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Ambient Air Quality/EPA/NTAA/Tribes

EPA OMS National Environmental Information Exchange Network Grant Program – $8 million

Application extended to: April 10, 2020

An amended version of the FY2020 Exchange Network Solicitation Notice is available on our website.

Eligible Entities: territories, tribes, and inter-tribal consortia, states, U.S. territories, federally recognized tribes

The EPA Exchange Network Grant Program is soliciting project applications using the Environmental Information Exchange Network (EN) to:

Facilitate sharing of environmental data, especially through shared and reusable services.
Streamline data collection and exchanges to improve its timeliness for decision making.
Increase the quality and access to environmental data through discovery, publishing, outbound and analytical services so it is more useful to environmental managers.
Develop foundational EN shared services to reduce burden and avoid costs for co-regulators and the regulated community.
Expand and improve participation in the EN by strengthening the requisite information management and technology capabilities for interested parties to fully participate in the EN.

For more information, visit the funding opportunity description.

NOAA Environmental Literacy Grants: Supporting the education of K-12 students and the public for community resilience – $3 million

Applications Due: March 26, 2020 for Priority 1 full applications

Eligible Entities: K-12 public and independent schools and school systems, state and local government agencies, Indian tribal governments

The goal of this funding opportunity is to build environmental literacy of K-12 students and the public so they are knowledgeable of the ways in which their community can become more resilient to extreme weather and/or other environmental hazards, and become involved in achieving that resilience. For more information, visit the funding opportunity description.

DOI BLM Alaska Fuels Management and Community Fire Assistance Program Activities – $200 thousand

Applications Due: March 30, 2020

Eligible Entities: special district governments, city or township governments, state governments, county governments, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized)

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has an opportunity to work with partner organizations to assist with fuels management and community fire assistance program activities to reduce the risk and impact of catastrophic wildfires to local communities through coordination, reducing the amount of hazardous fuels, and furthering the education of landowners about wildfire prevention and mitigation. For more information, visit the funding opportunity description.

NEW! EPA OAR Community-Scale Air Toxics Ambient Monitoring – $5 million

Applications Due: May 1, 2020

Eligible Entities: A state, interstate, local, or tribal air pollution control agency

EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation (OAR) is soliciting applications from eligible entities for projects designed to assist state, local, and tribal air agencies in identifying and characterizing air toxics, also known as hazardous air pollutants (HAPs), through work that falls into one of four categories. Those categories are:

characterizing the impacts of air toxics in a community (community-scale monitoring);
assessing impacts of toxics emissions from specific sources (near-source monitoring);
evaluating new and emerging testing methods for air toxics; and,
analyzing existing air toxics data and developing or enhancing analytical, modeling, and/or implementation tools.

Air toxins of particular interest to EPA in this solicitation include ethylene oxide, chloroprene, benzene, 1,3-butadiene, and metals such as hexavalent chromium, nickel, and arsenic. For more information, visit the funding opportunity description.

DOI BOR Native American Affairs: Technical Assistance to Tribes for FY20 and FY21 – $1 million

Applications Due: October 28, 2020 for FY21

Eligible Entities: federally recognized tribes or tribal organizations of the 17 Western States identified in the Reclamation Act of June 17, 1902

The objective of this opportunity is to invite federally recognized Indian tribes and tribal organizations to submit proposals for financial assistance for projects and activities that develop, manage, and protect tribal water and related resources. Through this opportunity, Reclamation provides funding for projects that increase water reliability consistent with sections 3 and 4 of the October 19, 2018, Presidential Memorandum on Promoting the Reliable Supply and Delivery of Water in the West. For more information, visit the funding opportunity description.

To view and/or receive ITEP’s American Indian Air Quality Training Program newsletter, Native Voices, click here!

Climate Change/Energy

DOE GFO Solar Energy Technologies Office Fiscal Year 2020 Funding Program Department of Energy – $125.5 million

Applications Due: March 30, 2020

Eligible Entities: unrestricted

This funding opportunity is being issued by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO). SETO supports solar energy research and development (R&D) in three technology areas—photovoltaics (PV), concentrating solar-thermal power (CSP), and systems integration—with the goal of improving the affordability, reliability, and performance of solar technologies on the grid. This section describes the overall goals of the Solar Energy Technologies Office Fiscal Year 2020 (SETO 2020) funding program and the types of projects being solicited for funding support through this FOA.

The SETO 2020 funding program seeks to advance R&D of solar technologies that reduce the cost of solar, increase the competitiveness of American manufacturing and businesses, and improve the reliability of the grid. These projects will advance R&D in PV, CSP, and energy management technologies, while also working to improve cyber security, expand solar to new applications like agricultural solar, integrate solar and storage, and utilize artificial intelligence to address research challenges. For more information, visit the funding opportunity description.

NEW! USDA RUS Assistance to High Energy Cost Communities – $10 million

Applications Due: April 27, 2020

Eligible Entities: Native American tribal organizations (other than federally recognized tribal governments), City or township governments, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Special district governments, County governments, State governments

The Rural Utilities Service (RUS), an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), announces the availability of up to $10 million in competitive grants to assist communities with extremely high energy costs. The grant funds may be used to acquire, construct, or improve energy generation, transmission, or distribution facilities serving communities where the average annual residential expenditure for home energy exceeds 275% of the national average. Eligible projects also include on-grid and off-grid renewable energy projects and the implementation of energy efficiency and energy conservation projects for eligible communities. Projects cannot be for the primary benefit of a single household or business. Grant funds may not be used for the preparation of the grant application, operating costs, or for the purchase of any equipment, structures, or real estate not directly associated with the provision of community energy services. For more information, visit the funding opportunity description.

NEW! CC 202 Online Course: Tribal Hazard Mitigation Planning, application deadline extended to May 1

October 2020-September 2021

Course Goal: To support Tribe’s hazard mitigation planning through peer-to-peer learning and knowledge exchanges in a facilitated cohort focused on the process of developing or updating a Tribal Hazard Mitigation Plan, which looks “at natural hazards that may affect tribal governments and suggests actions to reduce losses from those hazards” (FEMA Tribal Mitigation Planning Resources). The course will be based around FEMA’s hazard mitigation plan requirements and will connect participants to resources, tools, information, and additional specialized expertise on a variety of topics including, but not limited to, various natural hazards, climate change in the context of natural hazards, FEMA’s four-phases of emergency management (mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery), cultural considerations, Tribal/Indigenous Knowledges, community outreach and engagement, hazard identification and risk assessment, asset inventorying, and developing and implementing an action plan. Follow this link to find out more information and to register. Contact Karen.Cozzetto@nau.edu with questions.

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Toxics/Mobile Sources

EPA Announces Community-Scale Air Toxics Monitoring Grant Competition

Deadline Extended to: May 1, 2020

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is accepting applications for funding for air toxics monitoring projects under the Community-Scale Air Toxics Ambient Monitoring grants competition. As part of the Agency’s mission to protect human and environmental health, EPA periodically awards these grants to help state, local and tribal air agencies conduct air quality monitoring projects to address localized air toxics issues. EPA anticipates awarding up to $5 million from this competition to fund projects that fall into four categories:

Characterizing the impacts of air toxics in a community (community-scale monitoring);
Assessing the impacts of air toxics emissions from specific sources (near-source monitoring);
Evaluating new and emerging testing methods for air toxics; and
Analyzing existing air toxics data and developing or enhancing analytical, modeling, and/or implementation tools.

Air toxics, also known as hazardous air pollutants, are linked to cancer or other serious health effects. Under the Clean Air Act, EPA regulates 187 listed air toxic pollutants. While grant applications may address any air toxic pollutant, air toxics of particular interest to EPA in this competition include ethylene oxide, chloroprene, benzene, 1,3-butadiene, and metals such as hexavalent chromium, nickel and arsenic.

To receive the grants, applicants must be air pollution control agencies as defined by Section 302(b) of the Clean Air Act that also are eligible to receive grants under Section 105 of the Clean Air Act. Funding for the grants comes from State and Tribal Assistance (STAG) funding. Congress appropriates STAG funds for state, local and tribal air agencies to use in implementing and maintaining environmental programs.

Agencies applying for the air toxics monitoring grants may partner with or provide “subgrants” to other organizations for their monitoring projects. The Agency expects to award grants for 10 to 20 projects, depending on funding availability and the quality of applications received. The amount for each grant may vary; however, no grant may be for more than $750,000. Click here for additional information, and to download the Request for Application.