Bay Area Air District outlines how $125 million in penalty funds could flow back to Richmond neighborhoods

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District told neighborhood leaders in Richmond on Monday that it has established a Community Investments Office to direct penalties and settlement funds back into communities harmed by pollution and that draft local guidelines will be released in October.

The district’s board member and Contra Costa County Supervisor John Gioia and Emmy Wang, the district’s new community investments officer, outlined how the policy will allocate roughly $124–125 million collected through enforcement settlements and penalties and said the office will prioritize funding projects that reduce air pollution and improve health in impacted neighborhoods.

The district presented a multi-tier allocation structure that determines where money goes depending on the size of a penalty. According to the presentation, the first $100,000 of a penalty goes to the district budget to cover enforcement up to an annual budget cap; penalties from $100,000 to $1,000,000 are split with 50% to the district budget and the remainder distributed between regional and local community benefits funds; and penalties above $1,000,000 would be split roughly 20% to a regional fund and 80% to local community benefits…