[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 190 (Wednesday, October 1, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 51465-51467]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-26014]



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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[OPPTS-00225; FRL-5748-3]


Notice of Availability of Pollution Prevention Grants and 
Announcement of Financial Assistance Programs Eligible for Review

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of Availability of Pollution Prevention Grants.

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SUMMARY: EPA expects to have approximately $5 million available in 
fiscal year 1998 grant/cooperative agreement funds under the Pollution 
Prevention Incentives for States (PPIS) grant program. The grant 
dollars are targeted at State and Tribal programs that address the 
reduction or elimination of pollution across all environmental media: 
air, land, and water. Grants/cooperative agreements will be awarded 
under the authority of the Pollution Prevention Act of 1990.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Your EPA Regional Pollution Prevention 
Coordinator. Contact names for each Regional Office are listed under 
Unit VII. of this document.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Electronic Availability:
Internet
    Electronic copies of this document and the Guidance document are 
available from the EPA home page at the Federal Register-Environmental 
Documents entry for this document under ``Laws and Regulations'' 
(http://www.epa.gov/ fedrgstr/).
Fax-on-Demand
    Using a faxphone call 202-401-0527 and select item 3055 for a copy 
of the 1998 Guidance document.

I. Background

    Approximately $50 million has been awarded to more than 100 State 
and Tribal organizations under EPA's multimedia pollution prevention 
grant program, since its inception in 1989.
    In November 1990, the Pollution Prevention Act of 1990 (the Act) 
(Pub. L. 101-508) was enacted, establishing as national policy that 
pollution should be prevented or reduced at the source whenever 
feasible. Section 6603 of the Act defines source reduction as any 
practice that:
    (1) Reduces the amount of any hazardous substance, pollutant, or 
contaminant entering any waste stream or otherwise released into the 
environment (including fugitive emissions) prior to recycling, 
treatment, or disposal.
    (2) Reduces the hazards to public health and the environment 
associated with the release of such substances, pollutants, or 
contaminants.
    EPA further defines pollution prevention as the use of other 
practices that reduce or eliminate the creation of pollutants through 
increased efficiency in the use of raw materials, energy, water, or 
other resources, or protection of natural resources, or protection of 
natural resources by conservation.
    Section 6605 of the Act authorizes EPA to make matching grants to 
States to promote the use of source reduction techniques by businesses. 
In evaluating grant applications, the Act directs EPA to consider 
whether the proposed State program will:
    (1) Make technical assistance available to businesses seeking 
information about source reduction opportunities, including funding for 
experts to provide onsite technical advice and to assist in the 
development of source reduction plans.
    (2) Target assistance to businesses for which lack of information 
is an impediment to source reduction.
    (3) Provide training in source reduction techniques.
    In addition to this grant making authority, the Act authorized EPA 
to establish a national source reduction clearinghouse and expanded 
EPA's authorities to collect data to better track source reduction 
activities. The Act also requires EPA to report periodically to 
Congress on EPA progress in implementing the Act.

II. Availability of FY 98 Funds

    EPA expects to have approximately $5 million in grant/cooperative 
agreement funds available for FY 1998 Pollution Prevention activities. 
The Agency has delegated grant making authority to the EPA Regional 
offices. Regional offices are responsible for the solicitation of 
interest, the screening of proposals, and the actual selection of 
awards. PPIS grant guidance will be provided to all applicants along 
with any supplementary information the Regions may wish to provide.
    All applicants must address the national program criteria listed 
under Unit V.2. of this document. In addition, applicants may be 
required to meet supplemental Regional criteria. Interested applicants 
should contact their Regional Pollution Prevention Coordinator for more 
information (see Unit VII. of this document for the listing of Regional 
Pollution Prevention contacts).

III. Catalogue of Federal Domestic Assistance

    The number assigned to the PPIS program in the Catalogue of Federal 
Domestic Assistance is 66.708 (formerly 66.900).

IV. Matching Requirements

    Organizations receiving pollution prevention grant funds are 
required to match Federal funds by at least 50 percent. For example, 
the Federal government will provide half of the total allowable cost of 
the project, and the State will provide the other half. A grant request 
for $100,000 would support a total allowable project cost of $200,000, 
with the State also providing $100,000. State contributions may include 
dollars, in-kind goods and services, and/or third party contributions.

V. Eligibility

    1. Applicants. In accordance with the Act, eligible applicants for 
purposes of funding under this grant program include the 50 States, the 
District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Commonwealth of 
Puerto Rico, any territory or possession of the United States, any 
agency or instrumentality of a State including State universities, and 
all Federally recognized Native American tribes. For convenience, the 
term ``State'' in this notice refers to all eligible applicants. Local 
governments, private universities, private nonprofit entities, private 
businesses, and individuals are not eligible. The organizations 
excluded from applying directly are encouraged to work with eligible 
applicants in developing proposals that include them as participants in 
the projects. EPA strongly encourages this type of cooperative 
arrangement.
    2. Activities and criteria--a. General. The purpose of the PPIS 
grant program is to support the establishment and expansion of State 
and Tribal multimedia pollution prevention programs. EPA specifically 
seeks to build State pollution prevention capabilities or to test, at 
the State level, innovative pollution prevention approaches and 
methodologies. Funds awarded under the PPIS grant program must be used 
to support pollution prevention programs that address the transfer and 
reduction of potentially harmful pollutants across all environmental 
media: air, water, and land. Programs should reflect comprehensive and 
coordinated pollution prevention planning and implementation efforts 
State-wide.
    b. 1998 National Criteria. There are a growing number of business 
assistance

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organizations established within States interacting with businesses in 
an increasing number of areas, including environmental concerns. 
Consequently, as a means to provide substantive support of pollution 
prevention, EPA is eager to ensure that the PPIS grants will add to the 
success and sustainability of State environmental assistance providers 
and contribute to the development of a cooperative network of 
coordinated business assistance providers. Through the PPIS grant 
funds, EPA seeks to leverage the expertise of the various environmental 
assistance organizations to work jointly with business assistance 
organizations in an effort to provide seamless assistance to industry. 
To this end, applicants must provide documentation showing they have 
entered into a partnership agreement with at least one environmental 
and/or business assistance provider in their State.
    EPA also believes it is important for the sustainability of State 
pollution prevention programs to complement the goals and strategies of 
the State Performance Partnership Agreements (PPAs), and Performance 
Partnership Grants (PPGs) under the National Environmental Performance 
Partnership System (NEPPS) or for those States not participating in the 
PPAs and PPGs, to show that the pollution prevention work they are 
undertaking complements and supports the State's environmental 
strategic plans. EPA encourages all applicants to develop proposals 
focused on priority industrial sectors, geographic areas, and/or State 
and Federal Reinvention activities (if applicable). Where the State 
environmental programs may lack a single comprehensive environmental 
strategy, PPIS applications must show a correlation between the 
proposed activity and the environmental goals, or objectives of the 
State environmental program. The application must demonstrate how the 
proposed pollution prevention activities will advance State 
environmental goals as stated in either PPAs, PPGs, or other State 
environmental strategic planning documents. Applicants submitting 
proposals that do not show a correlation between the environmental 
goals of the State and the proposed pollution prevention activity will 
not be considered eligible for funding.
    EPA, through the PPIS grants, is also working to encourage better 
awareness by the state regulatory and media programs of how pollution 
prevention and the State pollution prevention programs are helping the 
regulatory programs address their ever growing and increasingly complex 
environmental management problems. To address this, applications must 
include activities the pollution prevention program will undertake to 
ensure communication and feedback to the regulatory programs showing 
how pollution prevention is helping to advance multimedia environmental 
protection.
    Based on the above, proposals that do not address these three 
criteria will not be eligible for funding. In summary, in the narrative 
of the grant application, the following three requirements must be 
clearly addressed:
    (1) Identify the partnering organization(s) and demonstrate or 
document the relationship. This can be done, for example, through a 
letter of agreement, a joint statement, or principles of agreement 
signed by both parties or multiple parties.
    (2) Describe how the activities proposed in the grant will support 
the State's PPA, PPG under NEPPS, or where the State is not 
participating in the PPA - PPG process, show how the proposal 
complements the goals and objectives laid out in State strategic 
planning documents. Applications must show a correlation between the 
proposed activity and the environmental goals or objectives of the 
State environmental program if the State environmental program lacks a 
single comprehensive environmental strategy. Proposals must include 
copies of language from PPAs, PPGs, or other strategic planning 
documents and show directly how P2 will be used to support those goals 
and objectives.
    (3) Describe the outreach and communication strategies that will be 
undertaken to ensure that the State's regulatory and environmental 
programs are made aware of the pollution prevention activities in their 
State and how those activities are addressing multimedia environmental 
management problems. For example, a work plan might incorporate 
identifiable activities which supply relevant source reduction 
information to the affected regulatory program.
    Applicants should consult the PPIS program guidance for more 
detailed information on the 1998 goals and criteria.
    Proposals accepted for review under this program must qualify as 
pollution prevention as defined by EPA.
    3. Program management. Awards for FY 1998 funds will be managed 
through the EPA Regional Offices. Applicants should contact their EPA 
Regional Pollution Prevention Coordinator to obtain specific deadlines 
for submitting proposals. National funding decisions will be made by 
April 1998.
    4. Contacts. Interested applicants are requested to contact the 
appropriate EPA Regional Pollution Prevention Coordinator listed under 
Unit VI. of this document to obtain specific instructions and guidance 
for submitting proposals.

VI. State Single Point of Contact

    This program is eligible for review under Executive Order 12372. 
States must notify the following office in writing within 30 days of 
this publication whether their State's official E.O. 12372 process will 
review applications in this program: Policy, Information and Training 
Branch, Grants Administration Division (3903R), U.S. EPA, 401 M St., 
SW., Washington, DC 20460, Attention: Carol H. Hoffman.
    Applicants must contact their State's Single Point of Contact 
(SPOC) for intergovernmental review as early as possible to find out if 
the program is subject to the State's official E.O. 12372 review 
process and what material must be submitted to the SPOC for review. 
Please note that federally recognized tribal organizations are not 
required to comply with this procedure.

VII. Regional Pollution Prevention Contacts

Region 1: (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode 
Island, Vermont), Mark Mahoney, JFK Federal Bldg/SPN, Boston, MA 02203, 
Telephone: (617) 565-1155.
Region II: (New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands), Janet 
Sapadin, (2-OPM-PPI), 290 Broadway, 25th Floor, New York, NY 10007, 
Telephone: (212) 637-3584.
Region III: (Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, 
District of Columbia), Jeff Burke, (3EP10), 841 Chestnut Bldg., 
Philadelphia, PA 19107, Telephone: (215) 566-2761.
Region IV: (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North 
Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee), Bernie Hayes, Atlanta Federal 
Center, 61 Forsyth St., SW., Atlanta, GA 30303, Telephone: (404) 562-
9430.
Region V: (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Wisconsin), 
Phil Kaplan, (DRP-8J), 77 West Jackson Blvd., Chicago, IL 60604, 
Telephone: (312) 353-4669.
Region VI: (Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas), Eli 
Martinez, (6EN-XP), 1445 Ross Ave., 12th Floor, Suite 1200, Dallas, TX 
75202, Telephone: (214) 665-2119.
Region VII: (Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska), Marc Matthews, (ARTD/
TSPP), 726 Minnesota Ave., Kansas

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City, KS 66101, Telephone: (913) 551-7517.
Region VIII: (Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, 
Wyoming), Linda Walters, (8P2-P2), 999 18th St., Suite 500, Denver, CO 
80202, Telephone: (303) 312-6385.
Region IX: (Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, American Samoa, Guam) 
(WST-1-1), Bill Wilson, 75 Hawthorne Ave., San Francisco, CA 94105, 
Telephone: (415) 744-2192.
EPA Region X: (Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, Washington), Carolyn Gangmark, 
1200 Sixth Ave., Seattle, WA 98101, Telephone: (206) 553-4072.

    Dated: September 23, 1997.
William H. Sanders III,
Director, Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics.

[FR Doc. 97-26014 Filed 9-30-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-F