitigate emissions or pollution in areas that have a record of poor ambient air quality. Mitigation techniques can be varied, and multiple techniques can be implemented.

Examples of mitigation projects include but are not limited to the following:

• Pollution vacuums
• Air filtration units
• Vegetative barriers
• Phytoremediation
• Diesel engine retrofits and other advanced truck technologies
• Bicycle and pedestrian facilities and programs
• Alternative multimodal transportation infrastructure, such as car shares
• Alternative fuels and vehicles
• Methane capture
• Carbon sink projects
• Local planning efforts to reduce pollution, to develop local action plans or local health intervention programs
• Technical and capacity building can be used to improve indoor air filtration or educate and train community members on how to properly operate or maintain supporting programs such as community car sharing
• Innovative projects are encouraged

All recipients will need to prove the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of their project. The goal of the Disadvantaged Community Air Pollution Mitigation Grant is to find solutions that can be replicated in communities across the State. As such, any projects that involve data collection and management will need to partner with an academic or research institution to design effective studies and analyze monitoring data to evaluate the effectiveness of a mitigation strategy or strategies.

Projects that address smaller point sources of pollution such as retrofitting a diesel engine should provide evidence that the retrofit is effective, such as scientific literature proving its effectiveness.