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Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance

Environmental Policy and Innovation Grants

Number: 66.611

Agency: Environmental Protection Agency
Office: Office of the Administrator

Program Information

Program Number/Title (010):

Federal Agency (030):

Authorization (040):

Clean Water Act, Section 104, 33 U.S.C 1254; Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, Section 104(k)(6)&311, 42 U.S.C 9660; Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, Section 20, 7 U.S.C 136(r); Solid Waste Disposal Act, Section 8001, 42 U.S.C 6981; Safe Drinking Water Act, Section 1441, 42 U.S.C 300j-1; Clean Air Act, Section 103, 42 U.S.C 7403; National Environmental Policy Act, Section 102(2)(F), 42 U.S.C 4332; Toxics Substances Control Act, Section 10, 15 U.S.C 2609; Annual Appropriations Act.

Objectives (050):

(1) To support analyses, studies, evaluations, workshops, conferences, and demonstration projects that lead to reduced pollutants generated and conservation of natural resources; (2) to improve economic information and analytic methods to support studies, surveys, analyses, evaluations, conferences, workshops, and demonstration projects on the benefits, costs, and impacts of environmental programs; (3) to improve economic information and analytic methods to support studies, surveys, analyses, evaluations, conferences, workshops, and demonstration projects of incentive-based and voluntary environmental management strategies and mechanisms; (4) to support research to explore and develop strategies and mechanisms for those in the economic, social, governmental, and environmental arenas to use in environmental management decisions; (5) to provide technical assistance to help communities to learn about and implement smart growth approaches; and (6) to support an information clearinghouse that functions as a "one stop shop" for information on effective smart growth approaches that can help communities ensure their development choices deliver environmental, economic, and quality-of-life benefits.

Funding Priority - Fiscal Year 2015: There have been no new competitive environmental economic research solicitations issued in recent years due to limited available resources.

If resources should become available in FY2015, research priorities in the field of environmental economics and related research continue to include: work on improvements in the valuation of environmental benefits, including human health and ecological services; measuring economic costs and impacts to society from regulations, including effective ways to forecast future pollution control technologies and regulatory costs; integrating economic and natural science models for purposes of assessing environmental risks and consequences, including those associated with GHG emissions and potential consequences for climate change; and utilization of alternative regulatory management and economic incentive approaches to achieve environmental objectives

Funding Priority - Fiscal Year 2016: There have been no new competitive environmental economic research solicitations issued in recent years due to limited available resources.

If resources should become available in FY2016, research priorities in the field of environmental economics and related research continue to include: work on improvements in the valuation of environmental benefits, including human health and ecological services; measuring economic costs and impacts to society from regulations, including effective ways to forecast future pollution control technologies and regulatory costs; integrating economic and natural science models for purposes of assessing environmental risks and consequences, including those associated with GHG emissions and potential consequences for climate change; and utilization of alternative regulatory management and economic incentive approaches to achieve environmental objectives.

There were no new competitive solicitations issued for smart growth in FY 2016.

Funding Priority - Fiscal Year 2017: There have been no new competitive environmental economic research solicitations issued in recent years due to limited available resources.

If resources should become available in FY2017, research priorities in the field of environmental economics and related research continue to include: work on improvements in the valuation of environmental benefits, including human health and ecological services; measuring economic costs and impacts to society from regulations, including effective ways to forecast future pollution control technologies and regulatory costs; integrating economic and natural science models for purposes of assessing environmental risks and consequences, including those associated with GHG emissions and potential consequences for climate change; and utilization of alternative regulatory management and economic incentive approaches to achieve environmental objectives.

Types of Assistance (060):

Uses and Use Restrictions (070):

Grants and cooperative agreements are available to support recipients' allowable direct costs incident to approved Environmental Policy and Innovation plus allowable indirect costs, in accordance with established EPA policies and regulations. Funding awarded for research does not include research within the purview of EPA's Office or Research and Development. Funds awarded under Section 311(b)(3) of CERCLA must be used for projects relating to innovative or alternative treatment technologies that may be utilized in response actions to achieve more permanent protection of human health and welfare and the environment. Assistance agreement awards under this program may involve or relate to geospatial information. Further information regarding geospatial information may be obtained by viewing the following website: https://www.epa.gov/geospatial.

Grant recipients and sub-recipients are encouraged to adopt and enforce policies that ban text messaging while driving company-owned or -rented vehicles or government-owned vehicles, or while driving privately-owned vehicles when on official government business or when performing any work for or on behalf of the government. Grant recipients and sub-recipients are encouraged to conduct initiatives of the type described in section 3(a) of the Federal Leadership on Reducing Text Messaging While Driving Executive Order that was signed on October 1, 2009. Generally this program makes Federal awards on a discretionary basis. For further information, please contact the Headquarters or regional office.

Eligibility Requirements (080)

Applicant Eligibility (081):

Assistance under this program is generally available to States and local governments, territories and possessions, foreign governments, international organizations, Indian Tribes, interstate organizations, intrastate organizations, and possessions of the U.S., including the District of Columbia, public and private universities and colleges, hospitals, laboratories, other public or private nonprofit institutions, and individuals. Nonprofit organizations described in Section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code that engage in lobbying activities as defined in Section 3 of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 are not eligible to apply. For profit organizations are generally not eligible for funding. Some of EPA's statutes may limit assistance to specific types of interested applicants. See "Authorization" listed above. For certain competitive funding opportunities under this CFDA description, the Agency may limit eligibility to compete to a number or subset of eligible applicants consistent with the Agency's Assistance Agreement Competition Policy. National laboratories funded by Federal Agencies (Federally-Funded Research and Development Centers, "FFRDCs") may not apply. FFRDC employees may cooperate or collaborate with eligible applicants within the limits imposed by applicable legislation and regulations. They may participate in planning, conducting, and analyzing the research directed by the applicant, but may not direct projects on behalf of the applicant organization. The institution, organization, or governance receiving the award may provide funds through its grant from the EPA to an FFRDC for research personnel, supplies, equipment, and other expenses directly related to the research. Federal Agencies may not apply. Federal employees are not eligible to serve in a principal leadership role on a grant, and may not receive salaries or augment their Agency's appropriations in other ways through grants made by this program.

Beneficiary Eligibility (082):

Credentials/Documentation (083):

Application and Award Process (090)

Preapplication Coordination (091):

Regarding pre-application/pre-proposal assistance with respect to competitive funding opportunities under this program description, EPA will generally specify the nature of the pre-application/pre-proposal assistance, if any, that will be available to applicants in the competitive announcement. For additional information, contact the individual(s) listed as "Information Contacts" or see Appendix IV of the Catalog. This program is eligible for coverage under E.O. 12372, "Intergovernmental Review of Federal Programs." An applicant should consult the office or official designated as the single point of contact in his or her State for more information on the process the State requires to be followed in applying for assistance, if the State has selected the program for review. Environmental impact information is not required for this program. This program is eligible for coverage under E.O. 12372, "Intergovernmental Review of Federal Programs." An applicant should consult the office or official designated as the single point of contact in his or her State for more information on the process the State requires to be followed in applying for assistance, if the State has selected the program for review.

Application Procedures (092):

2 CFR 200, Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards applies to this program. The standard application forms as furnished by the Federal agency and required by 2 CFR 200 and 1500, Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards. EPA requires final applications to be made on Standard Form 424, "Application for Federal Assistance." Requests for application kits must be submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency, Grants and Interagency Agreements Management Division, (3903R), Washington, DC 20460 or through the appropriate EPA Regional Office listed in Appendix IV of the Catalog. Additional information on the EPA grant package can be found at: http://www.epa.gov/ogd/grants/how_to_apply.htm. Requests for Initial Proposals or Requests for Applications will specify application procedures. Applicants, except in limited circumstances approved by the Agency, must submit all initial applications for funding through http://www.grants.gov.

Award Procedure (093):

For non-competitive awards, EPA will conduct an administrative evaluation to determine the adequacy of the application in relation to grant regulations and to technical and program evaluation to determine the merit and relevance of the project. The Agency will then advise the applicant if funding is being considered. A final work plan will then be negotiated with the applicant. For competitive awards, EPA will review and evaluate applications, proposals, and/or submissions in accordance with the terms, conditions, and criteria stated in the competitive announcement. Competitions will be conducted in accordance with EPA policies/regulations for competing assistance agreements. For competitions involving research that are administered as part of the Economic and Decision Sciences program, OP will continue to adhere to the policies established by ORD, NCER and their Science to Achieve Results (STAR) program, which includes engaging an external technical peer review panel to evaluate the technical merits of research proposals.

Deadlines (094):

Range of Approval/Disapproval Time (095):

Appeals (096):

Renewals (097):

Assistance Consideration (100)

Formula and Matching Requirements (101):

This program has no statutory formula.
Matching Requirements: CERCLA 311(b)(3) requires that "to the maximum extent possible," EPA enter into an appropriate cost sharing arrangement with recipients of grants and cooperative agreements relating to innovative and alternative treatment technologies. EPA may waive the 311(b)(3) cost sharing requirement in appropriate cases. Matching requirements may be established in program guidance or the terms of competitive solicitations.
This program does not have MOE requirements.

Length and Time Phasing of Assistance (102):

Grants and cooperative agreements are usually funded on a 12-month basis. However, EPA can negotiate the project period with each applicant based on project requirements. EPA has limitations on project periods, and grants and cooperative agreements may be fully funded or incrementally funded. These determinations are made by EPA. See the following for information on how assistance is awarded/released: Most assistance under this CFDA will either be awarded as a lump sum payment or incrementally. Funds will be released on as-needed basis to the grant recipient.

Post Assistance Requirements (110)

Reports (111):

For the economic research grants, recipients are required to prepare final written reports that summarize their research project and findings, and cite work (presentations, publications) supported with the EPA grant. No content available. EPA includes reporting requirements for grants and cooperative agreements in the terms and conditions of the agreements. Agreements may require quarterly, interim, and final progress reports, and financial, equipment, and invention reports. Specific reporting requirements are also identified in the Grant Regulations 2 CFR Parts 200 and 1500.

In general, it is the policy of the Office of the Administrator to require Progress Reports from recipients on a routine schedule - either quarterly, semiannually or on an annual basis. This requirement, or a different requirement when applicable, will be spelled out in solicitations issued under this CFDA, and confirmed in the Terms and Conditions section for funded assistance agreements. No content available. No performance monitoring is required.

Audits (112):

In accordance with the provisions of 2 CFR 200, Subpart F - Audit Requirements, non-Federal entities that expend financial assistance of $750,000 or more in Federal awards will have a single or a program-specific audit conducted for that year. Non-Federal entities that expend less than $750,000 a year in Federal awards are exempt from Federal audit requirements for that year, except as noted in 2 CFR 200.503. Grants and cooperative agreements are subject to inspections and audits by the Comptroller General of the United States, the EPA Office of Inspector General, other EPA staff, or any authorized representative of the Federal government. Reviews by the EPA Project Officer and the Grants Specialist may occur each year. In accordance with the provisions of 2 CFR 200, Subpart F - Audit Requirements, non-federal entities that expend $750,000 or more in a year in Federal awards shall have a single or a program specific audit conducted for that year. Non-federal entities that expend less than $750,000 a year in Federal awards are exempt from Federal audit requirements for that year, except as noted in 2 CFR 200.503.

Records (113):

The record retention requirements of 2 CFR 200 and 1500 are applicable depending upon the identity of the recipient. Recipients must keep financial records, including all documents supporting entries on accounting records and to substantiate changes in grants, available to personnel authorized to examine EPA recipients grants and cooperative agreements records. Recipients must maintain all records until 3 years from the date of submission of final expenditure reports. If questions, such as those raised as a result of audits remain following the 3-year period, recipients must retain records until the matter is completely resolved.

Financial Information (120)

Account Identification (121):

Obligations (122):

(Project Grants) FY 15 $800,000; FY 16 est $800,000; and FY 17 Estimate Not Available - For awards directed at smart growth issues, the total amount awarded through new awards and incremental funding was $0.8 million in FY 2014, and $0.8 million in FY 2015. Projected new awards and incremental funding are expected to be $0.8 million in FY 2016.

For awards directed at economic analysis and research topics, including funding provided under the Economic and Decision Sciences program, the following distributions and projections are as follows: in FY 2015 there were no new awards or incremental funding of existing assistance agreements. As a result of limited resources, there will also be no new awards or incremental funding anticipated for existing assistance agreements in FY2016, and there are insufficient funds to warrant issuing a competitive solicitation to accept proposals for new environmental economics research under this CDFA in FY2016. If the Pres Bud 2017 submission is accepted, there may be an opportunity to requests proposals under a new competitive solicitation on environmental economics. If funds are approved, the total amount of funds available for these purposes will likely be in the range of $200,000 - $400,000. The amount of funding awarded to each selected recipient will depend on particular features and objectives identified in the solicitation.

Range and Average of Financial Assistance (123):

For recent awards related to smart growth, the range is from $25,000 to $200,000, with an average around $100,000.

For most recent competitively awarded grants in the area of economics - related to Environmental Economic Workshops: range is $35,000 - $95,000, with an average award of ~$70,000. Related to Environmental Economics Dissertations and Early Career Research: range is $35,000 - $75,000, with an average of ~$60,000. Related to Environmental Economic Research: range is $75,000-$300,000, with an average of ~$250,000. There were no earmarks included for the period FY2010-FY2016, and we continue to not expect to have any earmarks in FY2017.

Program Accomplishments (130):

Fiscal Year 2015: Some of the research underway in FY2015, and workshops that were hosted in FY2015 (both using prior year's funding) include:

- Camp Resources workshop will be held during the summer (normally in August each year). The workshop typically consists of 15-20 full-length presentations by graduate students and young professionals, and 11 research sketches in this year's schedule. The workshop features faculty mentors who provided constructive feedback to presenters, and also presented an overview of their current research interests. In addition to featured mentors, Camp Resources normally enjoys support from an outstanding community of environmental and resources economists at NC State, Duke, RTI International, and throughout North Carolina and the Southeast who regularly attend and participate in the workshop. The outcomes of the workshop normally included (1) providing a forum for the students and young professionals to present research at its early stages and receive significant feedback from senior researchers; (2) giving the young researchers opportunities to expand their research and presentation skills by interacting in a small, less-formal workshop setting with top scholars in the field of environmental economics; (3) creating a network for future interactions and collaborations among those who have attended; and (4) providing attendees with a concentrated learning experience on cutting edge methods within environmental and resource economic research (e.g., the tutorial session). The workshop serves to improve the capabilities of young environmental economists to conduct state-of-the-art research, thus advancing our knowledge on a wide array of environmental economics principles and tools that lead to improved protection of human health and the environment.

A second workshop series - the "Occasional California Workshop on Environmental and Resource Economics" - is hosted by University of California-Santa Barbara and has been supported under this CFDA. This series of workshops - held roughly every 12-18 months - focuses on supporting new dissertations and are designed for junior scholars, graduate students and junior faculty. The primary objective is to help such scholars develop better research ideas and programs, as well as assist in communication among colleagues. Thus efforts are made to facilitate attendance and participation by PhD students from around California and the rest of far Western North America (Washington, Oregon, BC, Nevada, Arizona, northwest Mexico, Hawaii). The typical workshop draws approximately 100 participants for the 1-2 day event. Presentations are of two types short 5-10 minute presentations for which no papers are involved and longer (30 minute) presentations with discussants. In terms of results, organizers expect the field of environmental and resource economics to be strengthened by this effort, attracting economists and graduate students to the field of environmental economics through participation in the workshop. Fiscal Year 2016: Most of the environmental economics research grants awarded under this CFDA have ended, and the few that remain are wrapping up in FY2016

One environmental economics research project funded under this CFDA that concluded this year sought to develop a series of complementary analyses for understanding the economic efficiency, environmental effectiveness, and distributional effects of overlapping policies, accounting for how different policy instruments interact with one another, and how they perform in the presence of induced technological change. The methods were applied to the two sectors of greatest import for GHG and conventional pollutant emissions: electricity generation and transportation. The first objective was to conduct a comprehensive review of existing policies and major proposals for reducing emissions and promoting clean technologies in these sectors. The second goal was to develop an analytical model of consumer, supplier, and overall market responses to these kinds of policy interventions, in order to develop intuition about interactions among policies. Importantly, in addition to an emissions externality, the model would incorporate two types of market imperfections that often motivate technology- specific policies: undervaluation of energy efficiency by consumers and spillovers from knowledge accumulated by producers. The third goal was to develop numerical models following the conceptual analysis, and carefully parameterize them for our two sectoral applications. The ultimate goal was to provide a comprehensive guide for policymakers on how the existing abundance of policies and policy options should be understood, coordinated, and possibly reformed.

Their work was successful, producing the following types of information and materials:

Development of a simple unifying model to analyze interactions among overlapping environmental policies, particularly those that involve tradable credit mechanisms. The model was extended to allow for both more and less mature renewable energy sources (e.g., wind versus solar), differentiating the innovation market failures among these different classes, and by incorporating demand-side market failures e.g., the undervaluation of energy efficiency improvements). It demonstrates that the value of a given policy change depends on the extent to which any and all of these market failures are internalized.

The model was further adapted to allow for the peculiarities of the transportation fuels sector. This included modeling the nested targets in the Renewable Fuels Standard, a low-carbon fuel standard, and different forms of CAFE standards, including size-based incentives. It highlights how each of these policies can be modeled as combinations of implicit taxes and subsidies and reveals how they interact.

The research led to parameterization of a new analytical model for the electricity sector. This permitted quantitative analysis about the optimal policy combinations. A significant focus was on the optimal deployment subsidies for wind and solar and their sensitivity to a variety of assumptions regarding the potential for learning-by-doing, the degree of spillovers, and the stringency of the emissions target. Central estimates for these values were in the range of 1 cent for wind (mature renewable technologies) and 5 cents/kWh for solar. While they rise somewhat as emissions reduction targets get more stringent, the carbon price in the optimal carbon policy combination is what rises most significantly.

The development and parameterization of this model proved more challenging than expected. The baseline involves a large pre-existing suite of policy incentives and mandates, for which implicit values must be calculated. Incorporating realistic fuel economy strategies required calibrating both technological and size-based opportunities for fuel economy improvements. Trying to maintain an overall calibration strategy of relying on EIA data (projections generated from the much more complex NEMS model), while being consistent with other empirical evidence on innovation and renewable fuels, required significant innovations in terms of the model and solution strategies.

The results emphasize the inefficiency of current federal renewable fuel standards and size-based fuel economy standards relative to direct taxes on carbon or gasoline. We find that the current mix of state and federal fuel taxes, fuel economy standards, and renewable fuel blending mandates leads to a 13% reduction in domestic carbon emissions from this sector relative to a no-policy baseline at an average private welfare cost of $18/tCO2. These policies induce behavioral changes that are highly cost-ineffective, however, as evidenced by a marginal cost of carbon abatement that varies widely across competing abatement options: $0/tCO2 to $736/tCO2 for options based on fuel switching (e.g., from gasoline to ethanol) and negative $45/tCO2 to positive $73/tCO2 for options based on conservation (i.e., driving fewer miles or improving fuel economy). Negative abatement costs for conservation arise in this setting due to consumer undervaluation of fuel economy and due to existing policies that implicitly subsidize ethanol well beyond the point where its marginal cost exceeds its energy value. In contrast, the optimal carbon policy — a carbon tax combined with corrective subsidies for cellulosic ethanol production and fuel economy improvements—can achieve the same 13% reduction in carbon emissions, but at an average private welfare gain of $15/tCO2 relative to no policy.

For awards related to smart growth, program accomplishments involved supporting activities of current grant recipients:

$135,000 for Smart Growth Conference held in February 2016 and attended by 1,700 people from the public and private sector.

$90,000 for Smart Growth On-line Website and Policy Clearinghouse.

$200,000 for technical assistance workshops in 14 communities addressing land use and code audits to promote more sustainable development.

$20,000 for technical assistance workshops in 9 communities addressing complete streets and sustainable design.

$160,000 for workshops focused on opportunities to enhance community sustainability through state policy.

$20,000 for technical assistance workshops in 8 communities using the LEED for Neighborhood Development Standards as a tool for evaluating options to improve community environmental performance. Fiscal Year 2017: No content available.

Regulations, Guidelines, and Literature (140):

Information Contacts (150)

Regional or Local Office (151) :

Headquarters Office (152):

Website Address (153):

Related Programs (160):

Examples of Funded Projects (170):

Criteria for Selecting Proposals (180):

The evaluation and selection criteria for competitive awards under this CFDA description will be described in the competitive announcement. Non-competitive proposals are judged for: (a) technical merit in terms of: (1) strengths and weaknesses of the project; (2) adequacy of overall project design; (3) competency of proposed staff; (4) suitability of applicant's available resources; (5) appropriateness of the proposed project period and budget; and (6) probability that the project will accomplish stated objectives; and, for (b) program interest in terms of: (1) the need for the proposed project; and (2) relationship to program objectives.

Contact Information

Website:

Regional or Local Office:

Headquarters Office:

General Information

Assistance Types:

Applicant Eligibilty:

11-Interstate/ 36-Environment (water, air, solid waste, pesticides, radiation)
12-Intrastate/ 36-Environment (water, air, solid waste, pesticides, radiation)
14-State (includes District of Columbia, public institutions of higher education and hospitals)/ 36-Environment (water, air, solid waste, pesticides, radiation)
15-Local (includes State-designated lndian Tribes, excludes institutions of higher education and hospitals/ 36-Environment (water, air, solid waste, pesticides, radiation)
20-Public nonprofit institution/organization (includes institutions of higher education and hospitals)/ 36-Environment (water, air, solid waste, pesticides, radiation)
22-Federally Recognized lndian Tribal Governments/ 36-Environment (water, air, solid waste, pesticides, radiation)
23-U.S. Territories and possessions (includes institutions of higher education and hospitals)/ 36-Environment (water, air, solid waste, pesticides, radiation)
31-Individual/Family/ 36-Environment (water, air, solid waste, pesticides, radiation)
36-Private nonprofit institution/organization (includes institutions of higher education and hospitals)/ 36-Environment (water, air, solid waste, pesticides, radiation)

Beneficiary Eligibilty: