We appreciate the opportunity to respond to the EPA’s Request for Information on implementation of the Environmental and Climate Justice Block Grants.

Through this program, the EPA has a unique opportunity to deliver meaningful, lasting benefits in low income and disadvantaged communities. This new program should be designed to target disadvantaged communities and ensure that communities and workers directly benefit from these block grants. The EPA should prioritize projects that show evidence of early consultation with workers and disadvantaged communities to ensure that the projects benefiting from this program support their needs. Prioritizing public input and community participation must be key in determining which projects are chosen and how they are implemented.

Done right, the Environmental and Climate Justice Block Grants represent a critical pathway through which EPA can support clean energy deployment, pollution reduction, and climate goals. The block grants can achieve those goals while creating good union jobs, growing domestic manufacturing, and delivering public health and environmental benefits to the workers and communities that need it most.

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