II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2476 

To require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to 

establish a pilot program for hyperlocal air quality monitoring projects 

in environmental justice communities, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 27, 2021 

Mr. MARKEY (for himself, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Mr. PADILLA, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. 

BOOKER, Ms. SMITH, Mr. SANDERS, and Ms. DUCKWORTH) introduced 

the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee 

on Environment and Public Works 

A BILL 

To require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to establish a pilot program for hyperlocal 

air quality monitoring projects in environmental justice 

communities, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Environmental Justice 

5 Air Quality Monitoring Act of 2021’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds that— 


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1 (1) air pollution inflicts disproportionate harm 

2 on Black people, Indigenous people, and People of 

3 Color; 

4 (2) air quality can vary up to 800 percent from 

5 block to block within a single neighborhood; 

6 (3) it is possible to identify and attribute 

7 sources of pollution based on fingerprint analysis of 

8 multiple pollutants; and 

9 (4) existing methods that are prescribed for 

10 basin-wide air quality monitoring— 

11 (A) are cost-prohibitive for monitoring 

12 community-scale air quality; and 

13 (B) do not, as of the date of enactment of 

14 this Act, measure the intrinsic variability of 

15 persistently poor air quality in environmental 

16 justice communities at the neighborhood block 

17 level. 

18 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

19 In this Act: 

20 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis21 trator’’ means the Administrator of the Environ22 mental Protection Agency. 

23 (2) AIR POLLUTANT.—The term ‘‘air pollutant’’ 

24 means— 


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1 (A) a criteria pollutant for which there are 

2 national ambient air quality standards under 

3 section 109 of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 

4 7409); 

5 (B) a hazardous air pollutant (as defined 

6 in section 112(a) of that Act (42 U.S.C. 

7 7412(a))); and 

8 (C) a greenhouse gas. 

9 (3) ELIGIBLE HYPERLOCAL AIR QUALITY DATA

10 PROVIDER.—The term ‘‘eligible hyperlocal air qual11 ity data provider’’ means an organization with the 

12 demonstrated ability to deploy hyperlocal air quality 

13 monitoring systems in support of State, local, or 

14 Tribal air agencies. 

15 (4) ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE.—The term ‘‘en16 vironmental justice’’ means the fair treatment and 

17 meaningful involvement of all people, regardless of 

18 race, color, culture, natural origin, or income, in the 

19 development, implementation, and enforcement of 

20 environmental laws (including regulations) and poli21 cies to ensure that each person enjoys— 

22 (A) the same degree of protection from en23 vironmental and health hazards; and 

24 (B) equal access to any Federal agency ac25 tion relating to the development, implementaVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:17 Jul 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2476.IS S2476

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1 tion, and enforcement of environmental laws 

2 (including regulations) and policies for the pur3 pose of having a healthy environment in which 

4 to live, learn, work, and recreate. 

5 (5) ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE COMMUNITY.— 

6 The term ‘‘environmental justice community’’ means 

7 a community with significant representation of com8 munities of color, low-income communities, or Tribal 

9 and Indigenous communities that experiences, or is 

10 at risk of experiencing, higher or more adverse 

11 human health or environmental effects, as compared 

12 to other communities. 

13 (6) GREENHOUSE GAS.—The term ‘‘greenhouse 

14 gas’’ means any of the following: 

15 (A) Carbon dioxide. 

16 (B) Methane. 

17 (C) Nitrous oxide. 

18 (D) Hydrofluorocarbons. 

19 (E) Perfluorocarbons. 

20 (F) Sulfur hexafluoride. 

21 (7) HYPERLOCAL AIR QUALITY MONITORING

22 SYSTEM.—The term ‘‘hyperlocal air quality moni23 toring system’’ means a method of monitoring ambi24 ent air quality and greenhouse gases and detecting 

25 the presence of air pollutants that— 


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1 (A) yields frequently repeated, ongoing 

2 measurements of air pollutants at a block-level 

3 resolution; and 

4 (B) identifies hotspots of persistent ele5 vated levels of air pollutants localized to, and 

6 caused by the characteristics of, a specific geo7 graphic location. 

8 (8) NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION.—The term 

9 ‘‘nonprofit organization’’ means an organization de10 scribed in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue 

11 Code of 1986 and exempt from taxation under sec12 tion 501(a) of that Code. 

13 (9) PILOT PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘pilot pro14 gram’’ means the pilot program established under 

15 section 4(a). 

16 SEC. 4. PILOT PROGRAM FOR HYPERLOCAL AIR QUALITY 

17 MONITORING PROJECTS IN ENVIRONMENTAL 

18 JUSTICE COMMUNITIES. 

19 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Subject to the availability of 

20 appropriations, the Administrator shall carry out a pilot 

21 program to award, on a competitive basis, grants or con22 tracts to State, local, and Tribal air agencies, in partner23 ship with local nonprofit organizations or eligible 

24 hyperlocal air quality data providers, to carry out projects 


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1 described in subsection (b) for hyperlocal air quality moni2 toring systems in environmental justice communities. 

3 (b) PROJECTS.—A State, local, or Tribal air agency 

4 that receives a grant or contract under the pilot program 

5 shall use amounts received under the grant or contract 

6 to carry out an air quality monitoring project within a geo7 graphical region specified by the State, local, or Tribal air 

8 agency— 

9 (1) to monitor air quality at a level of discrete10 ness capable of monitoring an area that is the small11 er of— 

12 (A) a block; and 

13 (B) a 100-meter radius; 

14 (2) to identify areas of persistent elevated air 

15 pollution levels above a relevant background level; 

16 (3) to regularly monitor air quality using moni17 toring technology that meets the data quality objec18 tives of the Environmental Protection Agency, which 

19 may, in the determination of the Administrator, in20 clude a requirement that the technology qualify as a 

21 Federal Reference Method or a Federal Equivalent 

22 Method; 

23 (4) to resolve changes in ambient levels of rel24 evant air pollutants; 


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1 (5) to generate equity maps by geographical 

2 area, including generating maps using such variables 

3 as demographic data relating to race, ethnicity, and 

4 income level; and 

5 (6) to report hyperlocal air quality data and 

6 mapping tools to— 

7 (A) community residents through an online 

8 platform to increase public awareness and en9 gagement; and 

10 (B) relevant local, State, Tribal, and Fed11 eral air pollution managers to inform manage12 ment decisions, such as the placement or reloca13 tion of stationary air pollution monitors, trans14 portation or land use planning, investments in 

15 mitigating air pollution sources, and other plan16 ning decisions. 

17 (c) PROJECT SELECTION.— 

18 (1) APPLICATIONS.—A State, local, or Tribal 

19 air agency seeking a grant or contract under the 

20 pilot program shall submit to the Administrator an 

21 application at such time, in such manner, and con22 taining such information as the Administrator may 

23 require. 

24 (2) PRIORITIZATION.—In selecting projects to 

25 receive grants or contracts under the pilot program, 


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1 the Administrator shall give priority to projects 

2 that— 

3 (A) would be carried out in areas with high 

4 rates of illness associated with exposure to air 

5 pollution, as determined by the Administrator, 

6 including childhood asthma, adult asthma, 

7 chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart 

8 disease, chronic bronchitis, and cancer; 

9 (B) seek to identify pollution sources 

10 through multipollutant analysis when relevant; 

11 (C) would be able to assess pollution bur12 dens on sensitive individuals who may be at 

13 greater risk of adverse health effects from expo14 sure to the air pollutants to be monitored as 

15 compared to the general population; and 

16 (D) would promote— 

17 (i) public access and transparency of 

18 data; and 

19 (ii) proactive outreach for community 

20 engagement and awareness. 

21 (3) EQUITABLE FUNDING DISTRIBUTION.—A 

22 State, local, or Tribal air agency that receives a 

23 grant or contract under the pilot program shall en24 sure that air quality monitoring projects deployed 

25 using amounts from the grant or contract— 


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1 (A) provide full-time, salaried employment 

2 opportunities, with benefits, to local residents of 

3 environmental justice communities, which may 

4 include employment or training for positions 

5 such as— 

6 (i) air quality monitoring device in7 stallation, maintenance, and calibration 

8 technicians; 

9 (ii) data scientists, atmospheric sci10 entists, chemists, epidemiologists, and so11 cial scientists; 

12 (iii) software developers, engineers, 

13 and interface designers; 

14 (iv) community engagement and com15 munications and outreach specialists; 

16 (v) air quality monitor operators; 

17 (vi) environmental justice organizer; 

18 and 

19 (vii) environmental health advocate; 

20 and 

21 (B) direct not less than 40 percent of the 

22 amount received from the grant or contract to23 ward the employment opportunities described in 

24 subparagraph (A). 


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1 (d) DURATION.—A project carried out using a grant 

2 or contract awarded under the pilot program may not ex3 ceed 5 years in duration. 

4 (e) EVALUATION METRICS.—To evaluate the effec5 tiveness of the pilot program, the Administrator shall es6 tablish, based on the project requirements described in 

7 paragraphs (1) through (6) of subsection (b), metrics and 

8 reporting requirements for grant recipients. 

9 (f) REPORTS.— 

10 (1) ANNUAL REPORTS.—Not later than 180 

11 days after the end of each fiscal year in which the 

12 Administrator carries out the pilot program, the Ad13 ministrator shall submit to Congress a report on the 

14 results of the pilot program for the previous fiscal 

15 year, which shall include, with respect to the fiscal 

16 year covered by the report— 

17 (A) a description of each project awarded 

18 a grant or contract under the pilot program; 

19 (B) a description of the evaluation metrics 

20 established under subsection (e); 

21 (C) the results of and the insights devel22 oped from the monitoring carried out under 

23 projects for which grants or contracts were 

24 awarded under the pilot program; and 


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1 (D) whether the Administrator proposes to 

2 continue air quality monitoring at the locations 

3 monitored by projects for which those grants or 

4 contracts were awarded. 

5 (2) FINAL REPORT.—Not later than 180 days 

6 after the date on which the final project carried out 

7 using a grant or contract awarded under the pilot 

8 program is completed, the Administrator shall sub9 mit to Congress a report that describes the results 

10 of the pilot program, which shall include— 

11 (A) a description of the pilot program; 

12 (B) a description of the air quality moni13 toring data collected under projects that re14 ceived grants or contracts under the pilot pro15 gram; 

16 (C) an assessment of the effectiveness of 

17 the pilot program using the evaluation metrics 

18 established under subsection (e) and informa19 tion received from the reporting requirements 

20 established under that subsection; 

21 (D) a description of the cost of the pilot 

22 program, including an estimate of the cost of 

23 making the pilot program permanent; 

24 (E) an estimate of the cost of expanding 

25 the pilot program to monitor air quality in air 


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1 basins that are adjacent to air basins for which 

2 air quality was monitored under projects that 

3 received grants or contracts under the pilot pro4 gram; and 

5 (F) such recommendations for legislation, 

6 regulation, or administrative action as the Ad7 ministrator considers appropriate, including rec8 ommendations for— 

9 (i) reducing air pollution burdens in 

10 identified hotspots; and 

11 (ii) extending the pilot program or 

12 making the pilot program permanent. 

13 (g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be 

15 appropriated to the Administrator $100,000,000 for 

16 each of fiscal years 2022 through 2027 to carry out 

17 the pilot program. 

18 (2) SUPPLEMENT, NOT SUPPLANT.—Amounts 

19 made available under paragraph (1) shall supple20 ment, and not supplant, other amounts made avail21 able to address harms resulting from air pollution. 

Æ 


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