Tribal Assistance Program Grants | Region 8

EPA Tribal Grants

NEW: Drinking Water Grants – Under the Drinking Water Infrastructure Grant Tribal Set-Aside Construction Program
Tribes are eligible to apply for moneys that fund construction of drinking water infrastructure in Indian Country. This year, over $1.2 million is available for funding improvements to tribal drinking water systems within Region 8. Financial assistance under this program is available only for projects that will facilitate compliance with national primary drinking water standards or that will significantly further the health protection objectives of the Safe Drinking Water Act. Proposals must be postmarked by May 31, 2008. For more information, please contact Minnie Adams, Region 8’s Tribal Program Coordinator, at 303-312-6624 or adams.minnie@epa.gov.

There are 560 federally recognized Indian Tribes in the United States, spread across 40 million acres of tribal lands. As States generally have no jurisdiction in Indian Country, it is the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) responsibility to work with Tribes to insure the environment is protected. Tribes compete annually for grant monies to fund their Air, Water, Pesticides and Solid Waste programs, to name a few.

Note that some grants are awarded by EPA Headquarters and some from the Regions. Visit the Headquarters Grants and Debarment website for info on open grants, grant regulations and how to apply. A good site for basic tribal grant info is the EPA American Indian Environmental Office Tribal Grants Web site.

The Office of Federal Financial Management published standards for both paper and electronic grants in the April 8, 2003 Federal Register. Grant application forms can be found at the Office of Management and Budget Web site.

An EPA workgroup is currently working on simplifying all the Tribal webpages for both headquarters and the Regions. Until then, here are some websites with basic information on tribal grants (note: each EPA Region has slightly different application formats and dates, so call the Tribal Program Manager [TPM] for your reservation for specifics. Region 8 TPM's are listed on our Contact Tap page).

GAP Grants - Congress created the General Assistance Program (GAP) on October 24, 1992, by passing the Indian Environmental General Assistance Program Act. It was first implemented by EPA in Fiscal Years 1991-1993 as the Multimedia Assistance Program. These grants help tribes develop the technical skills and administrative infrastructure to manage their environmental programs. GAP grants provide financial assistance for capacity-building activities and they can be used to complement and/or supplement other project and program-specific grants. The current Region 8 GAP Request for Proposal letter, shown here in mail-merge format, was released November 20, 2006. A 45-page GAP Guidance document in Portable Document Format ( PDF file info) was developed by the EPA American Indian Environmental Office in March 2000.

FY 2009 Call Letter:

Clean Air Grants - The best site for info and tools is the EPA Region 10 Tribal Air Program website. The Southern Ute Tribe has compiled Tribal air success stories from Region 8 tribes funded under Sections 103 and 105 of the Clean Air Act. They are posted on the Ute Mountain Ute Environmental Programs website.

FY 2009 Call Letter:

Clean Water Grants - The best info on the many Clean Water grants is found on the EPA Region 9 Tribal Water Protection website. Tom Rice, Director of Environmental Programs for the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, has compiled tribal water quality success stories for tribes in Region 8 under Section 106 Clean Water Act funding. The current Region 8 Clean Water Act Request for Proposal letter, shown here in mail-merge format, was released November 15, 2006.

FY 2009 Call Letter:

Pesticides Grants - We recommend reading through the list of past pesticide grants, found on the EPA Headquarters Tribal Pesticide Project Grants webpage, to get an idea of what projects can be funded. You should also read their Tribal Pesticide Program Guidance document.

FY 2009 Call Letter:

Brownfields Grants - Very little tribal-specific Brownfield's grant information is available, but you should visit the Region 10 Brownfields Cleanup & Redevelopment webpages to read the "State & Tribal Grants" and the "Grantee Toolbox" sections. Region 5 also has some good info on their Grants Assistance, Kits and Forms webpages. Brownfields grants are sometimes combined with Environmental Justice (EJ) or Superfund grants.

Environmental Justice - There are few tribal-specific EJ grant sites, but we recommend visiting the EPA Headquarters EJ Web site and the Region 8 EJ Program Web site.

Solid & Hazardous Waste - The Headquarters Waste Management in Indian Country site is worth a visit and it also has several tribal solid waste success stories under the subheading of "Case Studies". General information on hazardous wastes can be found at the Region 8 Hazardous Waste website. Region 8 also has a Technical Outreach Service for Communities Office (TOSC) that provides assistance on hazardous substance pollution problems.

Toxics - The Region 8 Land & Waste site is a good starting point to discover the fine line between a waste product and toxic waste.

Underground Storage Tanks/Leaking Underground Storage Tanks - There is little tribal-specific UST/LUST information available. The best info is found on Region 10's UST/LUST Program site.

Other Grants - In addition to the nine EPA tribal grants mentioned above, there are many others available. We found 20 different EPA grants listed on the Region 10 Tribal Grant Fact Sheet website.

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