BOZEMAN — Montana State University was awarded a $350,000 grant for pollution prevention on Monday. This grant is going to be used to support pollution prevention and reducing polluting sources.
Jennie Romer, the Deputy Assistant Administrator for Pollution Prevention with the EPA says grants like these help with “reduced water, to find energy efficiency savings, for reduction of harmful chemicals.”
This grant will work closely with businesses to reduce pollution at its source. The funding from this grant will in large part go to the Native American Studies Department at MSU.
The American Indian Hall at MSU is already working to prevent pollution and limiting their carbon footprint.
“It's the first 4.1 LEED platinum building in the state of Montana," says MSU Director of Pollution Prevention Program, Jenny Grossenbacher, "So it's really as impressive water and energy savings.”
With this grant money, the Native American Studies Department will be able to focus on making their pollution prevention programs better than ever.
"This has given us new funding that's enabled us to start some new programs and help grow and expand the program and take it to a whole nother level," says Grossenbacher.
MSU is also working closely with tribes to find the best ways to minimize their environmental impact.
“With this new funding, we decided to work with some tribal partners to help try to find a more holistic and place based approach to the pollution prevention framework that would be more applicable on tribal land,” says Grossebacher.
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law added $100 million to the Environmental Protection Agencies pollution prevention program, and MSU was welcomed into the first cycle.
Traditional native sage smudging ceremony:
