Cheyenne River nonprofit receives federal funding to monitor air quality on reservation

Just over $400,000 in federal funds for air quality monitoring will soon land on the Cheyenne River Reservation.

Funds were awarded to the Keya Foundation, an Eagle Butte-based nonprofit that aims to “empower underserved communities in South Dakota through education, social health and cultural renewal,” according to its website. The funding will help the organization monitor the air for fine particulate matter such as trace metals and mercury vapor in and around Eagle Butte, Timber Lake and Cherry Creek.

The grant is one of 132 air monitoring projects in 37 states that will receive a combined $53.4 million from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — the largest investment for community air monitoring in EPA history, according to a news release — through the Inflation Reduction Act and American Rescue Plan.

“This funding will help address air quality information gaps in and near underserved communities on the Cheyenne River Reservation, building tribal capacity and providing community members with more data about the air they breathe” said EPA Regional Administrator KC Becker said in the release. “The data this project produces will help the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal community more closely evaluate potential pollution concerns and opportunities to address them.” 

Biden’s executive order and initiative “Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad” directed that 40% of the overall benefits of certain federal investments go toward “overburdened communities that face disproportionately high and adverse health and environmental impacts.”