The Inflation Reduction Act is driving rapid change and investment in the the Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) space. Included amongst these is the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s Climate Pollution Reduction Grants (CPRG) program — a $5 billion initiative towards investing in clean air on the state, municipal, tribal, and territorial levels.
At Environmental and Engineering Solutions, Inc., we are invested in ensuring our clients know the details of this important program: its scope, its timeline, and how it might affect your business.
The CPRG program is being implemented in two phases: the first being through Planning Grants, and the second Implementation Grants. The Planning Grants phase provides $250 million of noncompetitive grants towards “projects that are directly related to the development, updating, or evaluation of state, local, tribal or territorial plans to reduce climate pollution.” Allocations include $3 million for each state, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico; $1 million to each of the 67 most populous Metropolitan Statistical Areas; $500,000 for each American territory; and $25 million for native tribes. The Phase One application period for the grants has recently passed, as the state deadline was March 31st and metropolitan deadline April 28th. (Tribes and territories may have different deadlines, however, and they are encouraged to work with their regional points-of-contact listed in the program guidance.)
The Implementation Grants phase of the CPRG will provide $4.6 billion of competitive implementation grants for “states, District of Columbia, Puerto Rico; air pollution control agencies; municipalities; territories; tribes; or groups of such eligible entities that are covered by a plan developed with funding from a planning grant awarded under Phase I.” These funds are to be used for implementing the measures devised through the Planning Grants; entities included in or covered by those plans will be eligible to apply for the Implementation Grants.
The Planning Grants will likely be awarded in August/September of this year; the EPA plans to release a notice of funding opportunity for the Implementation Grants thereafter, before the end of 2023. Applications will be due in the first quarter of 2024. Implementation funding is available through FY 2026, and planning funding is available through FY 2031.
What do the Planning Grants mean for your particular business? The grant program guidance document lists the ways secured grant funds can be used, which include “subawards to municipalities, air pollution control agencies, regional planning organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), academic institutions, etc.” Entities that can help execute Planning Grant objectives should pay attention to whether their local governments will receive these grants, and whether their execution includes subawards for their potential services.
An example of what this might look like is Climate Resolve’s partnership with the Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians (FTBMI), to help them develop climate resilience plans and secure funding for their actualization. Planning Grants can be used for modeling/analytical costs, as well as purchasing/licensing software… Companies that make tools such as for carbon accounting should also pay close attention.
How might the impending influx of money from CPRG Implementation Grants affect the EHS field going forward? What options do you have for leveraging the CPRG investments that may be coming to your region in the near future? That’s where our deep knowledge and precision counseling at Environmental and Engineering Solutions, Inc. comes into play. If you’re looking for tailored answers for your specific company and locality, reach out to EES President Tom Petersen at tom@eesolutions.net.