Rapid City aims to reduce carbon emissions in the city with the help of an EPA grant

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KEVN) - Carbon emissions are what the Environmental Protection Agency grant is trying to help lower, and Rapid City is trying to take advantage of that.

In 2023, the city received $1 million to work on the planning phase of the EPA climate pollution reduction grant, and the data found from the community climate resilience plan that came out of those funds showed two areas producing the most carbon emissions in the city: electricity and cars.

The city is now saying the goal of the grant, if the council chooses to move forward with it, is to target energy consumption and figure out a way to lower it.

“We’re focusing on a few different ones, but primarily energy efficiency and that’s internally with the city and then also with some of our partners, including the Rapid City area schools looking at doing some energy efficiency improvements to their buildings as well as some energy efficiency improvements for local non-profits,” explained Rapid City’s sustainability and stewardship program development manager Lysann Zeller. “We looked at where Rapid City and the state of South Dakota fell overall compared to the nation in terms of our greenhouse gas emissions, and we’re on the high side.”

Getting the information from the Rapid City Community Climate Resiliency Plan was only the first step of the planning grant, and according to Zeller, this part is still in the works as the proposal is on the city council’s agenda for Monday and is focusing on continuing the planning phase of the EPA climate and pollution reduction grant as well as applying for the implementation phase of the grant.

To learn a bit more about the CPRG Implementation Grant overview that the city has made available, you can head to their website, where you’ll also find the grant’s preliminary budget.

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