[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 198 (Wednesday, October 14, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 55119-55122]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-27572]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[OPPTS-00251; FRL-6037-9]
Pollution Prevention Grants and Announcement of Financial
Assistance Programs Eligible for Review; Notice of Availability
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: EPA expects to have approximately $5 million available in
fiscal year 1999 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. The EPA Regional Pollution Prevention
Coordinator for each regional office is listed under Unit X. of this
document.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Electronic Availability
Electronic copies of this document are available on the EPA Home
Page at ``Federal Register--Environmental Document'' (http://
www.epa.gov/fedrgstr) and on the EPA P2 Home Page (http://www.epa.gov/
p2).
II. Background
More than $50 million has been awarded to over 100 state and
tribal organizations under EPA's multimedia pollution prevention grant
program, since its inception in 1989. During the past 10 years, PPIS
funds have enabled state programs to implement a wide range of
pollution prevention activities including nearly 8,000 pollution
prevention assessments, 1,200 workshops, and the development of over
500 pollution prevention case studies. PPIS grants also provide
economic benefits to small businesses by funding state technical
assistance programs focused on helping the businesses develop more
efficient production technologies and operate more cost effectively.
The goal of the PPIS grant program is to assist businesses and
industries in identifying better environmental strategies and solutions
for complying with Federal and state environmental regulations. PPIS
grants are designed to effect the compatibility of businesses
environmental and economic decisionmaking, and improving
competitiveness without increasing environmental impacts. Successes
include decreases in facility emissions and discharges which lead to
less stringent regulatory and permitting requirements, increases in
production rates that correlate to decreasing environmental costs,
elevated investments in new and better technologies, and savings that
directly impact the overall profitability of a business. The majority
of the PPIS grants fund state-based projects in the areas of technical
assistance and training, education and outreach, regulatory
integration, data collection and research, demonstration projects, and
recognition programs.
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.
1. Section 6603 of the Act defines source reduction as any practice
that:
i. 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.
ii. 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.
2. 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:
i. 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.
ii. Target assistance to businesses for which lack of information
is an impediment to source reduction.
iii. Provide training in source reduction techniques.
III. Availability of FY 99 Funds
EPA expects to have approximately $5 million in grant/cooperative
agreement funds available for FY 1999 pollution prevention activities.
The Agency has delegated grant making authority to the EPA regional
offices. EPA regional offices are responsible for the solicitation of
interest and the screening of proposals.
All applicants must address the national program criteria listed
under Unit VI.2.ii. of this document. In addition, applicants may be
required to meet supplemental EPA regional criteria. Interested
applicants should contact their EPA Regional Pollution Prevention
Coordinator, listed under Unit X. of this document for more
information.
IV. Catalogue of Federal Domestic Assistance
The number assigned to the PPIS program in the Catalogue of
Federal
[[Page 55120]]
Domestic Assistance is 66.708 (formerly 66.900).
V. Matching Requirements
Organizations receiving pollution prevention grant funds are
required to match Federal funds by at least 50%. For example, the
Federal government will provide half of the total allowable cost of the
project, and the state will provide the other half. State contributions
may include dollars, in-kind goods and services, and/or third party
contributions.
VI. 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. State applicants are
encouraged to establish partnerships with business and other
environmental assistance providers to seemlessly deliver pollution
prevention assistance. Successful applicants will be those that make
the most efficient use of Federal/state government funding. In many
cases, this has been accomplished through partnerships.
2. Activities and criteria--i. 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. States that include PPIS funding as part of their overall
State Performance Partnership Agreement (PPA)/Performance Partnership
Grant (PPG) program satisfy this eligibility criteria.
ii. 1999 national program criteria. This section describes the
national program criteria EPA will use to evaluate proposals under the
PPIS grant program. In addition to the national program criteria, there
may be regionally specific criteria that the proposing activities are
required to address. For more information on the EPA regional
requirements, applicants should contact their EPA Regional Pollution
Prevention Coordinator, listed under Unit X. of this document. As well
as ensuring that the proposed activities meet EPA's definition of
pollution prevention, the applicant's proposal must include one or more
of these activities:
iii. Promote partnering among environmental and business
assistance providers. Starting in 1994, EPA required PPIS grant
applicants to identify other environmental assistance providers in
their states and to work with these organizations to educate businesses
on pollution prevention. EPA would like to encourage more cooperation
among state pollution prevention programs, the National Institute of
Standards and Technology (NIST) programs, Small Business Development
Centers (SBDCs), Small Business Assistance Programs (SBAPs), Office of
Enforcement and Compliance Assistance (OECA) Compliance Assistance
Centers, the large number of university cooperative extension programs
and other business and environmental assistance programs at the state
level, as well as other well established nonregulatory programs.
Through the PPIS grant funds, EPA is striving to support this
development of a coordinated network of state environmental service
providers that seek to leverage the expertise of the various
environmental assistance organizations and show an ability to work
jointly in an effort to promote pollution prevention in the state. EPA
wants to help foster a cooperative network of environmental assistance
providers as cooperation among state business and environmental
assistance providers is paramount in light of shrinking Federal
programs. EPA would like to ensure that state pollution prevention
programs and other assistance providers establish cooperative working
relationships which make best use of their respective areas of
expertise and most effectively serve their clients. Applicants should
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. If the partnership involves providing
Federal funds to ineligible entities, the grantees shall abide by state
procurement regulations, as required by state law.
iv. Advance state environmental goals. EPA believes it is
important for the sustainability of state pollution prevention programs
to complement the goals and strategies of the PPAs, and 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. If the state-environmental
program lacks a single comprehensive environmental strategy,
applications must show a correlation between the proposed activity and
the environmental goals or objectives of the state's environmental
program. EPA believes pollution prevention programs will continue to be
valuable to the state-environmental agency's top management if they can
demonstrate how their actions will help advance state goals. EPA would
like to ensure that pollution prevention is integrated at the state
level by providing a service which supports the state's strategic plan.
The application should demonstrate how pollution prevention activities
will advance state-environmental goals as stated in either PPAs, PPGs,
or other state environmental strategic planning documents.
v. Promote accomplishments within the state's environmental
programs. EPA realizes the importance of documenting the program
effectiveness and communicating those results to the affected media
office. To create this link between the regulatory program and the
activities of the pollution prevention program, EPA has added this
application criterion to ensure that the environmental programs in the
state are aware of the contributions of the pollution prevention
program within their sectors, programs, and geographic areas. By
creating this positive feedback mechanism to the state's regulatory
program, the grantee can market their accomplishments and consequently
help promote the sustainability of the pollution prevention program.
EPA, through the PPIS grants, is 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 increasingly complex environmental management
problems. Applications must include what activities the pollution
prevention program will undertake to ensure communication and feedback
to the regulatory and other
[[Page 55121]]
environmental programs showing how pollution prevention is helping to
advance multimedia environmental protection.
3. Identifiable measures of success. For each of the activities
identified in the application, the applicant must identify how and what
criteria they are using to track the effectiveness of the activity.
Measures of success should be either measures of environmental
improvement, or should be directly linked to such measures. For
example, success could be identified by demonstrating a direct link
between the project's activities and in quantifiable reductions in
pollution generated or in the natural resources used.
4. Program management. Awards for FY 1999 funds will be managed
through the EPA regional offices. Applicants should contact their EPA
Regional Pollution Prevention Coordinator, listed under Unit X. of this
document, to obtain specific deadlines for submitting proposals.
National funding decisions will be made by April 1999.
VII. Information Clearinghouse
The Pollution Prevention Act requires EPA to establish a source
reduction clearinghouse to ``collect and compile information reported
by States receiving grants under Section 6605 on the operation and
success of State source reduction programs.'' The Pollution Prevention
Information Clearinghouse (PPIC) was created with the idea that through
technology transfer, education and public awareness, it is possible to
reduce or eliminate industrial pollutants. The PPIC is a free,
nonregulatory service offering reference and referral, document
distribution, and a comprehensive library service. The PPIC's special
collection comprises state and Federal publications, pollution
prevention manuals, training materials, conference proceedings, case
studies, newsletters, and videos. For more information on this
collection, please visit their web site at http://www.epa.gov/opptintr/
library/libppic.htm.
A priority that EPA considers important to strengthen state P2
activities and aid the formation of partnerships with other business
assistance providers is the Pollution Prevention Resource Exchange
(P2Rx). To promote the establishment of regional centers that
facilitate and serve state needs in coordinating training and
information development, EPA has allocated a portion of its state grant
funds to develop and sustain these regional pollution prevention
centers. EPA believes that the P2Rx network which connects and
coordinates regional pollution prevention information centers can
benefit both states programs and their clients by improving the quality
and availability of pollution prevention technical information, sharing
information, minimizing duplication of efforts in developing materials
for training and technical assistance providers, providing for the
development of quality peer reviewed P2 information, and expanding
their understanding of how other states are addressing the needs of
business assistance providers.
To facilitate the transfer of information generated by pollution
prevention grant dollars, all work products (i.e., including but not
limited to flyers, fact sheets, pamphlets, handbooks, model curricula,
assessment and audit tools, videos, event brochures etc.) produced with
Federal PPIS funds will be added to the EPA Library collection (and
subsequently to the PPIC and P2Rx). The PPIC will catalogue these
products and can serve as a conduit to get the information products to
the P2Rx regional centers. Please contact the EPA Regional Pollution
Prevention Coordinator, listed under Unit X. of this document, or
contact Christopher Kent (telephone: (202) 260-3480; e-mail:
[email protected]) for more information concerning delivery of
work products.
VIII. Proposal Narrative Format
To clearly document the activities listed in the grant proposal,
the narrative portion of the application should include a summary of
proposed activities using the following format:
1. A description of the proposed work and a timeline of
activities.
2. A list of tasks that will be carried out.
3. A list of the resulting deliverables that will be produced.
IX. Progress Report
Progress reports are due to the EPA project officer every April
and October after the project period is over 1 month old. A final
report is due within 90 days of the end of the grant period.
In addition to the EPA project officer's regionally specific
required number of copies of deliverables, please forward one copy of
each of the semi-annual progress reports and the final reports (and
deliverables) to the Pollution Prevention Division in Washington DC.
Please address the documents to: PPIS Grant Products, Pollution
Prevention Division (7409), Environmental Protection Agency, 401 M St.,
SW., Washington, DC 20460.
The narrative in the progress reports should refer back to the
stated objectives and timeline of the original grant application.
Beneath each objective, the objective's current status should be
reported. Any substantive diversion from a stated objective, or any
deviation from the proposed timeline should be explained. Only the
activities required under the grant, which meet EPA's definition of
pollution prevention, should be reported.
At a minimum, the progress reports should also include the
following:
1. A short summary of the accomplishments for the reporting period.
2. Progress on completing individual project tasks.
3. The planned and actual schedules for task completion.
4. Projected accomplishments for the next reporting period.
5. Data on financial expenditures by budget category.
Any printed deliverables required under the grant should be enclosed
with the first report following the date the deliverable was due to be
produced.
A final report will be required upon completion of the grant.
X. Regional Pollution Prevention Coordinators
Region I: (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode
Island, Vermont) Kira Jacobs, JFK Federal Bldg. / SPP, Boston, MA
02203, (617) 565-3841, e-mail: [email protected]
Region II: (New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands) Evans
Stamataky, (2-OPM-PPI), 290 Broadway, 25th Floor, New York, NY 10007,
(212) 637-3742, e-mail: [email protected]
Region III: (Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West
Virginia, District of Columbia) Jeff Burke, (3RA20), 1650 Arch St.,
Philadelphia PA 19103-2029, (215) 814-2761, e-mail: [email protected]
Region IV: (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North
Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee) Bernie Hayes, Atlanta Federal
Center, 61 Forsyth St., SW., Atlanta, GA 30303, (404) 562-9430, e-mail:
[email protected]
Region V: (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Wisconsin)
Phil Kaplan, (DRP-8J), 77 West Jackson Blvd., Chicago, IL 60604-3590,
(312) 353-4669, e-mail: [email protected]
Region VI: (Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas) Eli
Martinez, (6EN-XP), 1445 Ross Ave., 12th Floor, Suite 1200, Dallas, TX
75202, (214) 665-2119, e-mail: [email protected]
[[Page 55122]]
Region VII: (Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska) Marc Matthews, (ARTD/
TSPP), 726 Minnesota Ave. Kansas City, KS 66101, (913) 551-7517, e-
mail: [email protected]
Region VIII: (Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah,
Wyoming) Linda Walters, (8P2-P2), 999 18th St., Suite 500, Denver, CO
80202-2405, (303) 312-6385, e-mail: [email protected]
Region IX: (Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, American Samoa, Guam)
Bill Wilson, (WST-1-1), 75 Hawthorne Ave., San Francisco, CA 94105,
(415) 744-2192, e-mail: [email protected]
Region X: (Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, Washington) Carolyn Gangmark, 01-
085, 1200 Sixth Ave., Seattle, WA 98101, (206) 553-4072, e-mail:
[email protected]
List of Subjects
Environmental protection, Grant administration, Grants--
environmental protection
Dated: October 6, 1998.
William H. Sanders, III,
Director, Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics.
[FR Doc. 98-27572 Filed 10-13-98; 8:45 am]
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