Environment DEC
From the November 2006 issue
More than $220,000 Announced for Environmental Justice Projects
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Denise M. Sheehan announced the first new state grants awarded under the Environmental Justice Community Impact Research Grant Program. These grants include more than $224,000 for 10 community projects designed to address exposure of communities to multiple environmental effects and risks.
"New York State is committed to working with our communities to help protect our environment and public health," said Commissioner Sheehan. "These grants will provide assistance to community and not-for-profit organizations partnering with DEC to implement important educational and restoration projects and sampling programs to benefit their communities and the overall environment."
Eligible Projects
Eligible projects include, but are not limited to: community inventories of industrial, municipal, or commercial facilities; mobile source emission tracking and monitoring; demonstration projects such as green rooftops and alternative energy projects; research about effects of and risks to subsistence fishing populations that use waterways restricted for fish consumption, and projects to identify industrial, commercial or municipal processes that result in pollution and monitoring the impacts on a community.
Grant Recipients
With assistance from the DEC Environmental Justice Advisory Group, DEC determined the grant recipients and amounts based on each project's scope and proposed budget. Recipient names, locations and grant amounts are as follows:
Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper conducts
water quality monitoring, education
and cleanup
- Keep Western New York Beautiful, Erie County - $25,000
- Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper, Erie and Niagara counties - $25,000
- Southwest Area Neighborhood Association, Inc. (SWAN), Monroe County - $24,998
- Groundwork Yonkers, Westchester County - $25,000
- Dunbar Association, Inc., Onondaga County - $23,614
- North Shore Waterfront Conservancy of Staten Island, Inc. (NSWC), Richmond County - $10,000
- West Harlem Environmental Action, Inc. (WE ACT), New York County - $25,000
- Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice, Inc. (YMPJ), Bronx County - $20,000
- None Like You Educational and Community Outreach Program, Erie County - $21,875
- Environmental Justice Action Group of Western New York, Erie County - $24,496
