03.14.22

U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, directed Congressionally Directed Spending allocations to over 65 local projects in Alaska in the Fiscal Year 2022 Consolidated Appropriations Act, which is expected to be signed into law this week. The new Congressionally Directed Spending process restores Alaskans’ ability to have a voice in federal budget decisions by helping to identify and address needs in the state.

Click here for the full list of Congressionally Directed Spending allocations Senator Murkowski both requested and secured for Alaska in the 2022 Consolidated Appropriations Act.

Click here to view a map of the FY22 Congressionally Directed Spending to Alaska.

 

What They’re Saying

 

• Metlakatla: $540,000 to provide the Metlakatla Indian Community with an emergency backup generator.

 “We are thrilled to hear the news that two of Metlakatla’s capital requests have been funded! We thank Senator Murkowski for hearing us and working hard to deliver on these appropriations which are critical to Metlakatla’s economic development, environmental stewardship, and energy security. Senator Murkowski has always been a good, faithful friend and strong ally of ours, like family, like Uncle Ted who we know would be very proud, today, because your victories are Alaska’s victories. So, thank you, Aunty Lisa, for keeping our people close to your heart. We won’t forget it.”

– Albert Smith, Mayor, Metlakatla Indian Community, Annette Islands Reserve

 

• Kenai: $385,000 to implement the community’s wildfire hazard mitigation plan, which includes addressing spruce bark beetle infestation that can lead to catastrophic wildfire. 

 “This funding is critical to the City of Kenai as we look to address the devastating impacts of the spruce bark beetle infestation in our community and mitigate the increasing danger of wildfires created by the vast number of spruce trees killed by the spruce bark beetle. With this funding we will be able to remove thousands of hazardous trees in the City to protect homes and public facilities.”

– Brian Gabriel, Mayor of the City of Kenai

 

• Anchorage (Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium): $27.6 million to the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium to expand the Alaska Native Medical Center Emergency Department.

“We are extremely grateful to Senator Murkowski for securing the funding to expand and renovate the emergency department at the Alaska Native Medical Center (ANMC). This funding will address longstanding limitations in space and appropriate environment of care challenges in the emergency department and for people experiencing a behavioral health crisis. Quyana (thank you) to Senator Murkowski for your tireless work on behalf of Alaska Native people.”

– Valerie Nurr’araaluk Davidson, President/CEO, Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium

 

• Wasilla: $1.5 million to the Mat-Su Food Bank for warehouse renovations and equipment to improve the ability to collect and distribute food to those in need.

 “The MatSu Food Bank is extremely grateful to Senator Murkowski for her recognition of our mission to fight food insecurity for the Alaskan people and the Matanuska Susitna Borough community. The $1,500,000 Congressionally Directed Spending award that she obtained for the Food Bank will allow us to build infrastructure we so desperately need to provide for local emergency food needs. On behalf of the staff, Board of Directors, and volunteers of the MatSu Food Bank, I express our sincerest gratitude to Senator Murkowski for helping us to help our community to fight food insecurity.” 

– Eddie Ezelle, Executive Director, MatSu Food Bank

 

• Juneau: $420,000 for Alaska Heat Smart to support the installation of air-source heat pumps in lower-income households. 

“The Board of Alaska Heat Smart, a Juneau-based nonprofit, thanks Senator Murkowski for her Congressionally Directed grant. This funding will reduce heating costs by about $1,000 annually for more than 50 lower-income Juneau households by replacing inefficient heating systems with heat pumps. This is particularly timely given the recent surge in heating oil costs. Operating on clean hydroelectricity these heat pumps will also improve indoor air quality and contribute to Juneau’s climate goals by reducing carbon emissions.”

– Steve Behnke, President of the Board, Alaska Heat Smart

 

• Kotzebue: $27.7 million to the City of Kotzebue to support the construction of an access road from Kotzebue to Cape Blossom. 

“The funding for the Cape Blossom Road is the next step towards building a deep water port that will help us reduce the cost of goods coming into our community. It will provide much needed economic relief and stimulate economic growth as well. We are grateful for the efforts of Senator Murkowski in supporting Rural Alaskans in this area through this bill.”

– Sandra Shroyer-Beaver, Mayor, City of Kotzebue

 

• Nome: $1.5 million to the Nome Community Center to provide housing and public health services for chronically homeless individuals through the Housing First Project of Nome.

“The Housing First project in Nome will provide permanent supported housing for chronic homeless.  The federal funding for the project helped us to secure the additional funding needed for construction.  If the federal government believed in the project, then state and local funders felt it was viable.  The project was launched by Nome Community Center after years of working on solutions for ending homelessness in Nome.”

– Rhonda Schneider, Executive Director, Nome Community Center

 

• Skagway: $10.2 million to expand capacity at the Wastewater Treatment Plant, which has recently experienced capacity difficulties due to increased use. 

“On behalf of the Municipality of Skagway, I want to sincerely thank our federal delegation for once again working hard to support our community. We are thrilled that $10.2 million has been included in the FY22 appropriations bill for our Wastewater Treatment Plant upgrade; the funding will ensure that we can continue to operate safely for the health and safety of residents and visitors alike.”

– Brad A. Ryan, Skagway Manager, Municipality of Skagway

 

• Fairbanks: $2 million for the University of Alaska Fairbanks to support the research, testing, and evaluation of counter unmanned aerial systems (C-UAS) in law enforcement operations. 

“The Alaska Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration (ACUASI) at the University of Alaska Fairbanks thanks Senator Murkowski for securing $2M for Counter Unmanned Aircraft Systems (C-UAS) research in support of our law enforcement colleagues. We look forward to working with our Alaskan colleagues to identify and test C-UAS technologies that will work in Alaska’s challenging environment to protect law enforcement personnel, assets, and infrastructure from careless, clueless, and criminal UAS activities.”

– Dr. Cathy Cahill, Director, Alaska Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration, Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks

 

• Anchorage (University of Alaska Anchorage): $295,000 to update and expand medical skills workforce labs at UA. 

“The shortage of health care professionals is particularly detrimental to Alaska. We face an aging population, health inequities, as well as high rates of domestic violence and sexual assault. This funding helps UAA grow our health workforce through technology and cutting-edge training for our graduates. We are grateful for Senator Murkowski’s support to strengthen Alaska’s health care workforce.”

– Andre Rosay, Dean of the College of Health at the University of Alaska Anchorage

 

• Sitka: $840,000 to the Sitka Sound Science Center for renovation of educational facilities used for aquaculture training programs. 

“Sitka Sound Science Center is thrilled about this news. We are grateful that Congress is investing in aquaculture education in Alaska through our organization. This facility will support salmon, be a place of learning for generations to come and be a symbol of community spirit in coastal Alaska.” 

– Lisa Busch, Executive Director, Sitka Sound Science Center

 

• Statewide (Sealaska Heritage Institute): $250,000 to increase early literacy among Alaska Native children. 

“I have to thank Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Sen. Dan Sullivan, and Rep. Don Young for their hard work to fund our award-winning early literacy program Baby Raven Reads. This appropriation means we can continue the Baby Raven Reads program, which has been a boon to Native children across Southeast Alaska since it began in 2015. Studies have shown significant progress in early literacy skills among Baby Raven Reads participants, and the family activities and books developed through the program have proven to be a model for early-literacy programs. This program has succeeded because we teach children through the Native world view. They see themselves and their culture in our activities and books, and that makes learning and reading fun for them.” 

– Dr. Rosita Worl, President, Sealaska Heritage Institute

 

• Girdwood: $800,000 toward the construction of a new Community Health Clinic. 

“We are very excited and grateful to Senator Murkowski for her many years of support for healthcare services in Girdwood. This funding will allow us to complete the final phases of our new clinic building so that we will have space to provide fully integrated behavioral health care in addition to primary care. This could include group therapy, support groups and health education seminars and other specialty care for the community. This is a wonderful boost!”

– Tawny Buck, Executive Director, Girdwood Health Clinic

 

• Petersburg Borough: $8 million for the construction of a new hospital. 

“Alaska’s population consists of 32 percent living in isolated rural communities off the road system, which results in unique challenges in providing timely and comprehensive quality healthcare to its residents. Over the past two years, rural community healthcare facilities were critical in maintaining routine operations of preventative, chronic and emergency care while quickly and efficiently mitigating the ever-changing risks of Covid-19. Petersburg Medical Center is a community based critical access hospital, long term care facility, primary care clinic and home health agency. Through its efforts to educate, vaccinate, treat, and care for patients, PMC helped lead the community in keeping its citizens, workers, schools, and economy safe from the disastrous results of Covid. PMC is one of the largest employers on Mitkof Island and is housed in a building that is at the very end of its useful life. This project is critical to the health and economic viability of the Borough of Petersburg and the people who call it home.”

– Phil Hofstetter, Petersburg Medical Center CEO

 

• Juneau: $2 million to Southeast Conference to help establish a pilot program for electric ferries.

 “Since 1958, Southeast Conference has helped guide community, regional, state and national maritime priorities into a ferry system that has historically met the transportation needs of coastal Alaska. This investment is timely and will inform and facilitate strategic implementation of the next generation of a modernized fleet that meets Alaska’s community transportation needs!”

– Robert Venables, Executive Director, Southeast Conference

 

• Wrangell: $2.08 million to the City & Borough of Wrangell to fund a connection pipe between the Upper Reservoir and the Water Treatment Plant as a means of accessing the upper reservoir’s water.

  “We greatly appreciate the work to help get the funding approved.  This project will greatly improve the safety of our upper dam reservoir and assist with the quality of our drinking water.”

– Jeff Good, Borough Manager, City & Borough of Wrangell

 

• Kodiak: $3.25 million to replace a failing wastewater lift station.

 “The City of Kodiak is pleased to receive this funding appropriation spearheaded by Senator Murkowski and supported by our Alaskan Delegation. The residents of Kodiak can be assured infrastructure as important as safe water and sewer are maintained and functioning, allowing our community residents this basic amenity. This $3.25 million will be used to replace our largest wastewater lift station after a catastrophic failure occurred in May 2019. Thank you Senator for your steadfast support of residents of Alaska.”

– Mike Tvenge, Kodiak City Manager

 

• Old Harbor: $1.5 million to provide Emergency Operations Center Grant Program funding to the Alutiiq Tribe of Old Harbor to construct a new tsunami shelter community center.

 “On behalf of the Alutiiq Tribe of Old Harbor, we would like to say Quyanaa ‘Thank you’.  This funding opportunity will help provide a tsunami shelter above the tsunami inundation zone for our community. Most of our main infrastructures are located within the threat zone. During evacuations most of our families are all huddled in their cars and trucks on the landfill road, gas is very expensive so when tsunami warnings go for hours on end, families would turn their vehicles off and sit in the cold to preserve fuel.  The funding for this shelter would be able to provide safe gathering and harboring during a time of crisis and keep our families safe from the elements.”

– Loyd Ashouwak Sr., Alutiiq Tribe of Old Harbor Tribal President

 

• Fairbanks: $5 million for the Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys to support efforts to map coastal and nearshore Alaska.

 “We very much appreciate Senator Murkowski’s strong support for mapping Alaska, including mapping our coastlines and nearshore areas. Many of Alaska’s coastal communities face serious challenges from flooding and erosion, and the basic data needed to help those communities is lacking. These funds will fund the basic mapping and data collection needed to assess and mitigate flooding and erosion impacts, and improve community resilience. The State of Alaska views this as an opportunity to expand our coastal mapping collaborations with NOAA and collectively prioritize the use of these funds to address some of our many overlapping community-focused mapping objectives.”

– Steve Masterman, Outgoing State Geologist & Director of the Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys

 

• Juneau: $2.5 million to United Human Services of Southeast Alaska to build a facility that will host multiple organizations providing public health and social services for vulnerable populations, to be known as the Teal Street Center.

 “We’re delighted Teal Street Center will receive this essential support.  Teal Street Center will be the social services hub that serves thousands of Southeast Alaskans every year, bringing together programs for seniors, low-income households, veterans, youth and people with disabilities on one convenient campus.  This funding will help us complete construction and open the doors for our nine tenant agencies by the end of this year. Senator Murkowski has been a longtime champion of Teal Street Center, and we’re grateful for the time and effort she and her staff have dedicated to supporting social services in Juneau.” 

– Joan O’Keefe, Executive Director, United Human Service of SE Alaska

• Anchorage: $2 million to the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation (AHFC) to support the development of housing units for essential professionals in rural Alaska.

“All Alaskans seek access to safe, quality, affordable housing. In rural communities, too often critical jobs that support community health and wellbeing go unfilled because there’s no place for families to live. We’ve heard stories of teachers who accept jobs in remote Alaska, land and visit their classroom and find out that the school building itself will also serve as their bedroom. The State of Alaska has long committed funds to our Teacher, Health and Public Safety Housing and we’re proud of the 500 units that have been constructed to meet community needs. Senator Murkowski’s announcement of $2 million she secured along with her colleagues for teacher/health professional and public safety housing will support AHFC and the State’s investment, improving health, safety and the lives of Alaska’s youth and elders.”

Bryan Butcher, CEO/Executive Director of Alaska Housing Finance Corporation.

 

• Statewide (CDVSA): $5 million for the Council on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault to provide programmatic support for victim service organizations statewide

“Thank you Senator Murkowski! Your commitment to meeting the needs of victims and survivors of domestic and sexual violence is unsurpassed. CDVSA is grateful for the $5.0 million set aside included in the FFY2022 federal budget, to meet the needs of Alaska programs serving victims, survivors and their families of domestic, sexual and other violent crimes. Due to the significant drop in federal 2021 VOCA funding, CDVSA has struggled to fully fund our 35 community-based grant programs; these one-time funds provide CDVSA with needed time to build a stable budget to support critical programs across Alaska.

– L. Diane Casto, Executive Director of the Council on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault.

 

• Statewide (Fish and Wildlife Service): $750,000 for an Invasive Species Early Detection Rapid Response Strike Team in southcentral Alaska

 “The Service works closely with our partners to protect Alaska’s environment, economies, and ways of life from invasive species. Thanks to a strong statewide partnership, including the state of Alaska, we have been able to keep the number of invasive species in Alaska low. The funding for a new early detection and rapid response team in Southcentral Alaska invests in that successful partnership and will expand capacity in an area at high risk for invasive species introduction and spread.”

– Martha Williams, Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

 

• Ketchikan: $236,000 to Women in Safe Homes (WISH) to support the final stages of construction of the WISH Shelter in Ketchikan.

 “Women In Safe Homes (WISH) has seen an over 20% increase in the number of individuals seeking our service in the past 2 years. The federal funding was critical for the completion of the renovation of the new WISH domestic violence shelter. Our new shelter allows us to provide an ADA accessible, family supportive shelter for victims and their families as they work to move forward with their lives. WISH would not have been able to meet the growing demand for our services in our former location.”

– Agnes Moran, Executive Director, WISH

 

• Bethel: $500,000 to the University of Alaska Anchorage to launch an Alaska Native Science and Engineering Program (ANSEP) Acceleration Academy at the Bethel campus.

 “This is another step towards ANSEP’s goal to provide a quality education and a life of unlimited possibilities for every Alaskan. Together we are making a profound and positive impact on the lives of the students, their families, their communities, the state and within our strategic partner organizations that will endure for generations. I’d like to thank Senator Murkowski for her steadfast support of ANSEP and for providing high-quality educational opportunities in the State of Alaska.”

– Dr. Herb Schroeder, Vice Provost for ANSEP and Founder

 

• Anchorage (Covenant House Alaska): $500,000 to implement a statewide training program to address youth, child, and family homelessness in Alaska.

 “The support from this funding will be transformational for young people who are experiencing homelessness and human trafficking in Alaska. It is our goal to help our statewide partners implement the highly successful, mobile case management program, known as the Permanency Navigator model. Young people in communities all across Alaska will benefit from having individualized navigation services to help them complete their education, land jobs and find permanent housing. This funding will also ensure statewide partners have the data framework to track their outcomes in order to lift the voices of our future generation of leaders. Senator Murkowski has been a tireless advocate for vulnerable young people and we thank her for ensuring all Alaska youth will get access to the support they need.”

– Alison E. Kear, Chief Executive Officer of Covenant House Alaska

 “We are thrilled to receive this much needed support to bring increased coordination and training to agencies serving youth and young adults experiencing homelessness. Alaska is a national leader in innovative service delivery given our unique geographic, transportation, and cost of development challenges. This funding will help agencies across the state have better access to training resources as well as provide unprecedented opportunities for youth with lived experience to continue to be the drivers of our work to prevent and end homelessness.”

– Brian Wilson, Executive Director of the Alaska Coalition on Housing and Homelessness.

• Anchorage: $2 million for the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission to support Alaska fisheries and the adoption of 21st century technology.

“The North Pacific Fisheries Association (NPFA) continues to advocate for the use of electronic monitoring (EM) as a tool to provide informative data to fisheries managers.  NPFA welcomes the news that Senator Lisa Murkowski’s Congressionally Directed Spending (CDS) request for $2 million to the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission for the implementation of EM was included in the FY22 Omnibus Appropriations Legislation. Senator Murkowski and her staff continue to demonstrate a commitment to EM and robust fisheries management data. Thank you.”

– Malcolm Milne, Board President of North Pacific Fisheries Association 

 “On behalf of the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association, I would like to thank Sen. Murkowski for her continued support of electronic monitoring technologies that meet the needs of Alaska’s community based commercial fishermen. Her recent Congressionally Directed Spending (CDS) request of $2 million to the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission to support the purchase of EM systems for use in Alaska’s fisheries will provide at-sea monitoring data that is critical for sustainable fisheries management for years to come.” 

– Linda Behnken Executive Director of the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association

 

• Kodiak: $987,000 for the Alaska Research Consortium to develop a refrigeration certificate training program for Alaska seafood processors.

 “Participants from this program will be highly employable and meet the ongoing demand by the seafood industry for skilled ammonia refrigeration technicians in Alaska. Individuals will receive an industry certificate for each level, clearly stating the skill levels acquired during the training. This will give seafood processing managers a clear understanding of the skill-level of an employee applying to work in ammonia refrigeration.  The program will provide a career path for Alaskans in the seafood industry and ensure that processors have the personnel needed to sustain Alaska’s reputation for the highest quality seafood.”

– Jay Stinson, president of the Alaska Research Consortium.

 

• Wasilla: $23 million to the MyHouse Mat-Su Homeless Youth Center to fund the construction of a commercial building to support programs that offer services to homeless youth, which will be known as the Carson Cottle Center. This project would expand MyHouse’s successful job training programs statewide and offer additional space for the programs offered. 

• Wasilla: $1 million for MyHouse Mat-Su to support additional programmatic services for clients, including job training, sex trafficking recovery support services, as well as transitional housing wrap-around services.

 “MY House will use this funding to fulfill the needs of the homeless youth population we serve by offering a facility to bring together community-based partnerships with local businesses on the ground floor, offering job training and experience to clients and open to the public. This project will also provide office space for additional community partners, needed services for clients, a variety of housing options that are currently not available and will serve difficult-to-house youth and young adults in an effort to prevent adult homelessness in our community and across Alaska. 

 This building is designed to be a sustainable green build by an architect that graduated from local Colony High School, who has a degree from Harvard University in Architecture and won a Time Magazine Award for a building design on Skid Row in Los Angeles. This will be a landmark facility for Alaska being built for our community by MY House, an organization that has received recognition both locally and nationally for effective services and very positive outcomes for homeless youth.”

– Michelle Overstreet, Founder and Executive Director of MY House

 

• Anchorage (United Way of Anchorage): $1 million to make improvements to the 2-1-1 system.

 “Through earthquakes, pandemic, and countless everyday challenges, 2-1-1 has been a crucial lifeline to every Alaskan for 15 years. Today, whether they live in the heart of the city or far off the road system, 2-1-1 has risen to meet the challenge of the pandemic and connect Alaskans with badly needed testing, vaccine appointments, rent and utility help, and so much more. The federal funding that Senator Murkowski secured will allow United Way of Anchorage to expand and improve the 2-1-1 system to meet increasing demand. I thank Senator Murkowski for always putting Alaska first and working to fund Alaskan priorities like 2-1-1 that build more resilient communities.”

– Clark Halvorson, President and CEO of United Way of Anchorage

 

 

###

 

Note: Please do not reply to this email. This mailbox is unattended. For further information, please contact Senator Murkowski’s press office at 202-224-9301. Visit our website at http://murkowski.senate.gov

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Originally Appeared Here

Pandemic Created Consumer Awareness, Increased Demand for Indoor Air Quality Solutions | 2022-03-14 | ACHR News

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SPONSORED

The Path to Better Indoor Air Quality – Improved Monitoring for CO2, Ventilation and More

• By Mary Furto
• Mar 14, 2022

Whether you have employees returning to in-person work or students going back to in-person learning, monitoring and maintaining indoor air quality (IAQ) is critical. More people are paying attention to air quality in the spaces we use for work, school, entertainment and travel, and building owners are looking for ways to create cleaner air to instill occupant confidence.

According to a 2021 Honeywell survey, data shows that the COVID-19 pandemic will likely have a lasting impact on facility management and operations. Three-quarters (75%) of surveyed U.S. facility managers indicate that COVID-19 prompted their facility to rethink its modes of operation. COVID-19 is also driving facility managers to adjust their priorities and investments. For example, 62% are more likely to invest in indoor air quality optimization and other healthy building solutions than in pre-pandemic times.

Getting back to workplaces, restaurants and schools goes beyond the simple reopening of buildings. It involves innovative solutions to provide appropriate air quality monitoring, ventilation and filtration.

The importance of good air quality
All over the United States, decision makers are taking steps to make evidence-based, long-term improvements to IAQ to help reassure people that they have taken steps to make their spaces safer, not only to reopen public spaces responsibly, but also to keep them open.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) studies consistently show that indoor air pollution ranks among the top environmental risks to public health and indoor levels of pollutants may be two to five times higher than outdoor levels. As the colder fall and winter months are ahead of us and more people will rely on indoor gathering spaces rather than outdoor, it is important to look into ways to improve IAQ.

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Not many people can say the pandemic has made their jobs easier. But in some ways, Tracy Enger can.

“You know, it is such a hallelujah moment, absolutely,” says Enger, who works at the Environmental Protection Agency’s Indoor Environments Division. For more than 25 years, she’s been fighting to improve the air quality inside of America’s schools.

But there are lots of competing demands for limited school budgets. And in the past, getting school districts to prioritize indoor air quality hasn’t been easy. Often, she says, it took some kind of crisis to get schools to focus on the issue – “when they found the mold problem, when their asthma rates were kind of going through the roof.”

Then came the COVID-19 pandemic — spread by virus particles that can build up in indoor air and linger, sometimes for hours. Key to clearing out those infectious particles: good ventilation and filtration. For example, one study of Georgia schools linked improved ventilation strategies, combined with HEPA filtration, to a 48 percent lower rate of COVID.

Suddenly – finally – lots of people have started to pay attention to indoor air quality in schools, says Anisa Heming, director of the Center for Green Schools at the U.S. Green Building Council.

“It matters more to people right now,” says Heming. “COVID is this immediate threat that has made air quality immediately relevant.”

That’s why she and other indoor air-quality experts say the Biden administration’s new National COVID-19 Preparedness Plan is a step in the right direction: It specifically highlights the need to help schools upgrade their ventilation systems for the long term, using funding from the American Rescue Plan Act.

Heming says in the past, it’s been hard to make a health case for improving air quality in schools, because the health impacts tend to be longer term. But a whole body of research shows the health and academic benefits are substantial – and go beyond COVID. When a room is better ventilated, influenza rates, asthma attacks and absenteeism go down, reading and math test scores go up. Less carbon dioxide builds up in a room, which helps students think more clearly.

“It’s well documented across all different countries and all different ages,” says Joseph Allen, director of the Healthy Buildings program at Harvard University. “We see benefits in kindergarteners, we see benefits in high school, we see benefits in college students and middle schoolers – every age group.”

Allen says understanding these long-term benefits of upgrading ventilation is vital, “because an investment right now is not just a short-term investment for COVID. If a school does this right, they can expect not only years, but decades of benefits to health beyond reductions in infectious disease transmission.”

And experts say those investments are desperately needed, because most U.S. schools are poorly ventilated to begin with. The average American school is over 45 years old, and many have HVAC systems that are outdated or need repairs, according to a 2020 report from the Government Accountability Office. Some schools are so old, they don’t even have mechanical ventilation systems.

“I don’t think a lot of people recognize that the design standards [that govern ventilation rates in schools and other buildings] are bare minimums. They were never actually set for health,” says Allen.

Carl Thurnau knows all too well just how bad deferred school maintenance can get. Several years ago, a classroom ceiling actually collapsed at a school in the City School District of New Rochelle, New York. That’s when the district recruited Thurnau, an engineer, to become its director of facilities to oversee a $106 million overhaul of buildings – a process that was already funded and in motion when COVID struck. That money meant the school district could quickly pivot to implement ventilation upgrades in response to COVID.

Having funding in place “is why we were able to get ahead of this – and in my opinion, stay ahead,” Thurnau says. But “there’s no doubt that districts with less financial resources are struggling to find the money to solve some of these problems.”

Ventilation and green building experts have been offering schools guidance on how to improve their air quality to reduce COVID risk since the early days of the pandemic, even before the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention acknowledged the virus could spread through the air. Broadly speaking, Allen says, the advice boils down to three major things: increasing the amount of outdoor air in a classroom; using higher-efficiency MERV filters in HVAC systems; and supplementing these measures with portable air cleaners with HEPA filters.

But two years in, it’s unclear how many schools have actually made these changes. That information isn’t tracked at the federal level, though some reports hint at the challenges schools have faced. What’s clear, says Allen, is that while a lot of schools have taken steps to improve ventilation, many others haven’t. “Some haven’t done the basic measures, the stopgap measures,” Allen says.

Heming says schools have been able to tap federal funds for ventilation upgrades since late December 2020, and the American Rescue Plan Act, passed in March 2021, made a lot more money – $122 billion – available to schools for this and other pandemic-related purposes.

So why have many schools been slow to act when it comes to indoor air quality? Last year, the Center for Green Schools published a survey of more than 47 school districts representing 2.5 million students in 24 states. The vast majority of them said they prefer to invest in long-term solutions rooted in revamping or replacing their HVAC systems.

But with so many old and outdated school buildings, Heming says “these strategies that schools need to use require that they do pretty major renovations.”

That kind of work takes many months to plan and contract. In many cases, she says, those plans are only being firmed up now. And a recent survey found many school districts are worried that they won’t be able to complete the work by a September 2024 deadline under the law, especially because of supply chain issues and labor and material shortages.

Stopgap measures like opening windows or using portable air cleaners really do work to improve indoor air quality, Heming says, but they can only take schools so far. For example, open windows aren’t realistic when outdoor temperatures are freezing, she says, and in humid regions, they can pull in more humidity, promoting the growth of mold.

And while many school districts have invested in stand-alone portable air cleaners, they come with their own headaches, says Heming: The units can be disruptively noisy and they need to be stored and maintained over time.

In general, she says, the school districts that were able to move quickest to improve their air ventilation and filtration in response to the pandemic were those that already had money available to upgrade their facilities, and in many cases, they’d already assessed their buildings and knew which ones needed work.

But there are some encouraging signs that more schools may be catching up soon. An analysis released in February by FutureEd, a think tank at Georgetown University, found that school districts already had plans in place to spend about $4.4 billion on HVAC updates, and if trends continue, that could reach nearly $10 billion. Another FutureEd analysis found that high-poverty districts are more likely to plan to use federal funds to upgrade aging ventilation systems.

The EPA’s Tracy Enger says interest in the agency’s guidance on indoor air quality for school has skyrocketed over the last year. “What we are seeing is this moment turning into a movement for improving indoor air quality in schools and creating healthier learning spaces,” she says.

Heming says she’s also optimistic, but her enthusiasm is tempered. She notes that the $122 billion of American Rescue Plan funds designated for schools has to pay for a host of pandemic-related needs – from hiring more staff to summer school programs – not just ventilation upgrades.

Even if every last dime of the American Rescue Plan funds for schools were spent on facilities, “it’s still a big gap between that and what’s actually needed,” Heming says. A 2021 report found that each year, districts spend $85 billion less than what’s needed to get schools into good condition.

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Air Cleaning Technologies, Inc. offers premium air handler unit maintenance and restoration services.

This press release was orginally distributed by ReleaseWire

Sterling, VA — (ReleaseWire) — 03/14/2022 — Air Cleaning Technologies, Inc. offers a host of environmental and indoor air quality services. The professionals of this company carry out projects in government and commercial buildings, hospitals, laboratories, and various facilities. In addition to testing, cleaning, maintaining, and restoring systems, Air Cleaning Technologies, Inc. also helps design and develop new systems to solve specific environmental challenges.

Air Handler Units are meant to improve air quality delivered through an HVAC system. Much like any other machine, their regular use leads to wear and tear. As a result, many Air Handler Units develop water leaks. The effectiveness of these units gets considerably reduced due to such issues. Any contamination resulting from the deterioration of the unit is circulated via the HVAC system. To steer clear of such eventualities, timely maintenance of the unit is needed.

Air Cleaning Technologies, Inc. is one of the leading service providers of air handler maintenance in Manassas and McLean, Virginia. Their professionally trained technicians can clean, sanitize and seal existing air handlers so they can continue to contribute to a clean, comfortable indoor air environment at any facility. They even conduct before and after biological sampling to ensure that an air handling unit is properly and entirely cleaned and sanitized. Air Cleaning Technologies, Inc. caters to large institutions and small commercial facilities.

In case air handler units are not properly maintained, then they can become non-functional over time. In this situation, the technicians of Air Cleaning Technologies, Inc. can provide air handler unit restoration in Manassas and Tysons, Virginia. They can carry out a proper inspection of the unit and provide a detailed condition report that helps their clients to understand whether they should opt to restore their unit or replace it.

Give Air Cleaning Technologies, Inc. a call at 703-547-1680 to reach out to them.

About Air Cleaning Technologies, Inc.
Air Cleaning Technologies, Inc. offers a host of air quality solutions to the people of Annadale, Arlington, Fairfax, Falls Church, Reston, Sterling, and many of their nearby areas.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/air-cleaning-technologies-inc-offers-expert-assistance-for-air-handler-maintenance-in-manassas-and-mclean-virginia-1354439.htm

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