[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 218 (Friday, November 12, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 61637-61640]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-29587]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[OPPTS-00280; FRL-6391-3]
Notice of Availability of FY 2000 Grant Funds for the Support of
a Pollution Prevention Information Network
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: EPA expects to have approximately $1 million available in
fiscal year 2000 to fund grant proposals supporting a nation-wide
network of pollution prevention information providers. The Pollution
Prevention Act provides funds to States to strengthen the efficiency
and effectiveness of State technical assistance programs in providing
source reduction information to businesses. These funds will be
targeted for applicants that are willing to work as part of a
collective service providing pollution prevention information to State
and local governments' technical assistance providers. Grantees will
collect, organize and disseminate pollution prevention (P2)
information, make their information available electronically,
publically report use of their information services, and utilize State
representatives to guide and evaluate their information services as
part of a nationwide resource. Grants/cooperative agreements will be
awarded under the authority of the Pollution Prevention Act of 1990.
DATES: Applications must be postmarked by April 10, 2000.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Beth Anderson, Pollution Prevention
Division, (7409) Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics,
Environmental Protection Agency, 401 M St. SW., Washington, DC 20460,
telephone number: (202) 260-2602, e-mail address:
anderson.beth@epa.gov. Access information about this grant program at
http://www.epa.gov/p2.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. General Information
A. Does this Action Apply to Me?
This action is directed to State governments, State programs or
departments, as well as other State institutions, such as universities.
If you have any questions regarding the applicability of this action
consult the person listed in the ``FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT''
section of this notice.
B. How Can I Get Additional Information, Including Copies of this
Document or Other Related Documents?
Electronically. You may obtain electronic copies of this document,
and certain other related documents that might be available
electronically, from the EPA Internet Home Page at http://www.epa.gov/.
To access this document, on the Home Page select ``Laws and
Regulations'' and then look up the entry for this document under the
``Federal Register --Environmental Documents.'' You can also go
directly to the Federal Register listings at http://www.epa.gov/
fedrgstr/.
II. Scope and Purpose of this Grant Program
1. Scope--The Pollution Prevention Act of 1990. This solicitation
is made under the Pollution Prevention Act of 1990, (the Act) (Public
Law 101-508) which established 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 pullution prevention (P2) 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, 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.
2. Purpose of national pollution prevention information network.
Currently there are few mechanisms or systems to coordinate the
development, review, and dissemination of pollution prevention
information among Federal, State, and local agencies, or universities
involved in promoting source reduction technologies. Access to P2
information and assistance varies across the United States. In
addition, not all programs providing assistance to small businesses
have access to pollution prevention information that may be useful and
relevant to their clientele. The purpose of this request for proposals
is to coordinate work among new and existing grantees in order to
minimize duplication of effort in information collection and synthesis,
training for the promotion of pollution prevention technologies, and
establish information standards that will facilitate information
exchange among centers.
The development of a P2 information network of regional centers
would allow State P2 information needs to be addressed on a regional
basis and allow for improved information exchange among States.
Coordination of regional centers could facilitate information exchange
and decrease duplicative research that might be conducted in each State
by developing systems to: coordinate information needs, determine types
of P2 information that need to be developed, coordinate the production
of relevant P2 information, disseminate this information among small
business assistance providers, and evaluate the effectiveness of the
information being disseminated in changing business practices to
incorporate pollution prevention.
EPA believes that investing in coordinating and standardizing P2
information collection, synthesis, and dissemination will benefit State
P2 technical assistance providers as well as other small business
assistance programs, such as the Small Business Development Centers and
the National Institutes of Standards and Technology Manufacturing
Extension Partnerships. Regional P2 information centers could benefit
by allowing for specialization in expertise, where this expertise can
be shared nationally. Regional centers could be more responsive to the
common information needs of the States being served and allow States to
focus resources on issues unique to each State. EPA believes that some
of the
[[Page 61638]]
benefits of a coordinated P2 information network could be:
(1) Improved access to P2 information for all State business
assistance programs.
(2) Increased availability of P2 technical assistance to all
States, through sharing research, synthesis, and training in current P2
information nationally.
(3) Increased partnerships among State entities serving small
businesses by providing a forum for defining and meeting common program
objectives.
3. EPA's prior efforts to promote P2 information sharing. On August
20 and 21, 1992, EPA sponsored a subcommittee meeting of the ``National
Advisory Council for Environmental Policy and Technology, State and
Local Programs Committee.'' At this meeting, the delivery of P2
technical information to State and local technical assistance programs
was discussed in the context of the national data base, Pollution
Prevention Information Exchange System and the Pollution Prevention
Information Clearinghouse that EPA was operating. This initial meeting
raised issues of information quality, roles for a national
clearinghouse, and priority information needs or functions for State P2
technical assistance programs. In 1994 EPA created a website dedicated
to users of pollution prevention and cleaner production solutions
called Envirosense. A current description of the site is at http://
es.epa.gov/describe.html.
In October 1993, EPA funded a proposal from the National Roundtable
of State Pollution Prevention Programs (now called the National
Pollution Prevention Roundtable (NPPR)) to ``develop a design and
management plan for a national network of pollution prevention
information providers.'' In February 1995, NPPR submitted its final
report. In this report, based on the results of survey and telephone
interviews, the functions of an information network that would best
support pollution prevention technical assistance programs were:
Make information readily accessible and easy to search.
Collect and update technical information.
Identify experts or other sources of information.
Provide technical information in a synthesized format (which might
include case studies, process information, bibliography, vendor
information, etc.).
In October 1994, EPA funded a 4-year pilot proposal to establish a
model program for interstate cooperation on pollution prevention
information sharing. Three organizations agreed to participate in the
pilot to coordinate information collection, synthesis, peer review, and
dissemination: Northeast Waste Management Officials Association, the
Illinois Hazardous Waste Research and Information Center (now called
the Illinois Waste Management and Research Center, and the Wisconsin
Solid and Hazardous Waste Education Center. Under this pilot program,
State focus groups were formed to determine pollution prevention
information needs. In September 1995, the States in the Northeast
approved a 5-year plan to aid in the collection, organization, and
distribution of pollution prevention technical information in the
Northeast. The Great Lakes States developed a management plan for the
Great Lakes Pollution Prevention Information Clearinghouse and set up a
listserve system (P2TECH) to assist pollution prevention technical
assistance programs nationwide in finding answers to technical
assistance problems. Four pollution prevention technical information
packets were written and peer-reviewed to summarize P2 technical
solutions for technical assistance providers. These four documents on
the printing industry, primary metals industry, metal finishing
industry and metal painting and coating operations are posted on the
Internet at http://www.wmrc.uiuc.edu/packets/. These three
organizations also collaborated on three different data bases: vendor,
bibliographic, and case study data bases.
4. Existing Regional P2 Information Centers. EPA awarded nine
grants in response to the first Federal Register notice on the
establishment of a Pollution Prevention Information Network published
on February 5, 1997 (62 FR 5393) (FRL-5582-5). The 9 grantees
represented all 10 of the USEPA Regions. These regional P2 information
centers are only partially funded by this grant program and represent a
variety of organizations. The grantees are all State entities (this
includes State environmental departments as well as universities, see
Unit IV.1. of this notice-- Applicants). In some cases the grantees are
also funded by other Federal technical assistance programs, such as the
Small Business Administration or the National Institute of Standards
and Technology Manufacturing Extension Partnership, State and Local
governments, or their Regional EPA office. Some grantees subcontract
work to non-profits or to other States for specific activities.
Grantees vary in the number of States they serve. There are 2 centers
that each serve 4 States and another center that serves 14 States.
The first solicitation for this grant program was intended to
establish new regional centers (where needed) or give additional funds
to existing centers to: (1) improve communication between centers, (2)
minimize duplication of efforts in creating and disseminating P2
information, and (3) promote information standards that would
facilitate P2 information dissemination nationwide. Over the past 2
years, grantees have enhanced networking among centers and improved
nationwide interaction on P2 information projects through monthly
conference calls, biannual meetings, websites, listserves and
databases. Frequent communication among grantees has built familiarity
with other regional resources and their mode of operation. The grantees
have formed a group they call the ``Pollution Prevention Resource
Exchange'' (P2Rx). More information about the P2Rx centers can be found
on the Internet at: http://www.epa.gov/p2/p2rxdir.htm. Each of these
grantees have developed web sites to improve access to regional P2
information. The current nine grantees are now in their third year of
funding. Given the variety of resources and approaches in the existing
regional centers, this small grant program does not intend to fund all
of the regional centers' current activities.
One of the regional centers serves as ``P2Rx coordinator.'' The
term of the P2Rx coordinator is 2 years. The P2Rx coordinator/regional
center receives additional funding from EPA, separate from the P2
information grant to fund tasks such as: facilitating communication and
consensus among regional centers, surveying centers to collect
information on specific projects or activities, and cataloguing the
services and resources available at each center. This coordinator uses
meetings, conference calls, subcommittees, surveys or white papers to
help the regional centers to work together in developing activities or
guidelines to meet their objectives. Over the past 2 years the Pacific
Northwest Pollution Prevention Resource center has served as
coordinator for EPA and the grantees. For the next 2 years, EPA has
funded the Great Lakes Regional Pollution Prevention Information Center
which will serve as coordinator for current grantees and for FY 2001
grantees. New grantees will be included in national meetings and
monthly conference calls. Past experience has demonstrated the
importance of personal affiliation as well as the usefulness of
electronic
[[Page 61639]]
communication and web sites to build a national information system.
Regional centers and their States, who contribute to the regional
information centers, promote the availability of P2 information and
provide opportunities for other States to leverage resources. This
collaboration allows information to be accessed and shared nationally,
particularly through Internet based P2 information projects.
III. National Program Objectives
1. Purpose. EPA is inviting proposals from the existing Pollution
Prevention Resource Exchange (P2Rx) centers as well requesting new
applicants, who should coordinate their proposed work with the existing
P2Rx centers where possible. Proposals should describe how pollution
prevention information will be collected and organized so that it can
be easily and quickly retrieved nationally. This nationwide system will
depend on the participation of individual States as well as regional
centers to supply P2 information and expertise. EPA is seeking to
provide more efficient support to P2 technical assistance providers by
providing for regional centers that have specialized areas of
information they collect and disseminate from a number of States. For
example, case studies from each State could be submitted to one
regional center, key information put into a uniform case study format
and then disseminated. Currently, State grant funds may be used to
create P2 manuals for businesses in each State without knowledge of
similar efforts in other States. Nationwide coordination could allow
States to build on existing P2 information and share materials,
databases, or training where applicable. National coordination of
regional P2 information specialty areas could allow State assistance
providers to focus resources on priority industries or needs and use
existing P2 information collected in regional centers for other
industries.
Over the past 2 years the expansion of information on the Internet
has challenged businesses and business assistance providers alike in
the search for information that is accurate, useful, and timely. The
growth of information available on the Internet provides both an
opportunity and a challenge. While the Internet offers a relatively
inexpensive delivery platform for P2 information (compared to paying
staff to answer phones or compose and print P2 fact sheets), not all P2
information customers will use the Internet. At this point it appears a
nationwide P2 information network must use both electronic
dissemination as well as people to act as guides that can efficiently
locate P2 information based on their knowledge of regional, State, and
electronic resources. As regional centers become more knowledgeable
about State resources and P2 initiatives, they will be more effective
in providing information to their State customers. A regional P2
information center can more efficiently provide resources to State
technical assistance providers if it is based on personal familiarity
with the resources available at all of the other regional centers.
EPA is seeking proposals that will contribute to the organization
and efficient retrieval of P2 information. Such a system could be based
on current web sites, enhancing how information is organized on a web
site, links between web sites, or a shared database. There are many
ways information could be organized and presented on the Internet: by
topic, by format of information (such as case studies, fact sheets,
journal articles), by audience the information is written for, by
industry or process the information addresses, etc. Presently much P2
information is organized by industry or service sectors, based on the
businesses that may need the information. Information is also collected
and organized based on the Federal, State or Local government needs for
P2 information, such as the Department of Defense/State P2
partnerships. Applicants should be willing to work with other grantees
for the common purpose of facilitating access to P2 information on the
Internet. Such efforts may include agreements on metadata standards for
electronic information on the Internet or agreements on electronic
database structure to facilitate information sharing nationally.
Applicants may propose tasks supporting their regional P2 information
activities such as: supporting a web site which targets State or local
government technical assistance providers, creating databases relevant
to their regional information needs, or electronically disseminating
regionally important P2 information. The regional centers should
continue to operate as hubs for State P2 information collection.
Applicants may describe other activities which support collecting P2
information from a number of States. Applicants should include letters
of support from other States or organizations supporting the proposal.
Proposals should be coordinated with existing EPA Regional P2
information centers, where possible.
2. Required tasks for all proposals-- i. Identification of
expertise. Applicants should identify the areas of expertise they will
develop. Proposals should describe the basis and rationale for the
proposed approach to collecting, organizing or developing P2
information that can be accessed nationwide, as well as the need for
such information. Organizing information by industry, process, service
sector or audience are all approaches that have been used to organize
P2 information. Currently, the Agency is invested in a variety of
industry and service sector efforts. Examples of current Agency
programs addressing key services or industries include: compliance
assistance centers, the Sustainable Industries program, and the Design
for Environment program.
ii. Participation in a voluntary network. Current grantees have
formed a voluntary network of regional P2 information providers called
the Pollution Prevention Resource Exchange (P2Rx). P2Rx has acted as a
forum for the regional centers to exchange information and approaches
for various regional services. The face to face meeting has played an
important role in allowing regional centers to learn from each other
and work collaboratively. EPA will continue to fund a coordinator
position that will serve to facilitate communication among new and
continuing grantees. EPA wants to promote a forum for coordinating
regional P2 information services and projects on a national level.
Applicants under this solicitation should include activities related to
participation in national meetings, monthly conference calls, and
subcommittees. Opportunities to organize P2 information, select
appropriate areas of expertise and develop cooperative projects can be
discussed in this forum.
iii. Reporting on P2 information services. Applicants should
provide a draft format for reporting use of their information services
twice a year. Applicants should consider posting grant activities and
web site usage reports on their website to facilitate communication
with EPA and States. All grantees should work together to develop
common metrics that will illustrate each grantee's contribution to the
P2 information network.
iv. Customer satisfaction. Applicants should propose some way of
utilizing State representatives to guide, evaluate, and provide
feedback on the information services the applicant is proposing.
Applicants are encouraged to make use of existing regional
organizations to provide feedback over the course of the grant. Monthly
conference calls, meetings tied into existing regional meetings, or web
site comments could be used as a source of customer feedback.
Applicants should
[[Page 61640]]
clearly identify the customer base they propose to reach.
IV. Eligibility
1. Applicants. In accordance with the Pollution Prevention Act of
1990, 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. State applicants are encouraged to establish partnerships
with other business and environmental assistance providers in order to
more seamlessly deliver pollution prevention technical assistance. In
many cases partnerships can make the most efficient use of Federal/
State government funding.
2. Availability of FY 2000 funds. With this publication, EPA is
expecting the availability of $1 million in cooperative agreement funds
for FY 2000. These awards will be made through a competitive process
for amounts not to exceed $150,000.00 per year. Proposals may include
up to 2 years in their schedule and budget.
3. Matching requirements. Under the Pollution Prevention Act of
1990, the Federal Government will provide up to half of the total
allowable costs of the project, and the State will provide the
remainder. For example, a project costing $200,000 could be funded by a
grant for up to $100,000 from the Federal government. The State is
responsible for providing the remainder. State contributions may
include cash, in-kind goods and services and third party contributions.
4. Catalogue of Federal Domestic Assistance. The number assigned to
this program in the Catalogue of Federal Domestic Assistance is 66.708
(formerly 66.900).
V. Applications
Grant guidance can be obtained by contacting Beth Anderson, Office
of Pollution Prevention and Toxics, Mail Code 7409, Environmental
Protection Agency, 401 M St. SW., Washington, DC 20460, telephone
number: (202) 260-2602, e-mail address: anderson.beth@epa.gov. Access
information about this grant program at http://www.epa.gov/p2. Federal
forms for grant applications can be downloaded from: http://
www.epa.gov/glnpo/fund/appforms.html. Note that this Internet site is
for the ``Great Lakes Funding Program'' and not all of these forms or
directions apply to this grant program. Federal forms that should be
included for this grant program are: Application for Federal assistance
OMB form 424; Budget information form 424A; Construction assurances
form 424B: Certification regarding debarment, etc form 5700-49;
Certification regarding lobbying; and EPA Civil rights form 4700-4. The
basic contents of a proposal should include:
(1) A description of the proposed statement of work, including a
statement of the problems or issues the proposal addresses.
(2) A description of the tasks that will be carried out, the
estimated cost of each task and estimated completion dates.
(3) A description of deliverables that will be produced and
estimated completion dates.
(4) A description of the measures or activities that will be
reported to reflect the effectiveness of each of the proposed tasks.
(5) A proposed format for biannual reports, including information
that will be posted on the web site.
(6) Letters of support from State or local programs which provide
technical assistance to small businesses.
VI. Process for Evaluation of Proposals
A national panel, comprised of EPA representatives from both
Headquarters and the EPA Regions, will evaluate each proposal.
Acceptable proposals, meeting the eligibility requirements in Unit IV
of this notice, will be reviewed according to the following criteria:
(1) Relevance and justification for the proposed pollution
prevention area of expertise.
(2) Adequacy of activities that address participation in a
voluntary network of grantees, measures of customer satisfaction, and
reporting pollution prevention information services.
(3) Feasibility of the activities being proposed, taking into
account the commitments from other States or programs that will be
participating in the proposal.
(4) Qualifications and experience of the applicant and the program
manager in serving regional pollution prevention information needs and
reporting results under previous grants.
(5) Appropriateness of the proposed budget for each task,
deliverables and dates of completion for the activities being proposed.
(6) Level of additional support for the applicant from other
sources, including State or Federal funds.
List of Subjects
Environmental protection.
Dated: November 3, 1999.
William H. Sanders, III,
Director, Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics, Environmental
Protection Agency.
[FR Doc. 99-29587 Filed 11-10-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-F
