Tony Davis A new environmental justice center based at the University of Arizona will try to parlay a $10 million, five-year federal grant into helping low-income communities access billions of federal dollars for solar panels, home insulation, roof coating and other clean energy projects.
People are also reading… The new UA program, known most simply as the West EJ Center, will try to help community groups and other institutions most effectively obtain such funding. Paloma Beamer, the center's director, added,"We will have air pollution sensors people can borrow and use, and mapping tools for environmental justice work.
Among low-income groups and other community activists in Tucson, the prospect of getting help from the new center in securing federal funds for clean and green energy projects drew the most immediate and strongest positive reaction. Several held a news conference here recently to discuss the benefits they foresee receiving from the federal programs and the help they hope to get from the new center.
Not only is it hard for low-income residents to afford solar panels costing $10,000 and up, before existing tax credits are taken into account, it's hard to figure out how to cut through the red tape that often blocks access to such funds, they say. "I think the hard part for renewable energy, both with installations and investments in general, is there are huge cross-sections of communities that aren’t seeing their benefits directly. You're different if you have panels on your home or see community-scale solar in your neighborhood. But if you don’t have proximity or awareness, why would you fight for that?" asked Dent.
"We are definitely going to be at the table to represent folks we work with on the south side, or at least connect with folks on the ground," Rodriguez said."We don't want the money to go into just one department or one part of the city — we want it to spread out and create the environmental justice we all need.What the money will pay forSome of the new federal programs include:
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