Sac Metro Air District highlights community-focused supplemental environmental projects, selects two new grants

Angela Thompson, a program manager in the district's engineering and compliance division, told the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District board on Aug. 28 that the district's Supplemental Environmental Projects (SEP) program allows violators to fund community-benefiting projects to offset up to 50% of penalty amounts. "They are legally required elements of air quality enforcement programs," Thompson said, describing SEPs as projects that must benefit the public, improve air quality, have a nexus to the violation, go above and beyond compliance and not benefit the violator.

The program has prioritized projects in AB 617 communities and other historically underserved neighborhoods. Thompson reviewed completed SEPs including a Midtown Association carbon footprint reduction program (which replaced two gas-powered trucks with zero-emission vehicles, swapped a gas generator for solar, installed bike racks and drought-tolerant planters) and a SAC 350 air-filtration project that provided workshops and materials enabling families to build low-cost box-fan air filtration systems; the filtration effort served more than 600 families. She also described a near-complete mutual assistance network project at the Firehouse Community Center in Del Paso Heights that removed asphalt and installed native drought-tolerant landscaping to reduce urban heat island effects.

Thompson said the district recently received $518,000 in SEP funding and issued a solicitation in May 2025. From that solicitation staff selected two projects for funding and kept a project list with remaining proposals available for future funding. The selected projects are:

- South Sacramento Tree Alliance (Sacramento Tree Foundation, partnered with United Latinos): a project the district described as aiming to plant 1,000 trees in South Sacramento neighborhoods, provide bilingual outreach and education, engage more than 500 residents and businesses, and pair tree planting with green workforce pathways and civic engagement along Franklin Boulevard.

- Sacramento Community EV Evolution campaign (ET Community): a community-focused outreach and education campaign to promote inclusive electric mobility, highlight electrification opportunities, and deliver four community gatherings and three to six listening sessions tailored to community needs.

Jessica Sanders, executive director of the Sacramento Tree Foundation, addressed the board during the SEP item and described barriers the foundation seeks to remove, including watering and maintenance costs and limited planting space. "The goal of this funding is to remove the barriers of planting trees so that tree lined neighborhoods are the norm in our region, not the exception," Sanders said, adding the project plans to use locally milled wood for planter boxes and to provide planting and watering services where communities need them.

Thompson said the district prioritizes projects that align with the AB 617 community air protection work and district goals and that SEP funds are intentionally flexible and limited to fill gaps where no other funding exists. She closed by inviting questions; none were raised during the board presentation.

The board did not take a formal vote on the SEP presentations during the Aug. 28 session; Thompson said staff had selected two projects for funding following the solicitation and that remaining proposals remain available for future funding opportunities.