[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 103 (Wednesday, May 29, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 37423-37426]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-13250]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-7218-4]


Notice of Availability for FY 02 Enforcement and Compliance 
AssuranceMulti-Media Assistance Agreements

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Office of Compliance (OC), within EPA's Office of 
Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA), is soliciting proposals 
for assistance agreements with states and tribes, in the range of 
$50,000-$200,000, for proposals in three focus areas: Tribal and State 
Inspector Training; Program Planning and Performance Measurement; and 
Data Management.

DATES: Two to five page pre-proposals must be received electronically 
or by hard copy by July 5, 2002. Funding decisions will be made by 
August 16, 2002 based on the pre-proposals. Applicants selected to 
receive funds will be required to submit final proposals to the 
appropriate EPA Region by September 27, 2002.

ADDRESSES: Copies of Pre-proposals should be sent to David Piantanida 
(2222A), US EPA--Ariel Rios South Rm 6149D, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, 
NW., Washington, DC 20460, email: [email protected], Tel: (202) 
564-8318, Fax: (202) 564-0034; and simultaneously to the appropriate 
Regional Enforcement Coordinator. This document will be posted on the 
EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance web site at http://www.epa.gov/compliance/planning/states.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David Piantanida at (202) 564-8318.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Eligibility and Authority

    The funds available are from OECA's Multi-Media State and Tribal 
AssistanceGrants (STAG) appropriation. Eligible applicants include 
States, Tribes, Inter-Tribal Consortia, Territories, and multi-
jurisdictional organizations.
    Authority to enter into assistance agreements for the purposes 
described in this Notice are delegated to OECA in EPA Delegation 1-47, 
Assistance Agreements for Economic, Social Science, Statistical, and 
Other Research, Development, Studies, Surveys, Demonstrations, 
Investigations,Public Education Programs, Training, and Fellowships.
    Funding priorities must be allowable under 66.709 (Capacity 
Building Grants and Cooperative Agreements for States and Tribes) of 
the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA).

Desired Projects

    OECA will only consider funding projects for the three focus areas 
described below, and for projects which can be completed in 3 years or 
less. Projects will be evaluated for potential funding based on the 
extent to which they address the information below. Please note, 
applicants do not need to address all 3 focus areas in their pre-
proposals. Each focus area is separate and proposals from each category 
will be evaluated independently.

Table of Contents

    1. Tribal and State Inspector Training:
    2. Program Planning and Performance Measurement:
    (A) Enhancing Results through improved Regional/State/Tribal 
Planning
    (B) Outcome measures for Enforcement and Compliance Assurance 
Initiatives
    (C) Development of performance measures for Concentrated Animal 
Feeding Operations (CAFOs) and Worker Protection Standards (WPS)
    3. Data Management:
    (A) Permit Compliance System (PCS) Modernization
    (B) Air Facility System (AS)--Universal Interface (UI)

1. Tribal and State Inspector Training

    OECA's Office of Compliance is seeking ways to improve and build 
tribal and state inspector capability. EPA maintains discretionary 
authority to ask tribes and states to conduct civil inspections on 
behalf of the Agency under each federal environmental statute. It is 
essential that tribal and state inspectors are trained to safely and 
properly conduct federal civil inspections. OECA will consider funding 
for basic inspector training, media-specific inspector training, and/or 
health and safety training courses.
    This Notice also solicits projects that build partnerships between 
states or tribes through a Regional Inspectors workshop. The workshop 
may be designed for state, tribal or local inspectors within a region, 
and could cover a variety of topics designed to build inspector 
capability to conduct compliance monitoring inspections under federal 
authority. The host state or tribe would fund the travel, course 
materials, and contractor costs with grant funds.
    Criteria for proposal selection will include the following:
    (a) The explicit intent to collaborate and partner with other 
states and tribes within an EPA region to host or participate in an 
Inspector workshop.
    (b) Course outline and content is consistent with EPA Federal 
guidelines and is supportive of an authorized program. (e.g., training 
provides information on federal inspection law and policy) Course 
content may also provide information on inspection issues that arise 
under state and tribal laws.

2. Program Planning and Performance Measurement

    OECA's Office of Compliance is making funds available to assist 
states and tribes with Performance Measurement and Program Planning 
initiatives. Projects should develop and/or implement performance 
measurement outcomes or improved program planning in the following 
ways:
    (A) Enhancing Results through Improved Regional/State/Tribal 
Planning: Projects to support state or tribal efforts to 
collaboratively carry out joint priority setting and work planning. 
Projects address the following components of a joint planning effort:
    (1) Projects that describe how a state or tribe plans to perform 
efficient enforcement and compliance work planning with EPA Regions;
    (2) Projects that define the components for the steps in the joint 
planning process; and
    (3) Projects that develop a process which would be used to produce 
a surrogate ``risk based'' ranking of all identified enforcement and 
compliance assurance problems facing a state or a tribe.
    Projects may be used to support either Performance Partnership 
grants or traditional, media specific program grant activities.
    (B) Outcome measures for Enforcement and Compliance Assurance 
Initiatives: Historically, EPA and the states have used enforcement 
outputs such as inspections conducted, or enforcement actions taken, as 
the primary performance measures for their enforcement and compliance 
assurance programs. While these output measures provide important 
information about the enforcement presence among regulated facilities 
and industries, they do not necessarily characterize the state of 
compliance in regulated facilities, describe the overall environmental 
results achieved, or assess the extent to which important objectives 
and problems are being addressed.
    Measurement of environmental outcomes in general is often very 
challenging due to the difficulty of defining outcomes, lack of 
supporting

[[Page 37424]]

data, and the complexity of developing measures that are valid and 
representative of populations being measured. Outcome measurement of 
compliance incentives or assistance presents unique challenges compared 
to other activities such as enforcement, where the results are 
compulsory and can therefore be tracked. OECA is making funds available 
to assist states and tribes in developing and field testing outcome 
measures for enforcement and compliance assurance initiatives/
activities.
    Projects should develop and test outcome measures from state/tribal 
enforcement and compliance assurance activity. Examples of outcome 
measures for enforcement and/or compliance assurance/initiatives 
follow:

Statistically Valid Noncompliance Rates

    --Develop or implement a methodology for statistically valid 
noncompliance rates.

Improvements Resulting from Enforcement Actions/Initiatives

    Examples:
    --Number or percent of concluded enforcement actions identifying 
pollutant reductions.
    --Amount of emissions, pollutants, and/or risk reduced from 
enforcement actions.
    --Number or percent of enforcement actions that result in 
improvements in the use or handling of pollutants, such as changes in 
industrial processes or storage and disposal practices to achieve 
emission and discharge reduction.
    --Number or percent of enforcement actions that result in 
improvements in facility management practices and information.

Improvements Resulting from Compliance Assistance Tools and Initiatives

    Compliance assistance can include on site visits, workshops, mailed 
tools or outreach materials, hotlines, phone calls, meetings, or 
training that provides clear and consistent information for (1) helping 
the regulated community understand and meet its obligations under 
environmental regulations; and (2) compliance assistance providers to 
aid the regulated community in complying with environmental 
regulations. Compliance assistance may also help the regulated 
community find cost-effective ways to comply with regulations and/or go 
``beyond compliance'' through the use of pollution prevention, 
environmental management practices, and innovative technologies, thus 
improving their environmental performance. To be categorized as a 
compliance assistance project or activity, at least one objective must 
be related to achieving or advancing regulatory compliance.
    Better understanding of regulations or compliance:
    --Number of facilities whose understanding of environmental 
regulations improved as measured by pre-or post-tests at workshops.
    --Number of facilities whose understanding of environmental 
regulations has improved as a result of the compliance assistance 
received, as indicated by verbal or written responses to surveys.
    Behavioral changes (regulatory and non-regulatory environmental 
management changes):
    --Number of facilities:
    [sbull] That have taken action(s) to comply with environmental 
regulations because of the compliance assistance received and/or 
incentives offered.
    [sbull] That have improved the quality of self-reported information 
or begun reporting this information for the first time.
    [sbull] Adopting non-regulatory process changes or best management 
practices as a result of compliance assistance received and/or 
incentives offered.
    [sbull] Making environmental management changes (i.e., improved 
training, self-audits, development of an environmental management 
system) because of the compliance assistance received and/or incentives 
offered.
    --Number of compliance assistance projects demonstrating improved 
compliance rates, measured through direct observation.
    Environmental or human health improvements:
    --Number of facilities that reduce emissions or other pollutants.
    --Amount of emissions, pollutants, and/or risk reduced.
    Applicants are encouraged to consult and utilize EPA's Guide to 
Compliance Assistance Outcome Measurement. This document is available 
at http://es.epa.gov/oeca/perfmeas/full-oec.pdf. If you do not have 
access to the internet, you may request a hard copy by contacting David 
Piantanida on (202) 564-8318.

Improvements Resulting from Integrated Initiatives

    Environmental or human health improvements or behavioral changes 
(see above) from initiatives which include more than one tool, e.g. 
enforcement and compliance assistance.

Improvements Resulting from Self-policing Efforts/Use of Compliance 
Incentive Policies

    Compliance incentive policies encourage the regulated community to 
voluntarily discover, disclose and correct violations before they are 
identified by regulatory agencies for enforcement investigation or 
response. Examples of outcome measures from compliance incentive 
policies include:
    --Number or percent of concluded self-disclosed actions identifying 
pollutant reductions.
    --Amount of emissions, pollutants, and/or risk reduced from self-
disclosed actions.
    --Number or percent of self-disclosed actions that result in 
improvements in the use or handling of pollutants.
    --Number or percent of self-disclosed actions that result in 
improvements in facility management practices and information.
    (C) Development of performance measures for Concentrated Animal 
Feeding Operations (CAFOs) and Worker Protection Standards (WPS): OECA 
is making funds available to states or tribes to develop and field test 
outcome measures to gauge the effectiveness of assistance, incentives, 
monitoring, and enforcement on CAFO and WPS compliance. Examples of 
outcome measures for enforcement and compliance assistance have 
previously been listed above.
    Applicants are encouraged to consult and utilize EPA's Guide to 
Compliance Assistance Outcome Measurement. This document is available 
at http://es.epa.gov/oeca/perfmeas/full-oec.pdf. If you do not have 
access to the internet, you may request a hard copy by contacting David 
Piantanida on (202) 564-8318.

Criteria for Proposal Selection for A, B, or C, Will Include the 
Following

    (a) Extent to which suggested performance measures are: (1) 
Relevant--to important goals and objectives of enforcement and 
compliance assurance programs; (2) transparent--comprehensible to 
important users and audiences; (3) credible--based on accurate and 
timely supporting data;
    (4) feasible--capable of being implemented without costs 
disproportionate to their value; and
    (5) functional--they promote good performance by regulated entities 
and agency personnel; and
    (b) Extent to which information and data is relevant to, and shared 
with, other states, tribes and EPA.

[[Page 37425]]

3. Data Management

    OECA's Office of Compliance is seeking ways to enhance states and 
tribes ability to provide data to EPA to allow for better integration 
of data (e.g. enforcement and compliance), improve state and tribal 
multi-media targeting capabilities, improve multi-media reporting 
capabilities, and compliance assurance capabilities. To accomplish 
this, it is critical that a state or tribal system is capable of 
reporting data to EPA that is consistent with EPA/state data standards 
and in line with new requirements of modernized media data systems 
(e.g. Permit Compliance System) or current requirements of legacy media 
systems. OECA is making funds available to support the enhancement of 
the state's or tribe's ability to provide data to EPA, through improved 
system interfaces, data linkages, and data clean-up. OECA is interested 
in maximizing the quality of the data that is provided to the national 
systems, while minimizing reporting burdens, especially for states/
tribes with numerous quasi-independent boards, departments and offices-
-all with independent data systems.
    This Notice also solicits projects that assist states/tribes with 
reporting of consistent streamlined environmental and compliance data 
to EPA, including, but not limited to, the following:
    (A) Permit Compliance System (PCS) Modernization: assisting states/
tribes with upgrading of their current state systems through improved 
system interfaces, data linkages and data clean-up; and
    (B) Air Facility System (AFS)--Universal Interface (UI): assisting 
states/tribes with enhancement of their current state systems to 
incorporate the use of the AFS UI interface software to allow for 
improved system interfaces, data linkages and data clean-up.

Criteria for Proposal Selection Will Include the Following

    (a) Extent to which projects support/provide a solution to 
consistent streamlined reporting of data across the various independent 
media data systems or lead to identifying problems/issues associated 
with the reporting of environmental data to EPA, with recommendations 
for solving the problem;
    (b) Extent to which projects address problems and provide 
recommendations for improvements to enhancing reporting of data to EPA 
by the states/tribes and by EPA;
    (c) Extent to which projects support EPA/state data standards 
implementation, media system modernization efforts, and data clean up 
efforts that would promote better integration of data across EPA 
systems.

Funding

    The grants/cooperative agreements should be in the range of $50,000 
to $200,000, although proposals below or above that range will be 
considered.
    State and tribal matching funds are not required. However, 
preference will be given to proposals which also make a commitment of 
state or tribal resources towards the total project cost. This can be 
state or tribal personnel salary dedicated to the project, cash 
contribution to the project budget or other ``in kind'' contributions.
    OECA can not predict that additional funds for these focus areas 
will be available in future years. Therefore, states and tribes should 
assume that these funds will be available on a one-time only basis and 
should not propose projects requiring annual funding.

Process and Schedule

    Electronic pre-proposals must be received by EPA by July 5, 2002 
and should follow the format below. Pre-proposals should be submitted 
simultaneously to the appropriate Regional Enforcement Coordinator, and 
to David Piantanida, OECA, (See contact information below.) Funding 
decisions will be made by August 16, 2002 based on the pre-proposals. 
Applicants selected to receive funds will be required to submit final 
proposals by September 27, 2002. Regions will provide application 
materials to selected applicants.

Proposed Milestones for 2002 OECA Multi Media Assistance Agreements

    July 5: Electronic Pre-Proposals due simultaneously to the 
appropriate EPA Regional Enforcement Coordinator, and David Piantanida, 
OECA.(See contact information below.)
    August 16: EPA notifies applicants of funding decisions.
    August 19: Selected recipients receive final application materials 
from EPARegional office and name and contact info of Regional 
ProjectOfficer and Regional Grants Contact.
    September 27: Final Proposals/Work Plans due to Regional Project 
Officers and Regional Grants Contact, and David Piantanida, OECA.
    October: Grants awarded.

Format for Pre-Proposals

    Pre-proposals should be 2-5 pages long and follow the format below:

I. Project Information

    State/Tribe and Department:
    Title of Project:
    Focus Area: (from Notice of Availability)
    Total Funds Requested from EPA:
    Total Project Cost (including state/tribe cash and in-kind 
contributions):
    Contact Person: (name, title, address, phone, fax, & email)
    Preferred Assistance Agreement: (Grants or cooperative agreements)

II. Summary

--Summary of the problem being addressed
--Summary of project goal(s)
--Summary of project components
--Summary of how the project components will address the problem & 
attain the goals

III. Work Plan

--Proposed activities--list and describe activities and how they relate 
to the evaluation elements listed under Desired Projects above
--Measures--how will the success of the project be measured?
--Sharing results--how will the results of the project be shared across 
states/tribes?

IV. Project Milestones

--List project milestones with estimated dates, including estimated 
duration of project

V. Project Costs

--Include an itemized budget for all project costs--distinguish the 
funds requested from any state/tribe contributions (in kind or other)

Reports

    Awardees will be required to submit quarterly and final progress 
reports to their project officer and to David Piantanida at the address 
below. A template reporting form will be provided to all funded 
grantees. Recipients will also be required to complete annual Financial 
Status Reports.

Contact Information

    For more information regarding this process, please contact David 
Piantanida at the address below:

David Piantanida (2222A), US EPA--Ariel Rios South Rm 6149D, 1200 
Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20460, 
[email protected], Tel: (202) 564-8318, Fax: (202) 564-0034.

EPA Regional Contacts

EPA Region I

Enforcement Coordinator: Ken [email protected]
Enforcement Division Director: Sam [email protected]

[[Page 37426]]

EPA Region II

Enforcement Coordinator: Barbara [email protected]
Enforcement Division Director:Richard [email protected]

EPA Region III

Enforcement Coordinator: Samantha [email protected]

EPA Region IV

Enforcement Coordinator: Sherri [email protected]
Enforcement Division Director: William Anderson--
[email protected]

EPA Region V

Enforcement Coordinator: Tinka [email protected]

EPA Region VI

Enforcement Coordinator: Walter [email protected]
Enforcement Division Director: Samuel [email protected]

EPA Region VII

Enforcement Coordinator: Cecilia [email protected]

EPA Region VIII

Enforcement Coordinator: Eddie [email protected]
Enforcement Division Director:Carol [email protected]

EPA Region IX

Enforcement Coordinator: Sally [email protected]

EPA Region X

Enforcement Coordinator: Lauris [email protected]

    Dated: May 21, 2002.
Michael M. Stahl,
Director, Office of Compliance.
[FR Doc. 02-13250 Filed 5-28-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P