19 April 2021 – by Evelyn Workman
U.S. President Joe Biden has proposed $14 billion towards fighting climate change in the 2022 discretionary budget request, in order to help the administration reach their goal to decarbonise the economy by 2050.
$1.4 billion of the budget will go towards environmental justice initiatives – the largest amount ever to be invested in environmental justice in U.S. history. $936 million of the $1.4 billion will go towards the creation of an Acceleration Environmental Justice initiative within the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to create “good-paying union jobs, clean up pollution, and secure environmental justice for communities that have been left behind.”
Other boosts to environmental justice efforts in the budget include a proposed $400 million for a grant program in the Department of Housing and Urban Development which would help state and local governments reduce lead paint and other health hazards for low-income families. A further $100 million has been proposed towards developing a new community air quality monitoring and notification program to update data in areas with air pollution problems.
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