Two projects in Virginia are getting a combined influx of more than half a billion dollars to fight climate change.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Monday revealed the winners of the highly competitive Climate Pollution Reduction Grants.
They include $100 million for the Virginia departments of energy and environmental quality to cut emissions of methane, one of the most potent greenhouse gases.
Virginia and North Carolina are also part of a multi-state coalition getting $421 million to boost wetlands and forests that naturally store carbon dioxide.
The two projects were among a couple dozen chosen from nearly 300 applications nationwide, according to the EPA. The CPRG program was created through the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, the Biden administration’s landmark climate legislation.
The grants “deliver unprecedented resources” to communities to design their own climate solutions, EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in a statement Monday. “Selected recipients have put forward ambitious plans.”
Targeting methane
Virginia previously received $3 million through the program to develop a Priority Climate Action Plan outlining a path toward cutting climate-warming greenhouse gases and transitioning to renewable energy.
This week’s funding allows the state to start implementing some of those plans, specifically on methane.
While carbon dioxide makes up a large majority of the state’s emissions – about 80% – several other greenhouse gases contribute to climate change, especially methane, which is 28 times more potent at trapping heat in the atmosphere.
The gas is often generated by agriculture, wastewater treatment plants and landfills as organic materials break down and decay.
Virginia environmental officials will use the new money to capture and reuse methane from abandoned and active coal mines in southwest Virginia and landfills around the state. The captured gas can be used for natural gas or electricity at nearby facilities.
The state also plans to fund up to 20 programs at colleges and universities to compost food waste and rescue edible food for people in need before it’s thrown away.
Leveraging natural resources
The larger, regional grant is going to an effort called the Atlantic Conservation Coalition. It’s led by the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources but includes Virginia, South Carolina and Maryland.
The group aims to “leverage the carbon sequestration power of natural and working lands,” according to the EPA.
Carbon sequestration is the process of capturing and storing carbon dioxide that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere. Trees, wetlands, soil and seagrasses do this naturally. (And when they are cut down or destroyed, that carbon goes back into the atmosphere.)
The Atlantic coalition aims to launch 21 projects to restore tens of thousands of acres of forests, coastal habitats and agricultural land.
The Hampton Roads Planning District Commission, which represents 17 local cities and counties, helped the coalition identify $20 million worth of such projects, including from Hampton, Newport News, James City County and the Port of Virginia.
The commission applied for its own implementation grant from the EPA after developing a regional climate action plan earlier this year, but did not receive one this week.
The EPA estimates that by 2050, the methane reduction and carbon sequestration projects could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by a combined 60 million metric tons.
