Government regulations and their accompanying deadlines are often sources of stress for small business owners, including those in the demolition and recycling industries.
But government agencies can also be the owners of active checking accounts, and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) is no exception.
The U.S. EPA will be taking out its checkbook throughout its 2009 fiscal year to provide grants to clean up and remediate targeted brownfield sites throughout the country.
According to the agency’s "FY09 Guidelines for Brownfields Assessment Grants," a document that can be found on the U.S. EPA’s Web site, the agency has a deadline of Nov. 14, 2008, to receive proposals for Brownfields Assessment Grants, which the agency defines "provid[ing] funds to inventory, characterize, assess, and conduct planning (including cleanup planning) and community involvement related to brownfield sites."
It is the first of three steps through which a coordinating not-for-profit agency or community-based organization can receive funding from the EPA to help conduct a Brownfields project.
Brownfields Assessment Grants can typically be followed by:
Brownfields Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) Grants, which, according to the EPA, "provide funds for a grant recipient to capitalize a revolving fund and to make loans and provide sub-grants to carry out cleanup activities at brownfield sites; and
Brownfields Cleanup Grants that "provide funds to carry out cleanup activities at a specific brownfield site owned by the applicant," according to the EPA Web site.
In fiscal year 2009, the total funding available under the national competition for assessment, cleanup, and RLF grants is estimated at $81 million by the EPA. The agency must spend 25 percent of the amount appropriated for sites contaminated with petroleum, the Web site notes. "EPA anticipates awarding an estimated 329 grants among all three grant types. Under this announcement, EPA anticipates awarding an estimated 183 assessment grants for an estimated $37.5 million."
The EPA offers guidelines for the Assessment Grant stage as well as for the RLF and Cleanup stages in announcements posted to its Web site (www.epa.gov).
Information covering some of the basics can be found in a Frequently Asked Questions document prepared by the EPA. Portions of that document are reproduced below.
Q: What is a Brownfields Site?
A: For the purposes of EPA’s brownfields grant program, a "Brownfields Site" is: "...real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant."
In order to be eligible for Brownfields grant funding, the site(s) covered by your application must meet the definition of a Brownfield site.
Brownfield sites also include, but are not limited to, three types of properties eligible for funding:
sites contaminated by petroleum or a petroleum product;
sites contaminated by controlled substances; and,
mine-scarred lands.
Some sites are excluded from the definition of a brownfield site, though many of these may be eligible if EPA makes a "property- specific funding determination" that allows grant funds to be used at that site. This process is explained in Appendices 3 and 4 of the brownfields grant proposal guidelines.
For a more detailed discussion of brownfields sites eligible for funding, please refer to the Appendices of the Proposal Guidelines for Brownfields Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund and Cleanup Grants on the EPA Web site at: www.epa.gov/brownfields.
Q: Who is eligible to apply for the grants?
A: The brownfields law defines entities eligible to receive grants, based on the type of grant requested:
Assessment and revolving loan fund grants—state, local, and tribal governments, with the exception of Indian tribes in Alaska, as well as a range of government entities, including a general purpose unit of local government or land clearance authority or other quasi-governmental entity operating under the control, supervision, or as an agent of a local government, a governmental entity or redevelopment agency created or sanctioned by a state, or a regional council of governments, are eligible. An Alaska Native Regional Corporation and an Alaska Native Village Corporation, as those terms are defined in the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, and the Metlakatla Indian community are eligible.
Cleanup grants—include those eligible governmental entities identified above as well as non-profit organizations and non-profit educational institutions. (Please see Q2 for EPA’s definition of a non-profit organization that applies to this program.) All eligible entities, including non-profit organizations, must have sole ownership of the site and provide documentation to demonstrate ownership (e.g. copy of the fee simple title) by June 30, 2009.
Job training grants—include those eligible governmental entities identified above as well as non-profit organizations, including non-profit educational institutions.
For-profit organizations are not eligible for brownfields grant funding from EPA.
Q: What grant activities cannot be paid for with Brownfields grant funds?
A: Grant funds may not be used to pay:
A penalty or fine.
A federal cost-share requirement (for example, a cost share required by other federal funds).
An administrative cost (see below).
A response cost at a brownfield site for which the recipient of the grant or loan is potentially liable under CERCLA §107.
A cost of compliance with any federal law, excluding the cost of compliance with laws applicable to the cleanup.
Unallowable costs (e.g., lobbying and fund raising) under OMB Circulars A-21, A-87, or A-122, as applicable.
Q: What is the amount of funding available through individual grants?
A: Under the brownfields law, an eligible entity may apply for:
Assessment Grants. An eligible entity may apply for up to $200,000 to assess a site contaminated by hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants (including hazardous substances co-mingled with petroleum) and up to $200,000 to address a site contaminated by petroleum. Applicants may either combine requests for hazardous substances funding and petroleum funding into one proposal if both types of funding will address the same target community, for a total not to exceed $400,000; or applicants may submit separate proposals requesting up to $200,000 each for hazardous substances and petroleum funding. Whether the applicant combines proposals or not, applicants may only apply for a maximum of two community-wide assessment grants.
• An applicant may apply for one site-specific assessment grant not to exceed $200,000. For site specific proposals, applicants may seek a waiver of the $200,000 limit and request up to $350,000. Such waivers must be based on the anticipated level of hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants (including hazardous substances co-mingled with petroleum) or petroleum at a single site. Due to budget limitations, no one entity may apply for more than $750,000 in assessment funding and cannot submit more than three assessment grant proposals (two community-wide and one site-specific).
• A coalition comprised of three or more eligible entities may apply for one assessment grant up to $1 million. All coalition assessment grant proposals must be community-wide. The lead coalition member and any other members can not apply for individual assessment grants in the year they apply as part of a coalition. The performance period for an Assessment Grant is three years.
The EPA reserves the right to partially fund proposals, including the right to only fund the hazardous substance or the petroleum requests if applicants request both in their proposal.
Q: If funds have been expended at a site under a cleanup grant, can additional brownfields funding be provided for additional cleanup work at the same site?
A: Yes, a cleanup grant recipient may apply for additional funding through a brownfields revolving loan fund. A cleanup grant recipient may also request that a state or tribe conduct additional cleanup with CERCLA 128 State and Tribal Response Program funding. A city, town or other eligible entity may also apply for a cleanup grant for a site on which a state or tribe has already expended CERCLA 128 funds.
Q: What sites are not eligible for property-specific funding determinations for Brownfields grants?
A: The Brownfields Law excludes the following three types of properties from funding eligibility and prohibits the EPA from making property-specific determinations on these properties:
Facilities listed (or proposed for listing) on the National Priorities List (NPL);
Facilities subject to unilateral administrative orders, court orders, administrative orders on consent or judicial consent decrees issued to or entered into by parties under CERCLA; and
Facilities that are subject to the jurisdiction, custody or control, of the United States government. (Note: Land held in trust by the United States government for an Indian tribe is generally eligible for brownfields funding.)
Q: How do I submit my application and what is the deadline for submission in FY2009?
A: Proposals are due Nov. 14, 2008. Applicants may submit their proposals through the
U.S. Postal Service, commercial delivery service, or electronically through www.grants.gov. Only one method should be used for the submission of the original, complete proposal. Facsimile delivery of proposals and e-mailed submissions are not permitted and will not be considered.
Hard Copy Submissions Proposals sent through the U.S. Postal Service or a commercial delivery service must be postmarked by Nov. 14, 2008. Two copies of the complete proposal are required. Mail one complete, original proposal to: Environmental Management Support Inc., Attn: Mr. Don West, 8601 Georgia Avenue, Suite 500, Silver Spring, MD 20910.
A second complete copy of the proposal must be mailed to the appropriate EPA Regional Brownfields Coordinator listed in Appendix 1. Proposals postmarked by the USPS/commercial delivery service after November 14, 2008 will not be considered.
Electronic Submissions Proposals sent electronically through grants.gov must be received by grants.gov by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on Nov. 14, 2008. Proposals received after 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on Nov. 14, 2008 will not be considered.
Refer to Appendix 3 for instructions on the use of grants.gov. In the event that an applicant experiences difficulties transmitting its proposal(s) through grants.gov, please refer to the procedures in Appendix 3.
Note: There is a registration process to complete for electronic submission via grants.gov, which may take a week or more to complete.
In addition to electronic submission through grants.gov, a complete copy of the proposal must be mailed to the appropriate EPA Regional Brownfields Coordinator listed in Appendix 1 of the guidelines.
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