[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]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-F