# Environmental Justice Air Quality Monitoring Act of 2021

This bill requires the federal government to set up better air quality monitoring systems in neighborhoods that have historically been overlooked or neglected. The core idea is that some communities—often lower-income areas and communities of color—have been exposed to worse air pollution for decades without adequate measurement or attention. This bill aims to fix that by making sure the government actually knows what the air quality is like in these places.

Specifically, the bill directs the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to identify areas that face disproportionate air pollution exposure and then install or upgrade air quality monitoring equipment in those neighborhoods. This means putting sensors and monitoring stations in places that might currently have little to no data about pollution levels. The bill also requires the EPA to make this information publicly available so residents can see what they're breathing and hold polluters accountable. Additionally, it calls for the EPA to work with local communities when deciding where to place monitors, ensuring that the people actually living in these areas have a say in how their air quality is measured.

The practical impact is significant for people living in environmental justice communities. Right now, if there's no monitor in your neighborhood, the government has no official record of pollution levels there—which makes it harder to prove there's a problem and harder to push for cleanup. This bill changes that by requiring actual data collection. For businesses and industries that pollute, it means increased scrutiny in areas they may have previously operated with less oversight. For everyone else, it's about transparency and accountability: communities will finally have concrete information about the air they breathe, which can drive policy changes and hold polluters responsible.

Environmental Justice Air Quality Monitoring Act of 2021

Markey, Edward J.

Environmental Justice Air Quality Monitoring Act of 2021 This bill requires the Environmental Protection Agency to implement a pilot program to award, on a competitive basis, grants or contracts to state, local, and tribal air agencies to carry out specified projects for hyperlocal air quality monitoring systems in environmental justice communities (i.e., communities with significant representation of communities of color, low income communities, or tribal and indigenous communities that experience, or are at risk of experiencing, higher or more adverse human health or environmental effects). A project carried out using a grant or contract awarded under the pilot program may not exceed five years in duration.