Deadline: 8-Feb-22
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), is issuing a Request for Applications (RFA) from eligible entities to improve water quality in the Lower Columbia River Estuary, through specific actions to reduce toxics, increase monitoring, and/or increase public education and outreach.
The Columbia River Basin Restoration Program (CRBRP) will assist tribal, state, and local governments; nongovernmental entities, and others as they implement the Columbia River Basin Toxics Reduction Action Plan and the Lower Columbia River Estuary Plan – Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan and conduct activities to support EPA national goals for the Columbia River Basin.
Categories
- Eliminating or reducing pollution including strategies or projects to reduce toxics into streams of the Columbia River Basin, including agricultural best management practices such as Pesticide Stewardship Partnerships, stormwater and sediment management, and pesticide collection and take back programs.
- Cleaning up contaminated sites including targeted small-scale clean-up actions at sites not receiving funding under EPA CERCLA funded programs (Brownfields and Superfund) where hazardous chemicals, oil, pollutants and/or mining related contaminants have been released into the Columbia River Basin.
- Improving water quality to reduce toxics in the Columbia River Basin.
- Monitoring to evaluate trends including monitoring current conditions such as the sampling and analysis of Columbia River Basin water, fish and sediment focused on toxics.
- Reducing runoff through agricultural best management practices and/or sediment and stormwater runoff controls, including green infrastructure.
- Protecting habitat to reduce the impact of toxics on Columbia River Basin fish and wildlife.
- Promoting citizen engagement or knowledge by increasing engagement and communication with individual community members (such as local, state and tribal environmental managers, and/or NGOs), creating bi-lingual outreach and education materials on the topic of toxics reduction, green chemistry pilot projects, and/or sharing examples of successful toxics reduction efforts.
Funding Information
- EPA anticipates awarding between $1,500,000 and $4,500,000 under this announcement, subject to the availability of funds, the quantity and quality of applications received, and other applicable considerations.
- It is anticipated that approximately 15 cooperative agreements, ranging from $75,000 to $350,000.
- The estimated project period for awards resulting from this solicitation is 24 months. The projects are expected to begin around September 2022, with an expected project completion date of 24 months after award.
Eligibility Criteria
- Under this solicitation, only the following entities are eligible to apply for assistance.
- State governments, tribal governments, regional water pollution control agencies and entities, local government entities, nongovernmental entities, or soil and water conservation districts.
- For the purposes of this announcement, EPA has determined that nongovernmental entities must be nonprofit organizations to be eligible for funding. Non-profit organization, means any corporation, trust, association, cooperative or other organization that:
- is operated primarily for scientific, educational, service, charitable or similar purposes in the public interest;
- is not organized primarily for profit; and
- uses its net proceeds to maintain, improve and/or expand its operations.
For more information, visit https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=336445