MDEQ Clean Air Mississippi Project (CAMP)
The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) is leading the Clean Air Mississippi Project (CAMP) in partnership with the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians (MBCI) Office of Environmental Protection (MBCI/OEP) and invites you to be involved. CAMP is a statewide clean air planning initiative funded by separate Climate Pollution Reduction Grants awarded to both MDEQ and OEP by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). It is an opportunity to support job creation and lower energy costs for families, and deliver cleaner air in places where you live, work, play, and go to school.
Through CAMP, the State of Mississippi and the Choctaw Tribe will have the opportunity to gain access to almost $5 billion in competitive grant funding. The goal is to address existing and new community, government, industry, and/or non-governmental projects aimed at improving air quality and reducing emissions that could contribute to climate change.
CAMP has two phases. In the first phase, MDEQ is using a portion of the grant funds to develop a new, statewide Priority Climate Action Plan (Priority Plan). With input from participating agencies as well as Mississippi and Tribal residents, this plan will be built using existing climate, energy, and sustainability programs and will be completed and submitted to EPA by March 1, 2024. Shortly thereafter, the State of Mississippi and OEP will have the opportunity to submit proposals for the competitive implementation grant dollars, which will fund a focused list of high-priority measures identified in the Priority Plan.
In the second phase, MDEQ and OEP will lead development of Comprehensive Climate Action Plans (Comprehensive Plan) to fully cover state and tribal lands, expanding on the work from the Priority Plan and providing a pathway to deliver on cleaner air and lower energy costs for Mississippi and Tribal residents and partners.
Your input is needed to help guide the CAMP initiative. MDEQ and OEP welcome all input, from simple pollution reduction ideas to more complete concepts, including shovel-ready projects.
Let us hear from you! Together we are creating a healthy, thriving future for Mississippi.
Planning
MDEQ is leading Mississippi’s planning activities for CAMP and will develop the statewide Priority Plan by March 1, 2024, and the statewide Comprehensive Plan by summer of 2025. The Comprehensive Plan will expand on the Priority Plan by considering Mississippi’s air pollution and gas emission sources. Throughout the process, MDEQ is collaborating with the MBCI/OEP, which also received funding for its own clean air planning initiative.
Priority Plan
The Priority Plan will identify main sources of Mississippi’s air pollution and potential reduction measures. To do this, MDEQ and OEP will collaborate with municipalities, other state agencies, non-governmental organizations, businesses, and other partners in Mississippi to develop a list of voluntary measures and incentives that can be included in the Priority Plan. We need to hear your project ideas to help ensure priorities are identified and Mississippi entities can apply for implementation funding. Check out potential project types here , then give us your input by taking our quick, five-minute survey.
Also, state and local government entities are eligible to apply and compete for implementation funding for reduction measures identified in the Priority Plan. For more information on the implementation grant opportunity visit EPA’s website.
Comprehensive Plan
The Comprehensive Plan is due two years following the planning grant award. It will touch on all significant emission reduction goals and provide strategies and identify measures for achieving those goals. As with the Priority Plan, MDEQ, coordinating entities, and other partners will work collaboratively to complete the plan. The Comprehensive Plan is expected to be submitted to the EPA in June 2025.
