HMEP Grant

The Hazardous Materials Emergency Preparedness (HMEP) grant program sponsored by DOT is intended to provide financial and technical assistance as well as national direction and guidance to enhance State, Territorial, Tribal, and local hazardous materials emergency planning and training.

The HMEP Grant Program distributes fees collected from shippers and carriers of hazardous materials to emergency responders for hazmat training and to Local Emergency Planning Committees (LEPCs) for hazmat planning. The HMEP Grant funds transportation-related hazmat planning and training activities. Examples of funded planning include developing and updating transportation emergency plans, tabletop exercises, commodity flow studies, attending planning conferences, and full scale exercises. Examples of funded training include awareness, operation, technician and specialist courses in hazmat response, basic and advanced hazmat life support courses.

 

 

The HMEP Grant is awarded to our agency annually in October. Certain activities are written in the grant automatically, such as awareness, operations, and technicians hazmat training for first responders. Entities can apply for such activities at any time of the year. Exercises and more expensive activities need to be written in the grant in advance in order to be funded. For such activities, requests must be submitted by April 15 of each year in order for the activity to be funded the next year. 

 

For more information on this grant you can contact the HMER Administrator, Daniela Bowman, at (505) 476-0617 or visit DOT’s web site at http://www.phmsa.dot.gov/hazmat/grants.

 

Commonly Approved Activities: LEPC emergency response plans; attending planning conferences (HOTZONE, HAZMAT Challenge, NASTPPO, FDIC, HAZMAT EXPO); renting space for planning activities; implementing tabletop exercises; emergency response drills and full scale exercises; commodity flow studies/surveys; hazard assessments and gap analysis; assessment of local response capabilities; enhance emergency plans to include hazard risk analysis; assessment the need to regional hazmat response teams; and others.  FULL LIST of Approved Planning Activities.  UNALLOWABLE Activities.

 

Commonly Approved Activities: all hazmat training levels: awareness, operations, technicians, specialists, refreshers; basic and advanced hazmat life support courses; IAFC hazmat conference; responding to hazmat incidents and decontamination training; and others. FULL LIST of Approved Training Activities. UNALLOWABLE Activities.

 

For complete guidance on the HMEP grant allowable activities please refer to the DOT HMEP Activity Guidance.

 

 

In order to request funds from the HMEP grant, each entity should fill out an application with the DHSEM for the activity they are interested in applying. The activity must be an approved activity as specified in the DOT HMEP Activity Guidance. A narrative description explaining the anticipated expenses associated with the activity must be provided as well. If you are applying for a training, a syllabus of the course and the instructor's qualifications must be attached with your application.

 

It is recommended that you contact the HMER Administrator, Daniela Bowman, at 505-476-0617 or email her at daniela.bowman@state.nm.us to discuss your intent before you submit your application.