Notice of Availability of Pollution Prevention Grants and Announcement of Financial Assistance Programs Eligible for Review

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[OPPTS-400090; FRL-4918-7]

Notice of Availability of Pollution Prevention Grants and

Announcement of Financial Assistance Programs Eligible for Review

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of Availability of Pollution Prevention Grants.

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

SUMMARY: EPA is announcing the availability of approximately $5 million

in fiscal year 1995 grant/cooperative agreement funds under the

Pollution Prevention Incentives for States (PPIS) grant program. The

purpose of this program is to support State, Tribal, and regional

programs that address the reduction or elimination of pollution across

all environmental media: Air, land, and water. Grants/cooperative

agreements will be awarded under the authority of the Pollution

Prevention Act of 1990.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Your EPA Regional Pollution Prevention

Coordinator. Contact names for each Regional Office are listed under

unit IV. of this preamble.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

Approximately $30 million has been awarded to over 100 State,

Tribal, and regional organizations under EPA's multimedia pollution

prevention grant program, since its inception in 1989.

In November 1990, the Pollution Prevention Act of 1990 (the Act)

(Pub. L. 101-508) was enacted, establishing as national policy that

pollution should be prevented or reduced at the source whenever

feasible. Section 6603 of the Act defines source reduction as any

practice that:

(1) 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.

(2) 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 by conservation.

Section 6605 of the Act authorizes EPA to make matching grants to

States to promote the use of source reduction techniques by businesses.

In evaluating grant applications, the Act directs EPA to consider

whether the proposed State programs will:

(1) Make technical assistance available to businesses seeking

information about source reduction opportunities, including funding for

experts to provide on-site technical advice and to assist in the

development of source reduction plans.

(2) Target assistance to businesses for whom lack of information is

an impediment to source reduction.

(3) Provide training in source reduction techniques.

In addition to this grant making authority, the Act authorizes EPA

to establish a national source reduction clearinghouse, expands EPA's

authority to collect data to better track source reduction activities,

and requires EPA to report periodically to Congress on EPA's progress

in implementing the Act.

II. Availability of FY 95 Funds

With this publication, EPA is announcing the availability of

approximately $5 million in grant/cooperative agreement funds for FY

1995. The Agency has delegated grant making authority to the EPA

Regional offices which formally transfers the decision-making and

awarding process for the PPIS grants to the Regions. Regional offices

have responsibility for the solicitation of interest, screening of

proposals, and the actual selection of awards. This seventh round of

awards reflects a more direct and active Regional role in determining

FY '95 awardees. PPIS grant guidance will be developed separately by

each Regional program and will be provided to all applicants along with

any supplemental information the Regions may wish to provide. However,

in addition to Regional guidelines, all applicants must address the

national requirements listed under unit III.3. of this document.

Interested applicants should contact their Regional Pollution

Prevention Coordinator for more information.

III. Eligibility

In accordance with the Act, eligible applicants for purposes of

funding under this grant program include the 50 States, the District of

Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, any

territory or possession of the United States, any agency or

instrumentality of a State including State universities and all

Federally-recognized Indian tribes. For convenience, the term ``State''

in this notice refers to all eligible applicants. Local governments,

private universities, private non-profit entities, private businesses,

and individuals are not eligible. These organizations excluded from

applying directly are encouraged to work with eligible applicants in

developing proposals that include them as participants in the projects.

EPA strongly encourages this type of cooperative arrangement.

1. The Catalogue of Federal Domestic Assistance. The number

assigned to the PPIS program is 66.708 (formerly 66.900). Organizations

receiving pollution prevention grant funds are required to match

Federal funds by at least 50 percent.

For example, the Federal government will provide half of the total

allowable cost of the project, the State half of the total allowable

cost of the project. A grant request for $100,000 would support a total

allowable project cost of $200,000, with the State also providing

$100,000. State contributions may include dollars, in-kind goods and

services and/or third party contributions.

2. Eligible activities. In general, the purpose of the PPIS grant

program is to support the establishment and expansion of State,

Regional, Tribal, or local multimedia pollution prevention programs.

EPA specifically seeks to build State pollution prevention capabilities

or to test, at the State level, innovative pollution prevention

approaches and methodologies. Funds awarded under the PPIS grant

program must be used to support pollution prevention programs that

address the transfer of potentially harmful pollutants across all

environmental media: Air, water, and land. Programs should reflect

comprehensive and coordinated pollution prevention planning and

implementation efforts State- or Region-wide and where appropriate seek

to address State environmental justice issues. States might focus on,

for example:

a. Developing multimedia pollution prevention activities, including

but not limited to: Providing direct technical assistance to

businesses; collecting and analyzing data to target outreach and

technical assistance opportunities; conducting outreach activities;

developing measures to determine progress in pollution prevention; and

identifying regulatory and non-regulatory barriers and incentives to

pollution prevention and developing plans to implement solutions, where

possible.

b. Institutionalizing multimedia pollution prevention as an

environmental management priority, establishing prevention goals,

developing strategies to meet those goals, and integrating the

pollution prevention ethic within both governmental and non-

governmental institutions of the State or region.

c. Initiating demonstration projects that test and support

innovative pollution prevention approaches and methodologies.

3. Coordination of pollution prevention activities. The Federal

government has extended and broadened its support of organizations that

supply technical assistance, training and information to businesses.

Examples of this include:

a. Resources from the Department of Commerce's National Institute

for Standards and Technology to support the Manufacturing Extension

Partnerships.

b. Resources from the Small Business Administration and EPA to

support the technology assistance programs of the Small Business

Development Centers.

c. Resources from the Department of Energy to the industrial sector

to assist in commercializing technologies developed from the national

labs.

d. Resources from EPA and State programs that support the Clean Air

Act Small Business Assistance Programs.

There is a growing emergence of business assistance organizations

established within States to address the vast array of environmental

concerns. Consequently, as a means to provide substantive support of

pollution prevention, EPA is eager to ensure that the PPIS grants will

add to the success and sustainability of these State pollution

prevention programs. Therefore, it is important to clarify the role of

the State pollution prevention program in terms of its relationship to

its intended customers and to the other organizations which provide

similar environmental assistance.

Based on this, EPA has developed three mandatory requirements which

must be addressed by all eligible applicants. Proposals that do not

address these national requirements, even though they adequately

address the Regional criteria, will not be considered eligible for

funding. In the narrative of the grant application, the following three

requirements must be addressed:

(1) Briefly define the capacity and potential of the State program

as a provider of pollution prevention assistance.

(2) Identify other organizations at the regional, State and local

level, that provide similar environmental assistance.

(3) Describe the coordination capabilities with the identified

environmental assistance programs:

a. Briefly describe an approach to working with, leveraging and

complementing the identified organizations.

b. Address the barriers for coordination with these organizations

and options to overcome the identified barriers.

Proposals accepted for review under this program must qualify as

pollution prevention as defined by EPA.

4. Program management. Awards for FY 1995 funds will be managed

through the EPA Regional Offices.

5. Contact. Interested applicants are requested to contact the

appropriate EPA Regional Pollution Prevention Coordinator listed under

unit IV. of this document to obtain specific instructions and guidance

for submitting proposals.

IV. Regional Pollution Prevention Contacts

Mark Mahoney (PAS), US EPA Region 1, JFK Federal Bldg, Room 2203,

Boston, MA 02203, (617) 565-1155

Janet Sapadin (2-PPIB-OPM), US EPA Region 2, 26 Federal Plaza, New

York, NY 10278, (212) 264-1925

Cathy Libertz (3ES43), US EPA Region 3, 841 Chestnut Bldg.,

Philadelphia, PA 19107, (215) 597-0765

Carol Monell, US EPA Region 4, 345 Courtland St., NE, Atlanta, GA

30365, (404) 347-3555, ext. 6779

Phil Kaplan, US EPA Region 5, 77 West Jackson Blvd., Chicago, IL 60604-

3590, (312) 353-4669

Rob Lawrence (6M-PP), US EPA Region 6, 1445 Ross Ave., 12th Floor,

Suite 1200 Dallas, TX 75202, (214) 665-6580

Steve Wurtz, US EPA Region 7, 726 Minnesota Ave., Kansas City, KS

66101, (913) 551-7315

Sharon Riegel (8PM-SIPO), US EPA Region 8, 999 18th St., Suite 500,

Denver, CO 80202-2405, (303) 293-1471

Eileen Sheehan/Bill Wilson (H1B), US EPA Region 9, 75 Hawthorne Ave.,

San Francisco, CA 94105, (415) 744-2190 415-744-2192.

Carolyn Gangmark, US EPA Region 10, 1200 Sixth Ave., Seattle, WA 98101

(206) 553-4072.

Dated: November 14, 1994.

Susan B. Hazen,

Acting Director, Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics.

[FR Doc. 94-28702 Filed 11-18-94; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6560-50-F