[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 235 (Thursday, December 7, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 62847-62849]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-29832]



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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[OPPTS-00180; FRL-4989-7]


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.

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SUMMARY: EPA is announcing the availability of approximately $5 million 
in fiscal year 1996 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 document.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    Approximately $40 million have 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 (pollution 
prevention) 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.
    In addition to pollution prevention being source reduction, 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, 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 program 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 authorized EPA 
to establish a national source reduction clearinghouse, expands EPA's 
authorities to collect data to better track 

[[Page 62848]]
source reduction activities, and requires EPA to report periodically to 
Congress on progress in implementing the Act.

II. Availability of FY 96 Funds

    With this publication, EPA is announcing the availability of 
approximately $5 million in grant/cooperative agreement funds for FY 
1996. The Agency has delegated grant making authority to the EPA 
Regional offices which formally transfers the decisionmaking 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 eighth round of 
awards reflects a more direct and active Regional role in determining 
FY 96 awards. 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 dollar 
for dollar all Federal funds.
    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 priority areas. States might focus on, 
for example:
    a. Developing measures to determine progress in pollution 
prevention.
    b. 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; and 
identifying regulatory and non-regulatory barriers and incentives to 
pollution prevention and developing plans to implement solutions, where 
possible.
    c. 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.
    d. Initiating demonstration projects that test and support 
innovative pollution prevention approaches and methodologies.
    3. Measuring pollution prevention progress. Fiscal year 1996 marks 
the 8th year of funding for the PPIS grant program. This cycle of 
awards also emphasizes EPA's efforts to assist States in developing and 
implementing measurement systems to track the progress of the PPIS 
funds in promoting pollution prevention. EPA believes that, like a 
business, State pollution prevention programs need to strive for 
continuous improvement. Although the effectiveness of certain pollution 
prevention activities are inherently easier to measure than others, the 
measurement focus of this year's cycle does not target any specific 
pollution prevention activity as a priority. Rather, EPA believes that 
the State pollution prevention programs are in the best position to 
determine which approaches to pollution prevention are most critical to 
the State. EPA believes that in order to highlight the effectiveness of 
the PPIS grant program, a measurement component is essential to 
document continuous improvement. Applicants must address measurement by 
including at least one of the two mandatory components listed below. 
Proposals that do not address one of these national criteria in the 
narrative of the grant application will not be considered eligible for 
funding. The proposal must:
    A. Include a comprehensive plan that describes both the types of 
pollution prevention activities that the State program will pursue and 
a method for quantifying pollution reductions achieved by these 
activities. In addition, the plan should include a component that: (1) 
Measures the effectiveness of the identified activities in reducing 
pollution. (2) Evaluates the measurement methodology, identifying areas 
of success and problems encountered.
    B. Include a pollution prevention measurement methodology that 
develops tools to be adopted by pollution prevention assistance 
provider(s) in evaluating their program(s). The proposal must identify 
which organization(s)/program(s) the measurement tools are being 
developed for. The measurement methodology should include, but need not 
be limited to: a method for identification of measurement needs; an 
evaluation of measurement methodologies and approaches; a system for 
matching identified needs with measurement methodologies and 
approaches; and the application of a selected methodology or approach. 
Proposals accepted for review under this program must qualify as 
pollution prevention as defined by EPA.
    4. Program management. Awards for FY 96 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

Abby Swaine/Mark Mahoney (PAS), US EPA Region 1, JFK Federal Bldg, Rm. 
2203, Boston, MA 02203, (617) 565-4523/1155 (CT, MA, ME, NH, RI, VT) 

[[Page 62849]]

Janet Sapadin (2-OPM-PPI), US EPA Region 2, 290 Broadway, 26th floor, 
New York, NY 10007-1866, (212) 637-3584 (NJ, NY, PR, VI)
Jeff Burke (3ES43), US EPA Region 3, 841 Chestnut Bldg., Philadelphia 
PA 19107, (215) 597-8327 (DC, DE, MD, PA, VA, WV)
Carol Monell, US EPA Region 4, 345 Courtland St., NE, Atlanta, GA 
30365, (404) 347-3555, x6894 (AL, FL, GA, KY, MS, NC, SC, TN)
Phil Kaplan (HRP-8J), US EPA Region 5, 77 West Jackson Blvd., Chicago, 
IL 60604-3590, (312) 353-4669 (IL, IN, MI, MN, OH, WI)
Linda Thompson (6EN-XP), US EPA Region 6, 1445 Ross Ave., Suite 1200, 
Dallas, TX 75202, (214) 665-6568 (AR, LA, NM, OK, TX)
Steve Wurtz, US EPA Region 7, 726 Minnesota Ave., Kansas City, KS 
66101, (913) 551-7315 (IA, KS, MO, NE)
Linda Walters (8PM-SIPO), US EPA Region 8, 999 18th St., Suite 500, 
Denver, CO 80202-2405, (303) 312-6392 (CO, MT, ND, SD, UT, WY)
Eileen Sheehan/Bill Wilson (H-I-B), US EPA Region 9, 75 Hawthorne St., 
San Francisco, CA 94105, (415) 744-2190/2192 (AZ, CA, GU, HI, CNMI, RP, 
AS)
Carolyn Gangmark, US EPA Region 10, 1200 Sixth Ave., Seattle, WA 98101, 
(206) 553-4072 (AK, ID, OR, WA)

    Dated: November 27, 1995.
William H. Sanders III,
Director, Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics.
[FR Doc. 95-29832 Filed 12-6-95; 8:45 am]
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