nick.nigro@atlaspolicy.com

In Southwest Atlanta, Georgia, an innovative Black church has transformed their Vicars Community Center into the city's first solar-powered community resilience hub using federal funds from the Inflation Reduction Act. This initiative, a partnership with clean energy nonprofit Groundswell, equips the center with solar panels and battery storage, ensuring power for up to three days during emergencies. The hub provides critical services such as charging devices, refrigerating medications, and storing life-saving medical devices. Additionally, the church anticipates saving $6,000 annually on energy costs while significantly reducing carbon emissions.

Albemarle has been awarded a $9 million tax credit to support the Silver Peak Lithium Project (SPLP), which will expand the production of lithium carbonate production at the company's facility in Nevada. This project addresses a priority area of the U.S. to increase manufacturing capacity and quality jobs to secure domestic supply chains for critical materials that serve clean energy needs. Issued through the Qualifying Advanced Energy Project Credit (48C) Program, this tax credit is part of the Inflation Reduction Act and falls under the Department of Treasury, bureau of Internal Revenue Service.

Commún, a community-led organization in southwest Denver, has received a $20 million grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Community Change Grants Program. The funds will be used to develop the Loretto Heights Resiliency Hub and Community Center, a 40,000-square-foot building at the historic Loretto Heights campus. The center will offer community-designed programming, shelter and crucial services during emergencies, and educational activities. Key features will include a rooftop solar panel, energy storage, air-source heat pumps, and charging stations for electric vehicles and bikes. This investment is part of the largest climate justice initiative in history.

Woodland Public Schools will roll out a fleet of electric school buses by the 2025-26 school year. The district received $4.2 million in federal grants through the EPA’s Clean School Bus Program to replace 15 diesel buses.

The University of Northern Iowa’s Iowa Waste Reduction Center has received a $175,000 grant from the EPA’s Pollution Prevention Grant Program to help breweries become more environmentally friendly. The grant will allow the center to train technical assistance providers at universities in Nebraska, Missouri, and Kansas based on its successful Iowa Green Brewery Certification program.

DeKalb County School Board has approved a $9.4 million purchase of more than two dozen new electric school buses, with funding from the EPA’s Clean Bus Program. The new electric buses will serve routes in some of the most underserved zip codes in the county such as Tucker, Stone Mountain, Decatur, Redan, and Lithonia.

Dayton schools announced they will transition to an all-electric fleet of school buses starting next week. The district received a $1.5 million federal grant from the EPA's Clean School Bus Program to purchase four Thomas Built Saf-T-Liner C2 Jouley electric buses and three Proterra level 3 charging stations.

The Biden-Harris Administration has awarded $12 million in funding to several school districts in Tennessee, including Metro Nashville Public Schools, to replace diesel school buses with electric ones. This grant is part of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Clean School Bus Program.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) marked the delivery of 13 new electric school buses to the El Dorado Springs R-2 School District in southwestern Missouri. The initiative was made possible by more than $5 million in funding from the EPA’s 2022 Clean School Bus Rebate program.

The Biden-Harris Administration announced over $12 million in funding for Livingston and Jefferson Parish to purchase 45 zero-emission vehicles. This initiative is part of the EPA's Clean Heavy-Duty Vehicles Grant Program, created by the Inflation Reduction Act. Jefferson Parish will receive $7.1 million to replace 25 diesel school buses with zero-emission electric buses, while Livingston Parish will receive $5.6 million to replace 20 diesel school buses. The funding will also support the installation of necessary charging infrastructure. This effort aims to reduce air pollution, improve air quality, and create good-paying jobs.