- November 18, 2022
Kelly, Sinema Announce Over $1.5 Million to Improve Air Quality for Tribes & Pima County
The Navajo Nation, Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, Cocopah Indian Tribe, and Pima County Flood Control were awarded more than $1.5 million in air monitoring grants
Arizona also received more than $405,300 to continue monitoring and replace aging equipment protecting against air pollutants
Arizona Senators Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly announced over $1.5 million to improve air quality for The Navajo Nation, Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, Cocopah Indian Tribe, and Pima County Flood Control. These air monitoring grants – provided through the Sinema & Kelly-backed American Rescue Plan and Inflation Reduction laws – will support air monitoring projects to enhance air quality in these communities.
“Today’s investments will support critical efforts that will clean and improve the air quality for Arizonans and tribal communities. We will continue working to secure investments like these that keep Arizonans healthy and safe,” said Senator Kelly.
“Arizonans’ health, our communities’ safety, and our state’s economic future depend on clean air. Today’s grants will improve air quality and protect tribes and Arizona communities from dangerous pollutants, ensuring Arizona remains a healthy and safe place to call home,” said Senator Sinema.
Below are the recipients and award descriptions:
| Primary Applicant | Amount | Two-sentence Project Description |
| Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community | $404,372.00 | Recipient will hire additional staff to support the air quality program activities. Additional staff will support the air program needs in quality assurance and data management to fulfill the EPA ambient monitoring requirements to ensure that the data meets its quality objective. |
| The Navajo Nation | $486,000.00 | Recipient will evaluate whether the emission of pollutants from oil and gas facilities impacts human health and environment of neighboring Navajo communities. The data collected will be used to address community concerns of health impacts of oil and gas facilities and the funds will address health outcome disparities from pollution combined with COVID-19 concerns. |
| PCFC – Pima County Flood Control | $488,210.33 | Recipient will deploy and operate additional low-cost outdoor air pollution sensors at Pima County schools. This will improve exposure measurements of selected air pollutants for the entire population, especially identified environmental justice locations. |
| Cocopah Indian Tribe | $185,029.00 | Recipient will establish long term air quality monitoring capacity at the Cocopah Indian Tribe through the deployment of air monitors, data collection and analysis, staff training, and community outreach. |
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency also awarded Arizona – through investments in the American Rescue Plan – $405,300 and an additional $125,000 in a multi-state award alongside New Mexico and Utah to support continuous monitoring of pollutants such as Particulate Matter 2.5 (PM2.5) and to replace other aging monitoring equipment of five other air pollutants.
