[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 73 (Tuesday, April 16, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 18611-18614]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-9223]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[OPPTS-00331; FRL-6827-2]


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 2002 grant/cooperative agreement funds under the Pollution 
Prevention (P2) grant program. Grants/cooperative agreements will be 
awarded under the authority of the Pollution Prevention Act of 1990. 
The Pollution Prevention Act and 40 CFR part 35, subpart B authorize 
EPA to award grant funds to State, Tribes, and Intertribal Consortia 
programs that address the reduction or elimination of pollution across 
environmental media (air, land, and water) and to strengthen the 
efficiency and effectiveness of State technical assistance programs in 
providing source reduction information to businesses. This notice 
describes the procedures and criteria for the award of these grants.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For general information about the 
grant program contact: Christopher Kent, Pollution Prevention Division 
(7409), Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics, Environmental 
Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20460; 
telephone (202) 564-8842; e-mail address: [email protected].
    For technical and regionally specific information: The EPA Regional 
Pollution Prevention Coordinator listed under Unit X. of this notice.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. General Information

A. Does this Action Apply to Me?

    This action is directed to States (including state universities), 
Tribes and Intertribal Consortia. This notice may, however, be of 
interest to local governments, private universities, private nonprofit 
entities, private businesses, and individuals who are not eligible for 
this grant program. If you have any questions regarding the 
applicability of this action to a particular entity, contact the 
technical person listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.

B. How Can I Get Additional Information, Including Copies of this 
Document or Other Related Documents?

    You may obtain electronic copies of this document and certain other 
related documents that might be available electronically, from the EPA 
Home Page at http://www.epa.gov/. To access this document, on the Home 
Page select ``Laws and Regulations'' and then look up the entry for 
this document under the Federal Register--Environmental Documents. You 
can also go directly to the Federal Register listings at http://www.epa.gov/fedrgst. These documents will also be available at the EPA 
P2 web site http://www.epa.gov/P2.

II. Background of the Pollution Prevention Grant Program

    More than $75 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 12 years, P2 
grant funds have established and enabled State and Tribal programs to 
implement a wide range of pollution prevention activities. P2 grants 
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 P2 grant program is to assist businesses and 
industries in identifying better environmental strategies and solutions 
for reducing waste at the source. The majority of the P2 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) 
(Public Law 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 and 40 CFR part 35, subpart B authorizes 
EPA to make matching grants 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 specific 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.

[[Page 18612]]

    iii. Provide training in source reduction techniques.

III. Availability of FY 2002 Funds

    EPA expects to have approximately $5 million in grant/cooperative 
agreement funds available for FY 2002-2003 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.
    In addition to the statutory criteria discussed in Unit II., all 
applicants must address all five of the national program criteria 
listed under Unit VI.2.ii. EPA invites applicants to submit proposals 
that make the case for how their work will address P2 priorities on the 
national, Tribal, regional and State level. Interested applicants 
should contact their EPA Regional Pollution Prevention Coordinator, 
listed under Unit X. for more information.
    The 2002 Pollution Prevention Grant Guidance is located at http://www.epa.gov/p2/programs/ppis.htm.

IV. Catalogue of Federal Domestic Assistance

    The number assigned to the P2 grant program in the Catalogue of 
Federal Domestic Assistance is 66.708 (formerly 66.900).

V. Matching Requirements

    States, Tribes, and Intertribal Consortia recipients of Pollution 
Prevention grants under section 6605 of the PPA must provide at least 
50% of the total allowable project cost. For example, the Federal 
government will provide half of the total allowable cost of the 
project, and the recipient will provide the other half. Recipients may 
meet the match requirements by allowable costs incurred by the grantee 
(often referred to as ``in-kind goods or services'') or the value of 
third party in-kind contributions consistent with 40 CFR 31.24. If a 
Tribe or Intertribal Consortium is selected for award of a Pollution 
Prevention Grant (PPG) and the Tribe includes the funds in a 
Performance Partnership Grant awarded under 40 CFR part 35, subpart B, 
the required Tribal match for the Pollution Prevention portion of the 
PPG will be reduced to 5% of the allowable Pollution Prevention project 
cost for the first 2 years of the PPG grant.

VI. Eligibility

    1. Applicants. Eligible applicants for purposes of funding under 
this program include the 50 States, the District of Columbia, the U.S. 
Virgin Islands, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, any territory of or 
possession of the United States, any agency or instrumentality of a 
State including State universities, and Indian tribes that meet the 
requirement for treatment in a manner similar to a State at 40 CFR 
35.663 and Intertribal Consortia that meet the requirements at 40 CFR 
35.504. Local governments, private universities, private nonprofit, 
private businesses, and individuals are not eligible for funding. 
Eligible applicants are encouraged to establish partnerships with 
business and other environmental assistance providers to seamlessly 
deliver pollution prevention assistance. Successful applicants will be 
those that best meet the evaluation criteria in this unit. In many 
cases, this is likely to be accomplished through partnerships.
    2. Activities and criteria--i. General. The purpose of the P2 grant 
program is to support the establishment and expansion of State and 
Tribal multimedia pollution prevention programs. EPA specifically seeks 
to build pollution prevention capabilities or to test, innovative 
pollution prevention approaches and methodologies. Funds awarded under 
the P2 grant program must be used to support pollution prevention 
programs that address the transfer and reduction of potentially harmful 
pollutants across environmental media: air, water, and land. Programs 
should reflect comprehensive and coordinated pollution prevention 
planning and implementation efforts State-wide.
    ii. 2002 National program criteria. This section describes the five 
national program criteria EPA will use to evaluate proposals under the 
P2 grant program. In addition to the statutory criteria and the 
national program criteria, there may be regionally specific criteria 
that the proposing activities are also required to address. For more 
information on the EPA regional requirements, applicants should contact 
their EPA Regional Pollution Prevention Coordinator, listed under Unit 
X. As well as ensuring that the proposed activities meet EPA's 
definition of pollution prevention, the applicant's proposal must 
include how the applicant will address the following five activities:
    a. Promote multimedia pollution prevention. Applicants should 
identify how projects will encourage source reduction to actively 
prevent pollution across environmental media: air, water, and land. 
Programs should reflect comprehensive and coordinated pollution 
prevention planning and implementation efforts. Pollution prevention 
programs can develop multimedia pollution prevention activities which 
provide technical assistance to businesses, institutionalize multimedia 
pollution prevention as an environmental management priority, or 
initiate demonstration projects that test and support innovative 
pollution prevention approaches and methodologies.
    b. Advance environmental goals. EPA believes that State and Tribal 
pollution prevention programs have an unique opportunity to promote 
pollution prevention, especially through the environmental performance 
agreements. By developing applications that support stated 
environmental goals, pollution prevention programs can help ensure that 
States and Tribes achieve objectives through a cost-effective 
preventive approach. Pollution prevention programs will continue to be 
valuable to top management if they can demonstrate how their actions 
will help advance stated goals. EPA would like to ensure that pollution 
prevention is integrated and that the funds provide a service that 
supports the State's or Tribes' strategic plan. EPA will not fund any 
projects developed apart from the stated strategic plan.
    c. Promote accomplishments within the State's environmental 
programs. EPA realizes the importance of being able to document the 
effectiveness of the program back to the affected media office. EPA 
added this application criteria to create the necessary link between 
the regulatory program and the pollution prevention program activities 
to ensure that the affected offices know the good work that is being 
done within their sectors/programs/geographic areas. By periodically 
documenting the proposed activities' accomplishments, grantees will 
help media program managers understand the benefits of their delivered 
services. By creating this positive feedback mechanism to the 
regulatory program, the grantee can market their accomplishments and 
help promote the sustainability of the P2 program.
    d. Promote partnerships. For the past 6 years, EPA has required P2 
grant applicants to identify major environmental assistance providers 
in their area and to work with these organizations to educate 
businesses on pollution prevention. EPA believes that pollution 
prevention programs who do not develop a strong relationship with other 
environmental assistance providers will face difficulties accessing 
State and Federal resources in the future.
    EPA continues to seek more cooperation among pollution prevention 
programs and the other environmental and business assistance providers 
at the

[[Page 18613]]

State level. These can include university-based technical assistance 
and cooperative extension programs, and other assistance programs 
offered within the State. Partnerships are also encouraged with 
regional and national programs such as the Pollution Prevention 
Resource Exchange (P2Rx) centers, National Institute of Standards and 
Technology (NIST) programs, Office of Enforcement and Compliance 
Assistance (OECA) Compliance Assistance Centers, EPA's Small Business 
Assistance Programs (SBAPs), etc.
    By developing such partnerships, EPA would like to ensure that 
pollution prevention programs leverage these outside expertise. This 
partnership will also reduce the need for other environmental 
assistance providers to develop their own expertise, duplicating 
effort.
    e. Identify measures of success. Applicants are encouraged to 
identify how and what criteria they are using to track the 
effectiveness of the activity. Measures of success could be measures of 
direct environmental improvement or linked to such measures. For 
example, success could be identified by demonstrating a direct link 
between the project's activities and quantifiable reductions in 
pollution generated or in the natural resources used. Many of the EPA 
regional offices have negotiated with their States specific measurement 
structures which may provide appropriate frameworks for measuring the 
effectiveness of pollution prevention programs.
    3. Program management. Awards for FY 2002 funds will be managed 
through the EPA regional offices. Applicants should contact their EPA 
Regional Pollution Prevention Coordinator, listed under Unit X. or view 
the 2002 Grant Guidance located at http://www.epa.gov/p2/programs/ppis.htm to obtain specific regional requirements and deadlines for 
submitting proposals. National funding decisions will be made by June 
2002.

VII. Proposal Narrative Format

    The proposed work plan must meet the requirements for an approvable 
work plan at 40 CFR 35.107 and 35.507.

VIII. Applicable Regulations

    State applicants and recipients of Pollution Prevention Grants are 
subject to the requirements of 40 CFR parts 31 and 35, subpart A. 
Tribal and Intertribal Consortia applicants and recipients of Pollution 
Prevention Grants are subject to the requirements of 40 CFR parts 31 
and 35, subpart B.

IX. Reporting

    The work plans and reporting must be consistent with the 
requirements of 40 CFR 35.107, 35.115, 35.507, and 35.515.
    The grantee, along with the Regional Project Officer will develop a 
process for jointly evaluating and reporting progress and 
accomplishments under the work plan (see 40 CFR 35.115 and 35.515). A 
description of the evaluation process and a reporting schedule must be 
included in the work plan (see 40 CFR 35.107(b)(2)(iv) and 
35.507(b)(2)(iv)).
    The evaluation process must provide for:
    (1) A discussion of accomplishments as measured against work plan 
commitments.
    (2) A discussion of the cumulative effectiveness of the work 
performed under all work plan components.
    (3) A discussion of existing and potential problem areas.
    (4) Suggestions for improvement, including, where feasible, 
schedules for making improvements.
    EPA's Pollution Prevention Division has created an optional 
progress report format to facilitate national reporting on status of 
pollution prevention grant activities. A copy of the report format is 
included on the PPIS page of the P2 web site (http://www.epa.gov/p2/ppis.htm). This progress report format is not required but has been 
used in several States for the past year.

X. Regional Pollution Prevention Coordinators

    Region I: (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode 
Island, Vermont) Abby Swaine, 1 Congress St., Suite 1100 (SPN), Boston, 
MA 02203, (617) 918-1841, e-mail: [email protected].
    Region II: (New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands) 
Deborah Freeman (SPMMB), 290 Broadway, 25th Floor, New York, NY 10007, 
(212) 637-3730, e-mail: [email protected].
    Region III: (Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West 
Virginia, District of Columbia) Lorna Rosenberg, (3E100), 1650 Arch 
St., Philadelphia PA 19103-2029, (215) 814-5389, e-mail: 
[email protected].
    Region IV: (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North 
Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee) Dan Ahern, Atlanta Federal Center, 
61 Forsyth St., SW., Atlanta, GA 30303, (404) 562-9028, e-mail: 
[email protected].
    Region V: (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Wisconsin) 
Phil Kaplan, (DW-8J), 77 West Jackson Blvd., Chicago, IL 60604-3590, 
(312) 353-4669, e-mail: [email protected].
    Region VI: (Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas) Joy 
Campbell, (6EN-XP), 1445 Ross Ave., 12th Floor, Suite 1200, Dallas, TX 
75202, (214) 665-0836, e-mail: [email protected].
    Region VII: (Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska) Gary Bertram, (ARTD/
TSPP), 901 N 5th St., Kansas City, KS 66101, (913) 551-7533, e-mail: 
[email protected].
    Region VIII: (Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, 
Wyoming) Linda Walters, (8P-P3T), 999 18th St., Suite 300, Denver, CO 
80202-2405, (303) 312-6385, e-mail: [email protected].
    Region IX: (Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, American Samoa, 
Guam) Leif Magnuson (WST-7), 75 Hawthorne Ave., San Francisco, CA 
94105, (415) 972-3286, 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].

XI. Regional Pollution Prevention Resource Exchange (P2Rx) Centers

    Regions I-II (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New 
York, Rhode Island, Vermont) P2Rx Center - NEWMOA, http://www.newmoa.org, 129 Portland St., Suite 602, Boston, MA 02114-2014, 
Contact: Andy Bray, telephone: (617) 367-8558, ext. 306.
    Regions III-IV: (Alabama, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, 
Maryland, Mississippi, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South 
Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia,) P2Rx Center - The Waste 
Reduction Resource Center - http://wrrc.p2pays.org - 1639 Mail Service 
Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-1639; telephone: (800) 476-8686.
    Region V (Michigan, Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Wisconsin) 
P2Rx Center - The Great Lakes Regional Pollution Prevention Roundtable 
(GLRPPR) -http://www.glrppr.org - IL Waste Management and Research 
Center, One E. Hazelwood Dr., Champaign, IL 61820, Contact: Deb 
Jacobson. telephone: (630) 472-5019.
    Region VI (Arizona, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas) P2Rx 
Center - The Southwest P2 InfoSource - http://p2.utep.edu - Institute 
for Manufacturing and Materials Management, 500 W. University, Burgess 
Hall, Room 400, El Paso, TX 79968, Contact: Ed Gonzalez, telephone: 
(915) 747-6273.
    Region VII (Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska) P2Rx Center - The 
Pollution Prevention Regional Information Center

[[Page 18614]]

- http://www.p2ric.org - 1313 Farnham, Suite 230, Omaha, NE 68182, 
Contact: Rick Yoder, telephone: (402) 595-2381.
    Region VIII (Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, 
Wyoming) P2Rx Center - The Peaks to Prairies Pollution Prevention 
Information Center - http://peakstoprairies.org - MSU Extension 
Service, P.O. Box 173580, Bozeman, MO 59717, Contact: Mike Vogel, 
telephone: (406) 994-3451.
    Region IX (Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada) P2Rx Center - The 
Western Regional Pollution Prevention Network - http://www.westp2net.org - 1735 N First St, Suite 275, San Jose, CA 95112, 
Contact: Isao Kobashi, telephone: (408) 441-1195 ext. 4450.
    Region X (Arkansas, Idaho, Oregon, Washington) P2Rx Center - The 
Pacific Northwest Pollution Prevention Resource Center- http://www.pprc.org - 513 First Ave. West, Seattle, WA 98119, Contact: Chris 
Wiley, telephone: (206) 352-2050.

List of Subjects

    Environmental protection, Grants.


    Dated: April 8, 2002.
Stephen L. Johnson,
Assistant Administrator, Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic 
Substances.

[FR Doc. 02-9223 Filed 4-15-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-S