[Federal Register: September 12, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 176)]
[Notices]
[Page 53682-53684]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr12se06-58]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[FRL-8218-7]
State Innovation Grant Program, Preliminary Notice on the
Development of a Solicitation for Proposals for 2007 Awards
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Center for
Environmental Innovation (NCEI) is giving preliminary notice of its
intention to solicit proposals for a 2007 grant program to support
innovation by state environmental agencies--the ``State Innovation
Grant Program.'' In addition, EPA is asking each State Environmental
Regulatory Agency to designate a point of contact at the management
level (in addition to the Commissioner or Cabinet Secretary level) who
will be the point of contact for further communication about the
upcoming solicitation. If your point of contact from previous State
Innovation Grant solicitations is to be your contact for this year's
competition, there is no need to send that information again, as all
previously designated points of contact will remain on our notification
list for this year's competition. EPA anticipates publication of a
Solicitation Announcement of Federal Funding Opportunity on the Federal
government's grants opportunities Web site (http://www.grants.gov) to
announce the availability of the next solicitation approximately four
weeks after publication of this announcement.
DATES: State Environmental Regulatory agencies will have 30 days from
the date of this pre-announcement notice in the Federal Register
publication until October 12, 2006 to respond with point of contact
information for the person within the State Environmental Regulatory
Agency (in addition to Commissioner or Cabinet Secretaries) who will be
designated to receive future notices about the State Innovation Grants.
We will automatically transmit notice of availability of the
solicitation to people in State agencies identified for previous
solicitations.
ADDRESSES: Information should be sent to: State Innovation Grant
Program; National Center for Environmental Innovation; Office of
Policy, Economics, and Innovation; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(1807T), 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington DC 20460. Responses
may also be sent by fax to (202) 566-2220, addressed to the ``State
Innovation Grant Program,'' or by e-mail to:
Innovation_State_Grants@EPA.gov. We encourage e-mail responses. If you have questions
about responding to this notice, please contact EPA at this e-mail
address or fax number, or you may call Sherri Walker at (202) 566-2186.
For point of contact information, please provide: name, title,
department and agency, street or post office address, city, state, zip
code, telephone, fax number, and e-mail address. EPA will acknowledge
all responses it receives to this notice.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
In April 2002, EPA issued its plan for future innovation efforts,
published as Innovating for Better Environmental Results: A Strategy to
Guide the Next Generation of Innovation at EPA (EPA 100-R-02-002;
http://www.epa.gov/innovation/strategy/). The Agency's Innovation
Strategy presents a framework for environmental innovation consisting
of four major elements:
(1) Strengthen EPA's innovation partnership with States;
(2) Focus on priority environmental issues;
(3) Diversify environmental protection tools and approaches;
(4) Foster more ``innovation-friendly'' organizational culture and
systems.
This assistance program strengthens EPA's partnership with the
States by supporting innovation compatible with the Innovation
Strategy. EPA would like to help States build on previous experience
and undertake strategic innovation projects that promote larger-scale
models for ``next generation'' environmental protection and promise
better environmental results. EPA is interested in funding projects
that go
[[Page 53683]]
beyond a single facility experiment to promote change that is
``systems-oriented'' and provides better results from a program,
process, or sector-wide innovation. EPA is particularly interested in
innovation that promotes integrated (cross-media) environmental
management with high potential for transfer to other States.
Since 2002, EPA has sponsored four State Innovation Grant Program
competitions that asked for State project pre-proposals that support
innovation generally related to environmental permitting programs. This
has included alternatives to permitting and the establishment of
incentives to go beyond compliance with permit requirements. To date,
projects have clustered primarily around three target areas:
Environmental Results Programs (ERP), Environmental Management Systems
(EMS) , and the National Environmental Performance Track (PT) Program
and similar state performance-based environmental leadership programs.
Twenty-nine awards to States have been made from the four prior
competitions. These projects amount to approximately $5 million in
assistance to States. Among the grant projects, including those with
pending awards: 14 are for development of Environmental Results
Programs, 8 relate to Environmental Management Systems and permitting
(one project a hybrid of EMS and ERP), 5 create or enhance Performance-
Based Environmental Leadership programs, 2 are for Watershed-based
permitting, and 1 was for permit process streamlining through
innovative information technology applications. For more information on
last year's solicitation, the proposals received, and the award
decisions, please see the Web site at: http://www.epa.gov/innovation/stategrants
.
Proposed General Topic Areas for Solicitation
To increase the likelihood of strategic impact with what we
anticipate to be limited funds, EPA proposes to continue with the
general theme of ``innovation in permitting,'' and additionally to
continue with the focus on the three topic areas similar to the last
competition: (1) Projects that support the development of state
Environmental Results Programs (ERP); (2) projects which involve the
application of Environmental Management Systems (EMS) including those
that explore the relationship of EMS to permitting or otherwise promote
the use of EMS to improve environmental performance beyond permit
requirements (see EPA's Strategy for Determining the Role of EMS in
Regulatory Programs at http://www.epa.gov/ems or http://www.epa.gov/ems/
[fxsp0]docs/EMS--and--the[fxsp0]--Reg--Structure--41204Fpdf); (3)
projects that support state performance-based environmental leadership
programs or state support for implementation of the National
Environmental Performance Track Program, particularly including the
development and implementation of incentives. EPA's focus on a small
number of topics within this general subject area effectively
concentrates the limited resources available for greater strategic
impact. Project selections and awards will be subject to funding
availability. In addition, EPA may contemplate a very limited number of
projects otherwise related to the general theme of innovation in
permitting, in particular as they may address EPA Regional and State
environmental permitting priorities.
EPA encourages communication from States about potential thematic
areas for the future. Please note that these grants will not be applied
to the development or demonstration of new environmental technologies,
nor will NCEI fund projects that propose development or upgrading of
information technology systems for anything other than a very minor
component of the project. Projects will be much less likely to be
funded through the State Innovation Grant Program if agency resources
pertinent to the topic are already available through another EPA
program.
Competition Limited to the State Environmental Regulatory Agency
The competition will be limited to the principal Environmental
Regulatory Agency within each State, although these agencies are
encouraged to partner with other agencies within the State that have
environmental mandates (e.g., energy, agriculture, natural management,
transportation, public health). EPA will accept only one proposal from
an individual State and it must be submitted by the principal
Environmental Regulatory Agency from that State. States are also
encouraged to partner with other States and Tribes to address cross-
boundary issues, to encourage collaborative environmental partnering
within industrial sectors or in certain topical areas (e.g.,
agriculture), and to create networks for peer-mentoring. A multi-state
or State-Tribal proposal will be accepted in addition to an individual
State proposal, but a State may appear in no more than one multi-State
or State-Tribal proposal in addition to its individual proposal. EPA
regrets that because of the limitation in available funding it is not
yet able to open this competition to Native American Tribal
environmental agencies but we strongly encourage Tribal agencies to
join with adjacent States in project proposals.
Request for Designation of a Primary Point of Contact
EPA asks that each State Environmental Regulatory Agency designate
a manager as a primary point-of-contact who we will add to the EPA
notification list for further announcements about the State Innovation
Grant Program. If your point of contact from previous State Innovation
Grant solicitations is to be your contact for this year's competition,
there is no need to send that information again, as all previously
designated points of contact will remain on our notification list for
this year's competition. We are asking that any new name be submitted
with the approval of the highest levels of management within an Agency
(Commissioner, Secretary, or their deputies) within 30 days after
publication of this notice in the Federal Register. Please submit this
information to EPA by mail, fax, or e-mail prior to October 12, 2006 in
the following manner.
By mail to: State Innovation Grant Program, National Center for
Environmental Innovation, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (1807T),
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20460.
By fax to: State Innovation Grant Program, (202) 566-2220.
By e-mail to: Innovation_State_Grants@EPA.gov.
We encourage e-mail responses. If you have questions about
responding to this notice, please contact EPA at this e-mail address of
fax number, or you may call Sherri Walker at (202) 566-2186. For point-
of-contact information, please provide: name, title, department and
agency, mailing address (street or P.O. Box), city, State, zip code,
telephone, fax number, and e-mail address. EPA will acknowledge all
responses it receives to this notice.
Opportunity for Dialogue
Between now and the initiation of the competition with the release
of the solicitation, States are encouraged to discuss potential
projects with their EPA Regional contact to ascertain whether the scope
of a potential project is suitable for funding under this program.
Responses to questions that come to us during the period between this
pre-announcement and the release of the solicitation along with helpful
resource materials will be posted on the State Innovation Grant Web
site at
[[Page 53684]]
http://www.epa.gov/innovation/stategrants. States are also invited to
communicate with NCEI about ideas for future competition themes by
contacting the EPA Headquarters contact listed below. The contacts for
the EPA Regions and the EPA HQ National Center for Environmental
Innovation are as follows:
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Anne Leiby, U.S. EPA Region 1, 1 Grace Smith, U.S. EPA Region 2,
Congress Street, Suite 1100, Boston, 290 Broadway, 26th Floor, New
MA 02114-2023, (617) 918-1076, York, NY 10007-1866, (212) 637-
leiby.anne@epa.gov, States: CT, MA, 3589, smith.grace@epa.gov,
ME, NH, RI, VT. States & Territories: NJ, NY,
PR, VI.
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Nicholas DiNardo, U.S. EPA Region 3, Bonita Johnson, U.S. EPA Region
1650 Arch Street (3EA40), 4, 61 Forsyth Street, SW.,
Philadelphia, PA 19103, (215) 814- Atlanta, GA 30303, (404) 562-
3365, dinardo.nicholas@epa.gov, 9388, johnson.bonita@epa.gov,
States: DC, DE, MD, PA, VA, WV. States: AL, FL, GA, KY, MS,
NC, SC, TN.
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Marilou Martin, U.S. EPA Region 5, 77 Craig Weeks, U.S. EPA Region 6,
West Jackson Boulevard, Chicago, IL Fountain Place, Suite 1200,
60604-3507, (312) 353-9660, 1445 Ross Avenue, Dallas, TX
martin.marilou@epa.gov, States: IL, 75202-2733, (214) 665-7505,
IN, MI, MN, OH, WI. weeks.craig@epa.gov, States:
AR, LA, NM, OK, TX.
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Chrissy Wolfersberger, U.S. EPA Region Whitney Trulove-Cranor, U.S.
7, 901 North 5th Street, Kansas City, EPA Region 8, 999 18th Street,
KS 66101, (913) 551-7854, Suite 300, Denver, CO 80202-
wolfersberger.chris@epa.gov, States: 2466, (303) 312-6099, trulove-
IA, KS, MO, NE. cranor.whitney@epa.gov,
States: CO, MT, ND, SD, UT,
WY.
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Loretta Barsamian, U.S. EPA Region 9, Bill Glasser, U.S. EPA Region
75 Hawthorne Street (SPE-1), San 10, 1200 Sixth Avenue (ENF-T),
Francisco, CA 94105, (415) 947-4268, Seattle, WA 98101, (206) 553-
barsamian.loretta@epa.gov, States and 7215, glasser.william@epa.gov,
Territories: AS, AZ, CA, GU, HI, NV. States: AK, ID, OR, WA.
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Headquarters Office: Sherri Walker, U.S. EPA (MC 1807T), Office of
the Administrator, National Center for Environmental Innovation, State
Innovation Grants Program, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington,
DC 20460, (202) 566-2186, (202) 566-2220 fax.
For courier delivery only: Sherri Walker, U.S. EPA, EPA West
Building, Room 4214D, 1301 Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC
20005.
Dated: September 6, 2006.
Elizabeth A. Shaw,
Director, Office of Environmental Policy Innovation.
[FR Doc. E6-15082 Filed 9-11-06; 8:45 am]
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