Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) or Superfund, Section 128(a); Notice of Grant Funding Guidance for…

Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) or Superfund, Section 128(a); Notice of Grant Funding Guidance for State and Tribal Response Programs for FY2012

SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will begin to accept requests, from December 1, 2011 through January 31, 2012, for grants to supplement State and Tribal Response Programs. This notice provides guidance on eligibility for funding, use of funding, grant mechanisms and process for awarding funding, the allocation system for distribution of funding, and terms and reporting under these grants. EPA has consulted with state and tribal officials in developing this guidance.

The primary goal of this funding is to ensure that state and tribal response programs include, or are taking reasonable steps to include, certain elements and a public record. Another goal is to provide funding for other activities that increase the number of response actions conducted or overseen by a state or tribal response program. This funding is not intended to supplant current state or tribal funding for their response programs. Instead, it is to supplement their funding to increase their response capacity.

For fiscal year 2012, EPA will consider funding requests up to a maximum of $1.2 million per state or tribe. Subject to the availability of funds, EPA regional personnel will be available to provide technical assistance to states and tribes as they apply for and carry out these grants.

DATES: This action is effective as of December 1, 2011. EPA expects to make non-competitive grant awards to states and tribes which apply during fiscal year 2012.

ADDRESSES: Mailing addresses for U.S. EPA Regional Offices and U.S. EPA Headquarters can be located at www.epa.gov/brownfields.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: The U.S. EPA's Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response, Office of Brownfields and Land Revitalization, (202) 566-2892.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 128(a) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), as amended, authorizes a noncompetitive $50 million grant program to establish and enhance state /1/ and tribal /2/ response programs. CERCLA 128(a) response program grants are funded with "categorical" State and Tribal Assistance Grant (STAG) appropriations. Section 128(a) cooperative agreements are awarded and administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regional offices. Generally, these response programs address the assessment, cleanup, and redevelopment of brownfields sites and other sites with actual or perceived contamination. This document provides guidance that will enable states and tribes to apply for and use Fiscal Year 2012 section 128(a) funds /3/ .

FOOTNOTE 1 The term "state" is defined in this document as defined in CERCLA section 101(27). END FOOTNOTE

FOOTNOTE 2 The term "Indian tribe" is defined in this document as it is defined in CERCLA section 101(36). Intertribal consortia, as defined in the Federal Register Notice at 67 FR 67181, Nov. 4, 2002, are also eligible for funding under CERCLA section 128(a). END FOOTNOTE

FOOTNOTE 3 The Agency may waive any provision of this guidance that is not required by statute, regulation, Executive Order or overriding Agency policies. END FOOTNOTE

The Catalogue of Federal Domestic Assistance entry for the section 128(a) State and Tribal Response Program cooperative agreements is 66.817. This grant program is eligible to be included in state and tribal Performance Partnership Grants under 40 CFR part 35 Subparts A and B, with the exception of funds used to capitalize a revolving loan fund for brownfield remediation under section 104(k)(3); or purchase insurance or develop a risk sharing pool, an indemnity pool, or insurance mechanism to provide financing for response actions under a State or Tribal response program.

Requests for funding will be accepted from December 1, 2011, through January 31, 2012. Requests EPA receives after January 31, 2012, will not be considered for FY 2012 funding. Information that must be submitted with the funding request is listed in Section IX of this guidance. States or tribes that do not submit the request in the appropriate manner may forfeit their ability to receive funds. First time requestors are strongly encouraged to contact their Regional EPA Brownfields contacts, listed on the last page of this guidance, prior to submitting their funding request.

Requests submitted by the January 31, 2012, request deadline are preliminary; final cooperative agreement work plans and budgets will be negotiated with the regional offices once final funding allocation determinations are made. As in previous years, EPA will place special emphasis on reviewing a cooperative agreement recipient's use of prior section 128(a) funding in making allocation decisions and unexpended balances are subject to 40 CFR 35.118 and 40 CFR 35.518 to the extent consistent with this guidance.

States and tribes requesting funds are required to provide a Dun and Bradstreet Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number with their cooperative agreement's final package. For more information, please go to http://www.grants.gov.

II. Background

State and tribal response programs oversee assessment and cleanup activities at the majority of brownfields sites across the country. The depth and breadth of state and tribal response programs vary. Some focus on CERCLA related activities, while others are multi-faceted, for example, addressing sites regulated by both CERCLA and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). Many state programs also offer accompanying financial incentive programs to spur cleanup and redevelopment. In passing section 128(a) /4/ Congress recognized the accomplishments of state and tribal response programs in cleaning up and redeveloping brownfields sites. Section 128(a) also provides EPA with an opportunity to strengthen its partnership with states and tribes.

FOOTNOTE 4 Section 128(a) was added to CERCLA in 2002 by the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act (Brownfield Amendments). END FOOTNOTE

The primary goal of this funding is to ensure that state and tribal response programs include, or are taking reasonable steps to include, certain elements, and establish and maintain a public record. The secondary goal is to provide funding for other activities that increase the number of response actions conducted or overseen by a state or tribal response program. This funding is not intended to supplant current state or tribal funding for their response programs. Instead, it is to supplement their funding to increase their response program's capacity.

Subject to the availability of funds, EPA regional personnel will be available to provide technical assistance to states and tribes as they apply for and carry out section 128(a) cooperative agreements.

Subject to the availability of funds, EPA regional personnel will be available to provide technical assistance to states and tribes as they apply for and carry out Section 128(a) cooperative agreements.

III. Eligibility for Funding

To be eligible for funding under CERCLA section 128(a), a state or tribe must:

1. Demonstrate that its response program includes, or is taking reasonable steps to include, the four elements of a response program, described in Section V of this guidance; or be a party to voluntary response program Memorandum of Agreement (VRP MOA) /5/ with EPA;

FOOTNOTE 5 States or tribes that are parties to VRP MOAs and that maintain and make available a public record are automatically eligible for section 128(a) funding. END FOOTNOTE

AND

2. Maintain and make available to the public a record of sites at which response actions have been completed in the previous year and are planned to be addressed in the upcoming year, see CERCLA section 128(b)(1)(C).

IV. Matching Funds/Cost-Share

States and tribes are not required to provide matching funds for cooperative agreements awarded under section 128(a), with the exception of the section 128(a) funds a state or tribe uses to capitalize a Brownfields Revolving Loan Fund under CERCLA section 104(k)(3).

V. The Four Elements--Section 128(a)

Section 128(a) recipients that do not have a VRP MOA with EPA must demonstrate that their response program includes, or is taking reasonable steps to include, the four elements. Achievement of the four elements should be viewed as a priority. Section 128(a) authorizes funding for activities necessary to establish and enhance the four elements, and to establish and maintain the public record requirement.

The four elements of a response program are described below:

1. Timely survey and inventory of brownfields sites in state or tribal land. EPA's goal in funding activities under this element is to enable the state or tribe to establish or enhance a system or process that will provide a reasonable estimate of the number, likely locations, and the general characteristics of brownfields sites in their state or tribal lands. EPA recognizes the varied scope of state and tribal response programs and will not require states and tribes to develop a "list" of brownfields sites. However, at a minimum, the state or tribe should develop and/or maintain a system or process that can provide a reasonable estimate of the number, likely location, and general characteristics of brownfields sites within their state or tribal lands. Inventories should evolve to a prioritization of sites based on community needs, planning priorities, and protection of human health and the environment.

Given funding limitations, EPA will negotiate work plans with states and tribes to achieve this goal efficiently and effectively, and within a realistic time frame. For example, many of EPA's Brownfields Assessment cooperative agreement recipients conduct inventories of brownfields sites in their communities or jurisdictions. EPA encourages states and tribes to work with these cooperative agreement recipients to obtain the information that they have gathered and include it in their survey and inventory.

--This is a summary of a Federal Register article originally published on the page number listed below--

Notice.

Citation: "76 FR 73622"

Document Number: "FRL-9497-8"

Federal Register Page Number: "73622"

"Notices"