January—February 2020

Serving Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, Pacific Islands, 148 Tribal Nations

A New Regional Administrator

Regional Administrator John Busterud spoke at an all-hands meeting during his first week at EPA.John Busterud was appointed Regional Administrator of EPA’s Pacific Southwest region in February. Mr. Busterud has over 30 years of experience as an environmental and energy attorney. He is also a retired U.S. Army Colonel with multiple Combined, Joint and Interagency assignments, including active duty deployments in support of Operations Iraqi Freedom, Enduring Freedom and Combined Forces Command on the Korean Peninsula.

• About the Regional Administrator

Investing in Water Infrastructure

EPA’s Pacific Southwest Regional Water Division Director, Tomás Torres (sitting, left), shakes hands with John Powell Jr., President of the Board, Coachella Valley Water District.EPA recently announced a $59 million Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act loan to the Coachella Valley Water District to help finance stormwater channel improvements that will better manage heavy rains to protect communities’ surface waters and public health.

• Patch: Loan Helps Fix Coachella Valley FloodingExit
• Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act

Cleaner Trucks for Arizona

Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego (center) and other officials at the Cleaner Trucks Initiative event in Arizona.In January, at an event with Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego, EPA, state and local officials, along with the American Trucking Association, announced steps to advance the national Cleaner Trucks Initiative (CTI) in Arizona. The CTI aims to establish, through rulemaking, more stringent emissions standards to reduce nitrogen oxide and other pollutants from heavy-duty truck engines.

• Patch: Phoenix Replacing More Diesel-Fueled Garbage Trucks With Natural Gas OnesExit
• Cleaner Trucks Initiative