Westchester Insider: Westchester County Legislator David Tubiolo 14th District: Deadline to Apply for EPA Grants is 12/1.

 

Deadline to Apply for EPA Grants is 12/1.

The deadline to apply for grants from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s Brownfields Program is December 1, 2021.  The Brownfields Program provides funds to empower states, communities, tribes, and nonprofit organizations to prevent, inventory, assess, clean up, and reuse brownfield sites.

There are many types of federal brownfield grants and loans available to municipalities and affected parties to address sites contaminated by hazardous substances, pollutants, contaminants, and/or petroleum.  Of specific interest to counties are the Brownfield Assessment Grants, which provide funding for developing inventories of brownfield sites, prioritizing sites, conducting community involvement activities, conducting planning, conducting site assessments, developing site-specific cleanup plans, and developing reuse plans related to brownfield sites.

This year, applicants for Brownfield Assessment Grants can receive up to $500,000 for a community-wide assessment or up to $200,000 for a site-specific assessment (or up to $350,000 with an approved waiver).  Once an applicant is selected, grant funds are procured from EPA, and a brownfields program is set up by the county.  Entities such as owners of sites that have real or potential contamination can then be considered for funding.  The entire process can take approximately six to nine months to complete, so grant funds will be available for expenditure in mid- to late- 2022.

Applications are due no later than 11:59 pm on Wednesday, December 1^st.  EPA estimates the level of effort to prepare an application to be approximately 40 to 60 hours.  NYSAC can recommend an environmental consulting firm to assist your county in meeting the approaching deadline.  A consulting firm can assist with the technical aspects of the application; however, the county also needs to participate in the effort in order to be competitive, as there are several threshold and ranking criteria related to demographics, community need, and priorities that must be addressed.

For more information on the application and process, click here for Multipurpose, Assessment, RLF, and Cleanup (MARC) Grant Application Resources and to read the FAQ.