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The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) has undertaken the release of 45 state and 80 municipal priority climate action plans (“Plans”).
The Plans were undertaken pursuant to the Inflation Reduction Act’s Climate Pollution Reduction Grant (“CPRG”) programs.
The released plans include one submitted by the Arkansas Department of Energy & Environment – Division of Environmental Quality (“DEQ”).
The CPRG program provided grants to states, local governments, tribes, and territories to develop and implement plans for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants. The CPRG was authorized pursuant to Section 60114 of the Inflation Reduction Act.
Funding was provided for noncompetitive planning grants and for competitive implementation grants.
DEQ submitted a document titled:
Arkansas Energy & Environment Innovation Plan/Priority Action Plan (“EEI Plan”)
The EEI Plan describes itself as preparing:
. . . an emissions inventory and priority assessment of energy and environmental solutions that will help Arkansas remain forward-looking and will serve as a guidance for future investments. . . the EEI plan is also the primary deliverable priority action plan (PAP), as required under EPA’s Climate Pollution reduction Grant (CPRG). . .
DEQ prepared the EEI Plan in partnership with the following organizations:
- City of Fort Smith, Arkansas
- Metroplan
- Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission
DEQ states that it envisions economic, public health and environmental benefits:
. . . associated with the additional clean energy infrastructure investments in the state made possible through implementation of the measures included in this Energy and Environment Innovation PAP and Arkansas’s forthcoming Comprehensive Action Plan . . .
The EEI Plan contains the following sections:
- Emissions Inventory
- Priority Measures Outline
- Low-Income and Disadvantaged Community Analysis
- Review of Authority
- Coordination and Outreach
- Funding Intersections
- Appendices (Priority measures detailed, procedural documentation, etc.)
A link to the DEQ EEI Plan and other 45 state and 80 municipal government plans can be found here.
