The Future Pima County Climate Pollution Reduction Plan

Make your voice heard for what the Pima County Climate Pollution Reduction Plan looks like. Provide input here!

In mid-2023, Pima County was awarded one million dollars as part of Phase 1 of the EPA’s Climate Pollution Reduction Grants. [1] Between now and March 1, 2024, the Pima County Department of Environmental Quality (PDEQ) is tasked with using that funding to create a Priority Climate Action Plan, to be submitted to the EPA in an application for Phase 2 grants— a competition for between 2 to 500 million dollars in funding to implement those plans. [2]

In 2018, Pima County adopted their current Sustainable Action Plan (SAPCO). [3] While an ambitious first step towards progress, it lacked the funding now made available through the Climate Pollution Reduction Grants. The work that went into SAPCO is now doubly paying off, as it provides good scaffolding for what will be included in the Priority Plan for the next phase of EPA grants. However, the planning phase is not yet over.

As part of the planning process, PDEQ needs as much public input as possible to determine the arrangement of the Priority Plan’s provisions. [4] All Pima County citizens will benefit from a plan that reflects the sum of their values and unique perspectives. Please take the PDEQ survey, and forward it to your friends and fellow Pima County residents! The survey takes approximately 16 minutes to complete.

Click here to take the survey.

This is a victory for all those concerned with the challenges of climate change and an economy dependent on fossil fuels. In Arizona, where state agencies are prohibited from regulating greenhouse gas emissions, [5] initiatives like those funded by the Climate Pollution Reduction Grants are among the most hopeful prospects for progress. Thank you to PDEQ for working hard to obtain the initial funding, and for all the future effort on this next phase. We look forward to seeing what will manifest in the years to come.

More information on Pima County’s Climate Action Plan can be found here.

The 2018 SAPCO details can be found here.

[1] Pima Cnty., Pima County: Climate Pollution Reduction Plan, https://engagepimacounty.civilspace.io/en/projects/climate-pollution-reduction-plan (last visited November 16, 2023); see also U.S. Envtl. Prot. Agency, About CPRG Planning Grant Information, https://www.epa.gov/inflation-reduction-act/about-cprg-planning-grant-information (last visited November 16, 2023).

[2] U.S. ENVTL. PROT. AGENCY, Climate Pollution Reduction Grants Program:

Implementation Grants General Competition,

https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2023-09/CPRG%20General%20Competition%20NOFO.pdf.

[3] Pima Cnty., Sustainable Action Plan (SAPCO),  https://www.pima.gov/759/Sustainable-Action-Plan-SAPCO

 [4] https://engagepimacounty.civilspace.io/en/projects/climate-pollution-reduction-plan (last visited November 16, 2023).

[5] Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 49-191.