Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) and Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and several of their colleagues introduced the Technology Assessment for Air Quality Management Act. This legislation will authorize $55 million over five years for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to annually update and expand its online air quality toolbox with best-available monitoring technologies and associated uses of data, connect the toolbox with environmental justice mapping and screening tools, and create full-time equivalent positions to support the work.
It would also establish a working group consisting of representatives from EPA regional offices, air agencies, environmental justice networks, data science, and public health science to develop templates for integrated monitoring systems. In addition, it would direct the EPA and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to conduct an inventory of the locations and operation statuses of air monitors, existing data infrastructure, high-priority areas for monitoring deployment in environmental justice communities, and workforce needs to improve air quality management across scales.
“As our technologies and tools for addressing local air pollution continue to advance, we must support the communities who are disproportionately affected by poor air quality and most vulnerable to the health dangers it causes,” said Bennet. “Our bill will improve how we monitor pollution and respond to poor air quality to ensure areas that have borne the brunt of the harmful health consequences of air pollution receive the help they need. Every household in Colorado and the nation should be able to breathe clean air. This bill is a crucial step toward ensuring equitable access to safe, clean air for every community.”
“Now, more than ever, we need to address the deep-rooted injustices of air pollution and its disparate effects on our communities’ public health,” said Markey. “As air quality technologies continue to improve, we must use those improvements to institute better, bolder, more adaptive, and more equitable assessments and management of air quality nationwide.”
In addition to Bennet and Markey, this legislation is co-sponsored by U.S. Senators Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), and Cory A. Booker (D-N.J.).
The legislation is endorsed by: Environmental Defense Fund, American Lung Association, Clean Air Task Force, American Thoracic Society, and Dr. Sacoby Wilson (Director of the Center for Community Engagement, Environmental Justice, and Health).
The bill text is available HERE.
“Innovative technologies play a critical role to improve our understanding of the air pollution burden in our nation, especially in environmental justice communities,” said Dr. John Graham, Senior Scientist of the Clean Air Task Force. “This Act will provide a fundamental database of air pollution monitoring techniques and their uses and will help optimize resource deployment to improve the safety of communities.”