Kansas City Receives $225,000 Grant

Kansas City metro area officials recently launched a Sustainable Skylines initiative to improve area air and water quality. The EPA provided $225,000 for demonstration projects showcasing methods for saving energy, reducing air pollution and cleaning up storm water runoff.

Communities will collaborate with the Mid-America Regional Council to develop projects over the next three years. "The EPA will provide the seed money, but we cannot do this without the collaborations of local citizens," said John Askew, a regional administrator.

Plans for environmental improvement include: parking lots with trees and vegetated swales for filtering runoff and cooling summer temperatures; native landscaping to reduce lawn mowing and watering; solar energy panels for public buildings; curbside recycling programs and more.

Kansas City and Dallas are the first two EPA-selected metro areas for Sustainable Skylines pilot programs.

Source: The Kansas City Star