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Congresswoman Veronica Escobar (TX-16), introduced H.R. 9026, the Climate Adaptation Plan Act of 2022 (CAP Act). This legislation directs the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator to establish a grant program to facilitate the development of climate adaptation plans for local and tribal governments. A climate adaptation plan is a framework for measuring, tracking, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. It also consists of adopting climate change adaptation measures.

“While climate change impacts everyone, it disproportionately affects economically disadvantaged communities like El Paso,” said Congresswoman Escobar. “The damage that will be caused by climate change is inevitable, but we must be proactive and do everything possible to mitigate its intensity. I’m hopeful that my bill will encourage local and tribal governments in low-income communities to apply and use federal funding to implement climate adaptation plans across the country.” 

The CAP Act is inspired by Congresswoman Escobar’s Climate Crisis Advisory Committee (CCAC). Established in February 2021, the committee consisted of meetings with local stakeholders and experts to explore ideas and create sustainable recommendations for El Paso to mitigate as much climate damage as possible. The recommendations given to El Paso from CCAC serve as the example framework in the CAP Act for grants to be available to local and tribal governments across the country to implement their own recommendations and ultimately adopt their own climate adaptation plans.

Full text of the bill can be found here.