Heartland Environmental Justice Center
IEC is participating as an organizational partner for the Heartland Environmental Justice Center (HEJC), a technical assistance center offering customized support to strengthen communities’ ability to identify challenges, plan and implement solutions, and work towards achieving their community goals.
Environmental justice and energy justice are already core components of our work, including an expanding set of resources and programs aimed at supporting communities in Iowa as they look to access federal funding, and as state agencies and other designated entities work to distribute benefits of funding according to Justice40 principles. The center was created to serve EPA region 7 which consists of Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and nine tribal nations through the Environmental Justice Thriving Communities Technical Assistance Center (EJ TCTAC) model. This collaboration with the HEJC expands that work even more, serving more communities and building the capacity of more environmental justice partners in Iowa.
IEC is a community connector to engage partner organizations, environmental justice leaders, and communities across Iowa, urban and rural, linking them with the center and its resources, namely for issues and project funding of pertaining to water quality, water quantity, and energy justice.
We will provide support to communities as they address the myriad of issues, including:
- costs of maintaining rural water infrastructure
- replacement of lead service lines
- safety of drinking water
- access to safe recreational waters
- energy burdens
- energy efficiency and electrification
- siting of distributed and utility-scale renewables
- siting of transmission lines
- transitions for coal plant communities and workers
- access to clean energy jobs
Learn more about the Heartland Environmental Justice Center.