[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 36 (Thursday, February 24, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 9069-9070]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-3529]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-7876-5]


State Innovation Grant Program, Notice of Availability of 
Solicitation for Proposals for 2005/2006 Awards

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency, National Center for 
Environmental Innovation (NCEI) is giving notice of the availability of 
its solicitation for proposals for the 2005/2006 grant program to 
support innovation by state environmental regulatory agencies--the 
``State Innovation Grant Program.'' The full text of the solicitation 
includes the following:
     Background information on the State Innovation Grant 
Program, including prior awards;
     A description of the 2005-2006 program;
     The process for preparing and submitting proposals;
     The State Innovation Grant Program selection criteria;
     A description of the selection and award process;
     A pre-proposal checklist to help States prepare effective 
proposals;
     A list of definitions for purposes of this solicitation.
    The solicitation is available at the Agency's State Innovation 
Grant Web site: http://www.epa.gov/innovation/stategrants/solicitation2005.pdf, or may be requested from the Agency by e-mail, 
telephone, or by mail. Only the principal environmental regulatory

[[Page 9070]]

agency within each State (generally, where delegated authorities for 
Federal environmental regulations exist) is eligible to receive these 
grants.

DATES: State environmental regulatory agencies will have 60 days until 
April 25, 2005, to respond with a pre-proposal, budget, and project 
summary. The environmental regulatory agencies from the fifty (50) 
States; Washington, DC, and four (4) territories were notified of the 
solicitation's availability by fax and e-mail transmittals on February 
24, 2005.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the Solicitation can be downloaded from the 
Agency's Web site at: http://www.epa.gov/innovation/stategrants or may 
be requested by telephone ((202) 566-2186), or by e-mail ([email protected]). Proposals submitted in response to this 
solicitation, or questions concerning the solicitation should be sent 
to: State Innovation Grant Program, Office of Policy, Economics and 
Innovation, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (1807T), 1200 
Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20460.
    Proposal responses or questions may also be sent by fax to ((202) 
566-2220), addressed to the ``State Innovation Grant Program,'' or by 
e-mail to: [email protected]. We encourage e-mail 
responses. If you have questions about responding to this notice, 
please contact EPA at this e-mail address or fax number, or you may 
call Sherri Walker at (202) 566-2186. EPA will acknowledge all 
responses it receives to this notice.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Background: In April 2002, EPA issued its plan for future 
innovation efforts, published as Innovating for Better Environmental 
Results: A Strategy to Guide the Next Generation of Innovation at EPA 
(EPA 100-R-02-002; http://www.epa.gov/opei/strategy). In Fall of 2002, 
EPA initiated the State Innovation Grants Program with a competition 
that asked for State project proposals that would create innovation in 
environmental permitting programs related to one of the Strategy's four 
priority environmental issues: reducing greenhouse gases, reducing 
smog, improving water quality, and ensuring the long-term integrity of 
the nations's water infrastructure. This assistance agreement program 
strengthens EPA's partnership with the States by assisting State 
innovation that supports the Strategy. EPA would like to help States 
build on previous experience and undertake strategic innovation 
projects that promote larger-scale models for ``next generation'' 
environmental protection and promise better environmental results. EPA 
is interested in funding projects that go beyond a single facility 
experiment to promote change that is ``systems-oriented'' and provides 
better results from a program, process, or sector-wide innovation. EPA 
is particularly interested in innovation that promotes integrated 
(cross-media) environmental management with high potential for transfer 
to other States. Following the pilot round of State Innovation Grants 
in 2002, EPA consulted with the States through the Environmental 
Council of the States (ECOS) and through a comment period announced in 
the Federal Register (FRL 7510-7, June 11, 2003) (see http://www.epa.gov/innovation/stategrants). EPA received support in comments 
from a large number of the responding States for maintaining innovation 
in permitting as a subject of the next solicitation in order to build 
and sustain a stable resource base for testing new ideas that can 
improve this critical core function. Within this topic there was 
considerable support for EPA assistance to help States explore the 
relationship between Environmental Management Systems (EMS) and 
permitting (see: http://www.epa.gov/ems/) and to support adoption of 
the Environmental Results Program (ERP) model (see: http://www.epa.gov/ooaujeag/permits/masserp.htm). Additionally, in October 
2004 EPA through a subsequent Federal Register notice (FRL 7827-4, 
October 13, 2004) asked states to provide additional input on topic 
areas for this solicitation. EPA received continued support for 
maintaining innovation in permitting as a subject of the next 
solicitation. During the months of October and November 2004, EPA held 
a series of six informational calls for the states. The purpose of the 
conference calls was to offer a streamlined proposal development 
workshop to all States prior to publication of our solicitation, and to 
answer any questions that the States may have prior to the competition, 
in keeping with Federal requirements that we afford assistance fairly 
in a competition process. Through this effort, our primary focus was to 
encourage individual States (and/or State-led teams) to submit well-
developed pre-proposals that effectively describe how their project 
would achieve measurable environmental results. Questions and answers 
from these six calls are posted at the program Web site at http://www.epa.gov/innovation/stategrants.
    Sixteen projects that received awards in prior competitions 
included: seven Environmental Results Program (ERP) models, six 
Environmental Management Systems (EMS) projects, two Watershed-Based 
Permitting projects, and one Enhanced Permitting Through Application of 
Innovative Information Technology (IT) Systems. For more information on 
the prior solicitations and awards, please see the EPA State Innovation 
Grants Web site at: http://www.epa.gov/innovation/stategrants.

    Dated: February 17, 2005.
Elizabeth Shaw,
Director, Office of Environmental Policy Innovation.
[FR Doc. 05-3529 Filed 2-23-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P