Grant may lay groundwork for more federal climate aid
Photo | Timothy Doyle
A meadow in Sterling
As Massachusetts prepares to compete for federal funding to support climate resiliency projects, state officials can rely on an initial grant to help fine-tune their plan and seek feedback from stakeholders, including marginalized communities.
Joined by Environmental Protection Agency Deputy Administrator Janet McCabe in Cambridge, Gov. Maura Healey celebrated the state receiving $3 million from the Climate Pollution Reduction Grants program, funded through the Inflation Reduction Act. Healey called it "unprecedented funding" to allow Massachusetts to make "climate-smart investments from the Berkshires to the Cape."
"We're forging a new path in our energy and environmental leadership, and we're taking a truly whole-of-government approach, which is also what the Biden-Harris administration is doing," Healey said at a press conference Tuesday. "We plan to create working groups across our Cabinet and beyond to address economy-wide decarbonization."
States are receiving the $3 million grants and being tasking with creating strategies to reduce air pollution and to spur economic, health and social benefits, especially in low-income communities, among other goals, according to the EPA.
As they iron out a climate plan, Massachusetts officials will rely on environmental justice forums as they interact with Black, brown and low-income communities, Healey said. Outreach will also extend to regional planning agencies, cities with more than 100,000 residents and organizations like the Massachusetts Municipal Association, according to the EPA.
Massachusetts isn't "reinventing the wheel entirely" with its climate plan, Healey said, as the state highlights existing initiatives like the Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness program meant to bolster resiliency planning in cities and towns.
McCabe said she's confident Massachusetts will be one of the "leading states" in the grant program, which paves the way for $4.6 billion in competitive funding that the EPA will launch later this year. The pot of money will help states deliver on investments outlined in their climate plans, including clean energy infrastructure and agricultural programs, that would have been unaffordable without the federal aid, McCabe said.
"We're going to do our best to compete as hard as we can," Healey said, telling McCabe that "if given the chance, you will see a great return on investment."
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