Clean Air Grants Reduce Air Pollution Exposure of Vulnerable Populations

This year’s grants will help fund the replacement of two (2) diesel school buses with new, zero-emission, electric school buses and the corresponding installation of the necessary electric vehicle charging equipment for these buses. In addition, this year’s grants will help pay for new, lower-emission equipment to replace ten (10) older, higher-pollution diesel engines in agricultural equipment. The total investment in 2020 air quality projects, including the cost-share contributed by grant recipients, will be over $1.8 million. Since 2018, VCAPCD has awarded over $3.6 million in CAP incentives to help businesses operating in Ventura County replace older equipment with cleaner, low-emission equipment.

“Our Community Air Protection Incentive Program focuses on reducing emissions in areas with priority populations such as disadvantaged and low income communities. By replacing diesel school buses with battery-electric, zero- emission buses, we can reduce the exposure to toxic diesel particulate pollution of some of our most vulnerable residents, including young students.” said Dr. Laki Tisopulos, Air Pollution Control Officer of the VCAPCD.

VCAPCD has three separate incentive programs through which grants are awarded to the most cost-effective projects. These grants seek to maximize the

reduction of smog-forming and toxic diesel particulate emissions countywide, with a large portion of the grants focusing on reducing pollution in disadvantaged and low-income communities. The CAP Program Guidelines recommend at least 75 percent of the funds go to disadvantaged communities and another 10 percent go to low-income communities as described in AB 1550. The approved grants exceed these targets, as 100 percent of the proposed projects this year serve communities classified as both disadvantaged and low-income.

The total annual emissions reductions from this year’s grants are 5.05 tons per year of ozone precursors, 0.38 tons per year of diesel particulate matter, and 52 metric tons per year of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas.

VCAPCD will begin accepting applications for next year’s combined incentive program grants in the spring of 2021. If you are interested in being placed on an email list to be notified when applications become available or when community meetings are being held for our incentive programs, please email Miles Bergeson at miles@vcapcd.org and specify the mailing list you wish to subscribe to.

The Ventura County CAP Incentive Program is part of California Climate Investments, a statewide program that puts billions of Cap-and-Trade dollars to work reducing greenhouse gas emissions, strengthening the economy, and improving public health and the environment — particularly in disadvantaged communities.