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Six Appalachian Communities to Benefit from EPA Grant

Release Date: 07/28/2009
Contact Information: Donna Heron 215-814-5113 / [email protected]

PHILADELPHIA (July 27, 2009) – Funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to Wheeling Jesuit University (WJU) will help six Appalachian communities tackle environmental problems. EPA awarded a $269,374 Community Action for a Renewed Environment (CARE) grant to WJU for environmental health work in Mud River, Prenter, Cabin Creek Anstead, Logan and Varney, W.Va.

“This funding enables these communities in southern West Virginia to focus on problems they deem more important, and to be part of the solutions for sustaining their towns,” said William C. Early, acting administrator for EPA’s mid-Atlantic region.

This is the second CARE grant awarded to WJU. The first grant allowed WJU to conduct an assessment of the communities which helped local groups identify 140 environmental concerns.

WJU will use this second grant to focus on specific problems including impacts from mining and coal slurry; water and wastewater management; reducing exposure to toxins; and developing new expertise in community medicine. Some communities will have their drinking water sampled to determine its safety. The work will be done under the umbrella of the collective community organization Appalachia CARE Partnership.

The CARE grant program supports community-based solutions to environmental problems. For more information: www.epa.gov/air/care/basic.htm.