Fact Sheet; April 2004
Summary
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is making $9.941 million
in grants available in 2004 to eligible states to protect public
health at the Nation's beaches. These grants are available to
coastal and Great Lakes states to implement programs to monitor
water quality at the beach and to notify the public when water
quality problems exist.
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Background
Each year state and local health and environmental protection
agencies monitor the quality of water at the Nation's beaches.
When bacteria levels in the water are too high, these agencies
notify the public of beach warnings or closings. State and local
monitoring and notification programs differ across the country
and provide different levels of protection for swimmers.
To improve water quality testing at the beach and to help beach
managers better inform the public when there are water quality
problems, Congress passed the Beaches Environmental Assessment
and Coastal Health Act (BEACH Act) in October 2000. This Act authorizes
EPA to award grants to eligible states, tribes, and territories
to develop and implement beach water quality monitoring and notification
programs at coastal and Great Lakes recreational waters near beaches.
These grants also support the development and implementation of
programs to inform the public about the risk of exposure to disease-causing
microorganisms in the waters at the Nation's beaches.
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Funding
In 2004, EPA expects to award about $9.941 million in grants
to eligible states, tribes, and territories for the beach program.
For this fourth year of the BEACH Grants, EPA expects to award
grants based on an allocation formula to all eligible States and
Territories who apply. EPA consulted with various states and the
Coastal States Organization in 2002 to develop this formula, which
considers three factors: 1) beach season length, 2) beach miles,
and 3) beach use. EPA used the same formula as was used in 2003,
which includes using shoreline miles as a surrogate for beach
miles, while EPA evaluates beach length data.
Based on this allocation formula, the size of the Implementation
Grant Award ranges from $150,000 to $540,220 if all 35 eligible
states and territories apply. EPA expects all 35 eligible governments
to apply. If fewer apply or qualify for the grants, then EPA will
redistribute available funds to states according to the following
principles:
- States that meet the program performance criteria published
by EPA in June 2002 (EPA-823-B-02-004) will receive the full
amount of funds for which they qualify under the allocation
formula.
- States that have not met the requirements for implementation
grants may receive grants for continued program development.
Any program development grants that the Agency awards will be
for the limited purpose of completing work needed to qualify
for implementation grants. Therefore, we expect that funding
levels for continued program development grants will be lower
than the amount described in #1 above.
- EPA may award program implementation grants to local governments
in states that have not met the requirements for program implementation.
- EPA may use the grant allocation formula to make additional
funds available for implementation grants to states that have
met the performance criteria.
If all 35 eligible states and territories apply and meet the
performance criteria, the distribution of funds for year 2004
will be:
For
the state or territory of: |
The
year 2004 allocation is: |
For
the state or territory of: |
The
year 2004 allocation is: |
Alabama |
$262,810 |
Mississippi |
$257,900 |
Alaska |
$150,000 |
New
Hampshire |
$204,770 |
American
Samoa |
$302,260 |
New
Jersey |
$281,680 |
California |
$527,850 |
New
York |
$356,240 |
Connecticut |
$224,560 |
North
Carolina |
$305,280 |
Delaware |
$211,300 |
Northern
Mariana |
$303,510 |
Florida |
$540,220 |
Ohio |
$224,840 |
Georgia |
$288,130 |
Oregon |
$230,290 |
Guam |
$302,740 |
Pennsylvania |
$223,650 |
Hawaii |
$324,230 |
Puerto
Rico |
$329,900 |
Illinois |
$245,060 |
Rhode
Island |
$213,290 |
Indiana |
$206,090 |
South
Carolina |
$299,140 |
Louisiana |
$328,520 |
Texas |
$387,190 |
Maine |
$257,650 |
U.S.
Virgin Islands |
$303,350 |
Maryland |
$272,860 |
Virginia |
$280,910 |
Massachusetts |
$257,220 |
Washington |
$273,980 |
Michigan |
$282,520 |
Wisconsin |
$226,570 |
Minnesota |
$204,490 |
|
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EPA has set aside $50,000 for eligible Tribes who may apply to
develop a beach program. EPA expects to apportion these funds
evenly among all eligible Tribes that apply.
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How Long Will the Funding and Project Periods
Last?
The expected funding and project period for Implementation Grants
awarded in 2004 is one year. In future years, EPA may award more
grants to eligible states, tribes, territories and local governments
to support the development and implementation of monitoring and
notification programs.
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Who Is Eligible to Apply?
States and territories eligible for the BEACH grants are states
that have coastal and Great Lakes recreational waters adjacent
to beaches or similar points of access used by the public. Under
the BEACH Act, EPA can also award grants to eligible tribes. To
receive BEACH Act grants, tribes must have coastal recreation
waters. (These are waters designated under Clean Water Act Section
303(c) for use for swimming, bathing, surfing or similar water
contact activities). A tribe must also meet the "treatment
in the same manner as a state" criteria under CWA section
518(e) to receive BEACH Act grant funds.
In July 2002, EPA published the National
Beach Guidance and Required Performance Criteria for Grants
(document number EPA-823-B-02-004) which explains the requirements
for states, tribes, and local governments to qualify for implementation
grants. You can get a hard copy of the guidance by writing or
calling the Office of Water Resources Center, U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, Mail Code 4100T, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue,
N.W., Washington, D.C. 20460. (202-566-1731) or by sending an
e-mail to: center.water-resource@epa.gov.
The BEACH Act authorizes EPA to give a grant to a local government
for implementation of a monitoring and notification program only
if EPA determines that the state is not implementing a program
that meets the requirements of the statute one year after EPA
publishes performance criteria for beach programs. EPA published
performance criteria on July 19, 2002. Therefore, July 19, 2003,
was the earliest date a local government would have been eligible
for a section 406 grant if EPA determined that its state was not
meeting the requirements of the statute. EPA has not determined
that any State is implementing the program inconsistent with the
requirements in section 406(b). Local governments may contact
their EPA Regional office for further information about BEACH
Act grants.
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How Does a State or Territory Apply?
Eligible states and territories may get an application from their
regional EPA beach contact. These contacts are listed in the Federal
Register Notice of Availability for the BEACH grants, which is
available on EPA's Web site.
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For More Information
For more information on the BEACH grants, please contact your
EPA Regional beach program representative
or Beth Leamond at 202-5660444 (leamond.beth@epa.gov).
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