[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 176 (Tuesday, September 12, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 53682-53684]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-15082]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-8218-7]


State Innovation Grant Program, Preliminary Notice on the 
Development of a Solicitation for Proposals for 2007 Awards

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Center for 
Environmental Innovation (NCEI) is giving preliminary notice of its 
intention to solicit proposals for a 2007 grant program to support 
innovation by state environmental agencies--the ``State Innovation 
Grant Program.'' In addition, EPA is asking each State Environmental 
Regulatory Agency to designate a point of contact at the management 
level (in addition to the Commissioner or Cabinet Secretary level) who 
will be the point of contact for further communication about the 
upcoming solicitation. If your point of contact from previous State 
Innovation Grant solicitations is to be your contact for this year's 
competition, there is no need to send that information again, as all 
previously designated points of contact will remain on our notification 
list for this year's competition. EPA anticipates publication of a 
Solicitation Announcement of Federal Funding Opportunity on the Federal 
government's grants opportunities Web site (http://www.grants.gov) to 
announce the availability of the next solicitation approximately four 
weeks after publication of this announcement.

DATES: State Environmental Regulatory agencies will have 30 days from 
the date of this pre-announcement notice in the Federal Register 
publication until October 12, 2006 to respond with point of contact 
information for the person within the State Environmental Regulatory 
Agency (in addition to Commissioner or Cabinet Secretaries) who will be 
designated to receive future notices about the State Innovation Grants. 
We will automatically transmit notice of availability of the 
solicitation to people in State agencies identified for previous 
solicitations.

ADDRESSES: Information should be sent to: State Innovation Grant 
Program; National Center for Environmental Innovation; Office of 
Policy, Economics, and Innovation; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 
(1807T), 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington DC 20460. Responses 
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. 
For point of contact information, please provide: name, title, 
department and agency, street or post office address, city, state, zip 
code, telephone, fax number, and e-mail address. 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/innovation/strategy/). The Agency's Innovation 
Strategy presents a framework for environmental innovation consisting 
of four major elements:
    (1) Strengthen EPA's innovation partnership with States;
    (2) Focus on priority environmental issues;
    (3) Diversify environmental protection tools and approaches;
    (4) Foster more ``innovation-friendly'' organizational culture and 
systems.
    This assistance program strengthens EPA's partnership with the 
States by supporting innovation compatible with the Innovation 
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

[[Page 53683]]

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.
    Since 2002, EPA has sponsored four State Innovation Grant Program 
competitions that asked for State project pre-proposals that support 
innovation generally related to environmental permitting programs. This 
has included alternatives to permitting and the establishment of 
incentives to go beyond compliance with permit requirements. To date, 
projects have clustered primarily around three target areas: 
Environmental Results Programs (ERP), Environmental Management Systems 
(EMS) , and the National Environmental Performance Track (PT) Program 
and similar state performance-based environmental leadership programs. 
Twenty-nine awards to States have been made from the four prior 
competitions. These projects amount to approximately $5 million in 
assistance to States. Among the grant projects, including those with 
pending awards: 14 are for development of Environmental Results 
Programs, 8 relate to Environmental Management Systems and permitting 
(one project a hybrid of EMS and ERP), 5 create or enhance Performance-
Based Environmental Leadership programs, 2 are for Watershed-based 
permitting, and 1 was for permit process streamlining through 
innovative information technology applications. For more information on 
last year's solicitation, the proposals received, and the award 
decisions, please see the Web site at: http://www.epa.gov/innovation/stategrants.

Proposed General Topic Areas for Solicitation

    To increase the likelihood of strategic impact with what we 
anticipate to be limited funds, EPA proposes to continue with the 
general theme of ``innovation in permitting,'' and additionally to 
continue with the focus on the three topic areas similar to the last 
competition: (1) Projects that support the development of state 
Environmental Results Programs (ERP); (2) projects which involve the 
application of Environmental Management Systems (EMS) including those 
that explore the relationship of EMS to permitting or otherwise promote 
the use of EMS to improve environmental performance beyond permit 
requirements (see EPA's Strategy for Determining the Role of EMS in 
Regulatory Programs at http://www.epa.gov/ems or http://www.epa.gov/ems/docs/EMS_and_the_Reg_Structure_41204Fpdf); (3) 
projects that support state performance-based environmental leadership 
programs or state support for implementation of the National 
Environmental Performance Track Program, particularly including the 
development and implementation of incentives. EPA's focus on a small 
number of topics within this general subject area effectively 
concentrates the limited resources available for greater strategic 
impact. Project selections and awards will be subject to funding 
availability. In addition, EPA may contemplate a very limited number of 
projects otherwise related to the general theme of innovation in 
permitting, in particular as they may address EPA Regional and State 
environmental permitting priorities.
    EPA encourages communication from States about potential thematic 
areas for the future. Please note that these grants will not be applied 
to the development or demonstration of new environmental technologies, 
nor will NCEI fund projects that propose development or upgrading of 
information technology systems for anything other than a very minor 
component of the project. Projects will be much less likely to be 
funded through the State Innovation Grant Program if agency resources 
pertinent to the topic are already available through another EPA 
program.

Competition Limited to the State Environmental Regulatory Agency

    The competition will be limited to the principal Environmental 
Regulatory Agency within each State, although these agencies are 
encouraged to partner with other agencies within the State that have 
environmental mandates (e.g., energy, agriculture, natural management, 
transportation, public health). EPA will accept only one proposal from 
an individual State and it must be submitted by the principal 
Environmental Regulatory Agency from that State. States are also 
encouraged to partner with other States and Tribes to address cross-
boundary issues, to encourage collaborative environmental partnering 
within industrial sectors or in certain topical areas (e.g., 
agriculture), and to create networks for peer-mentoring. A multi-state 
or State-Tribal proposal will be accepted in addition to an individual 
State proposal, but a State may appear in no more than one multi-State 
or State-Tribal proposal in addition to its individual proposal. EPA 
regrets that because of the limitation in available funding it is not 
yet able to open this competition to Native American Tribal 
environmental agencies but we strongly encourage Tribal agencies to 
join with adjacent States in project proposals.

Request for Designation of a Primary Point of Contact

    EPA asks that each State Environmental Regulatory Agency designate 
a manager as a primary point-of-contact who we will add to the EPA 
notification list for further announcements about the State Innovation 
Grant Program. If your point of contact from previous State Innovation 
Grant solicitations is to be your contact for this year's competition, 
there is no need to send that information again, as all previously 
designated points of contact will remain on our notification list for 
this year's competition. We are asking that any new name be submitted 
with the approval of the highest levels of management within an Agency 
(Commissioner, Secretary, or their deputies) within 30 days after 
publication of this notice in the Federal Register. Please submit this 
information to EPA by mail, fax, or e-mail prior to October 12, 2006 in 
the following manner.
    By mail to: State Innovation Grant Program, National Center for 
Environmental Innovation, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (1807T), 
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20460.
    By fax to: State Innovation Grant Program, (202) 566-2220.
    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 of 
fax number, or you may call Sherri Walker at (202) 566-2186. For point-
of-contact information, please provide: name, title, department and 
agency, mailing address (street or P.O. Box), city, State, zip code, 
telephone, fax number, and e-mail address. EPA will acknowledge all 
responses it receives to this notice.

Opportunity for Dialogue

    Between now and the initiation of the competition with the release 
of the solicitation, States are encouraged to discuss potential 
projects with their EPA Regional contact to ascertain whether the scope 
of a potential project is suitable for funding under this program. 
Responses to questions that come to us during the period between this 
pre-announcement and the release of the solicitation along with helpful 
resource materials will be posted on the State Innovation Grant Web 
site at

[[Page 53684]]

http://www.epa.gov/innovation/stategrants. States are also invited to 
communicate with NCEI about ideas for future competition themes by 
contacting the EPA Headquarters contact listed below. The contacts for 
the EPA Regions and the EPA HQ National Center for Environmental 
Innovation are as follows:

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Anne Leiby, U.S. EPA Region 1, 1         Grace Smith, U.S. EPA Region 2,
 Congress Street, Suite 1100, Boston,     290 Broadway, 26th Floor, New
 MA 02114-2023, (617) 918-1076,           York, NY 10007-1866, (212) 637-
 [email protected], States: CT, MA,      3589, [email protected],
 ME, NH, RI, VT.                          States & Territories: NJ, NY,
                                          PR, VI.
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Nicholas DiNardo, U.S. EPA Region 3,     Bonita Johnson, U.S. EPA Region
 1650 Arch Street (3EA40),                4, 61 Forsyth Street, SW.,
 Philadelphia, PA 19103, (215) 814-       Atlanta, GA 30303, (404) 562-
 3365, [email protected],          9388, [email protected],
 States: DC, DE, MD, PA, VA, WV.          States: AL, FL, GA, KY, MS,
                                          NC, SC, TN.
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Marilou Martin, U.S. EPA Region 5, 77    Craig Weeks, U.S. EPA Region 6,
 West Jackson Boulevard, Chicago, IL      Fountain Place, Suite 1200,
 60604-3507, (312) 353-9660,              1445 Ross Avenue, Dallas, TX
 [email protected], States: IL,      75202-2733, (214) 665-7505,
 IN, MI, MN, OH, WI.                      [email protected], States:
                                          AR, LA, NM, OK, TX.
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Chrissy Wolfersberger, U.S. EPA Region   Whitney Trulove-Cranor, U.S.
 7, 901 North 5th Street, Kansas City,    EPA Region 8, 999 18th Street,
 KS 66101, (913) 551-7854,                Suite 300, Denver, CO 80202-
 [email protected], States:     2466, (303) 312-6099, trulove-
 IA, KS, MO, NE.                          [email protected],
                                          States: CO, MT, ND, SD, UT,
                                          WY.
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Loretta Barsamian, U.S. EPA Region 9,    Bill Glasser, U.S. EPA Region
 75 Hawthorne Street (SPE-1), San         10, 1200 Sixth Avenue (ENF-T),
 Francisco, CA 94105, (415) 947-4268,     Seattle, WA 98101, (206) 553-
 [email protected], States and    7215, [email protected],
 Territories: AS, AZ, CA, GU, HI, NV.     States: AK, ID, OR, WA.
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    Headquarters Office: Sherri Walker, U.S. EPA (MC 1807T), Office of 
the Administrator, National Center for Environmental Innovation, State 
Innovation Grants Program, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, 
DC 20460, (202) 566-2186, (202) 566-2220 fax.
    For courier delivery only: Sherri Walker, U.S. EPA, EPA West 
Building, Room 4214D, 1301 Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 
20005.

    Dated: September 6, 2006.
Elizabeth A. Shaw,
Director, Office of Environmental Policy Innovation.
[FR Doc. E6-15082 Filed 9-11-06; 8:45 am]
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