[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 47 (Thursday, March 12, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10735-10736]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-5384]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-8775-7]


Partnership To Promote Innovation in Environmental Practice, 
Notice of Availability of Solicitation for Proposals for 2009 
Assistance Agreement Award

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or Agency), 
National Center for Environmental Innovation (NCEI) is giving notice of 
the availability of its solicitation for proposals from institutions 
that are interested in organizing two symposia over four years to 
promote sharing and transfer of innovative environmental protection 
approaches among States, EPA, and other primarily governmental 
representatives. The solicitation is available at the Agency's State 
Innovation Grant Web site: http://www.epa.gov/innovation/2010symposium.htm, or may be requested from the Agency by e-mail to: 
innovation--state--grants@gov, telephone, or by mail. Eligible 
recipients include States, territories, Indian Tribes, interstate 
organizations, intrastate organizations, and possessions of the U.S., 
including the District of Columbia, public and private universities and 
colleges, hospitals, laboratories, other public or private nonprofit 
institutions, and individuals. Nonprofit organizations described in 
Section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code that engage in lobbying 
activities as defined in Section 3 of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 
1995 are not eligible to apply. For-profit organizations are generally 
not eligible for funding.

DATES: Eligible applicants will have until April 22, 2009, to respond 
with a pre-proposal, budget, and project summary.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the solicitation can be downloaded from the 
Agency's Web site at http://www.epa.gov/innovation/2010symposium.htm or 
may be requested by telephone (202-566-2236), or by e-mail 
([email protected]). You can request a solicitation 
application package be sent to you by fax or by mail by contacting NCEI 
as indicated below.
    Applicants are requested to apply online using the Grants.gov Web 
site with an electronic signature. Applicants are encouraged to submit 
their pre-proposals early. For those applicants who lack the technical 
capability to apply electronically via http://www.grants.gov, please 
contact Scott Fontenot by phone at: (202) 566-2236 and/or by e-mail at: 
[email protected], for alternative submission 
procedures.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: If you have questions about this 
notice, please contact EPA at this e-mail address: [email protected]; or, you may call Scott Fontenot at (202) 566-2236.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Strengthening EPA's innovation partnership 
with States and Tribes is a cornerstone of EPA's Innovation Strategy 
(http://www.epa.gov/innovation/strategy.htm). A key mechanism by which 
this partnership has been enhanced is through a bi-annual conference 
sponsored primarily by the National Center for Environmental Innovation 
that brings together State and EPA innovation practitioners to share 
experiences. EPA sponsored the first State-EPA Environmental Innovation 
Symposium in 2000 to showcase environmental innovations that promise 
improved results. A second symposium was held in 2003. In 2006, NCEI 
joined with EPA's Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental 
Relations to offer an expanded agenda that focused on innovation as 
well as performance management issues. In 2008, NCEI and EPA's Office 
of Air and Radiation held the State/EPA Symposium on Innovating for 
Sustainable Results: Integrated Approaches for Climate, Energy, and the 
Environment.

[[Page 10736]]

(Information about these events can be found at http://www.epa.gov/innovation/symposia.htm). Evaluations from these events, along with 
discussion with State commissioners, indicate that States and others 
have a strong interest in additional symposia that allow participants 
to share experiences and results from innovative environmental programs 
and policies.
    The primary audience for these symposia will be State environmental 
agency officials with practical experience implementing innovative 
approaches to environmental protection. Representatives from American 
Indian Tribes, local governments, other governments, NGOs, and the 
business community will also be invited to participate as appropriate 
to the ultimate symposia agendas. While EPA will have participants at 
the symposia, the primary goal of the meetings is to identify and 
highlight environmental innovations that can help States and other 
governmental entities learn about new ways to achieve environmental 
results. The symposia should be designed to:

--Identify and showcase successful, innovative projects and programs 
that have accomplished important environmental results at the State, 
Federal, or other levels;
--Facilitate information transfer so that proven approaches can be used 
by other states or other entities to achieve improved environmental 
results;
--Enable discussion about specific issues facing innovators, such as 
how to effectively evaluate pilot-scale efforts and how to replicate 
successful innovations on a larger scale (e.g., from a pilot project at 
one facility to a program for the entire sector) or in other programs 
(e.g., from use in the air program to the water program), and how to 
sustain innovation over time so that projects continue evolving to 
reflect new knowledge, experience, and/or technology;
--Expand the network of State, Federal and other environmental 
practitioners who are interested in applying and advancing new 
approaches;
--Stimulate ideas for new innovative initiatives and pilot projects.

The recipient will be responsible for preparing symposia agendas, 
identifying relevant speakers and presenters, promoting the event, and 
managing all symposia logistics. The recipient will be expected to be 
knowledgeable about a broad array of environmental policy issues and 
innovative approaches that have been tested to address them, and will 
establish and work with a Steering Committee comprised of 
representatives from the recipient, State environmental agencies and 
EPA, to serve as a resource and help inform planning of the symposia.
    EPA is interested in supporting the first symposium in 2010 and a 
second symposium approximately two years later. The goal is to maximize 
participation for State environmental officials as well as local and 
Tribal government officials.
    In addition to organizing the symposia, the recipient will provide 
other mechanisms for sharing information presented at the symposia, 
including providing all presentations and videotaped plenary sessions 
on a publicly available Web site. These resources will help extend the 
learning that occurs at the symposia to States, as well as other 
interested stakeholders.

    Dated: March 3, 2009.
David Widawsky,
Acting Director, National Center for Environmental Innovation.
 [FR Doc. E9-5384 Filed 3-11-09; 8:45 am]
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