Cutoff for applications for Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grant money is in early June. While a pre-proposal letter of intent to file was requested, it was not a necessity for filing. It was a process management tool to allow EPA to better anticipate its total staff time required for efficient review, evaluation, and selection of submitted proposals.
Awards will come from both federal and state levels. The aim is to clean up some 11 million diesel engines that were purchased before most recent EPA engine standards went into effect. Most federal grant funding will fall under EPA’s Diesel Funding Assistance program. Other components include an Emerging Technologies program that requires manufacturers to submit both an application and test plan. The Finance program allows EPA to provide low-cost loans or other financing to fleets to reduce diesel emissions. The program is for Fiscal 2008. For details, go to http://www.epa.gov/otaq/diesel/prgnational.htm.
Applications for funding for diesel emission reduction projects from EPA’s SmartWay program must be received by June 9, with no extension of the deadline possible. SmartWay cautions that the application process can take as long as a week to complete. Details on this program are available at http://www.epa.gov/air/grants/08-04.pdf
