Question of the Week: I heard something about grants being offered to communities for hiring experts and promoting public participation in pipeline safety proceedings. Can you tell me more about how to access these funds?
Answer:
PHMSA recently announced a grant opportunity for Community Technical Assistance Grants – Applications are Due April 22, 2015.
Community groups and local governments are eligible to apply for PHMSA Technical Assistance Grants (“TAG grants”) of up to $100,000 for technical advice on pipeline concerns, to enhance public involvement in official proceedings on pipeline safety, for production and implementation of local pipeline ordinances, or for a wide variety of other pipeline safety related projects. You can find an archive of the nearly 200 projects funded with these grants in past years here.
Here is the link to the full announcement: http://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=272688
From PHMSA:
The TAG program provides funding to communities for technical assistance and analyses of local pipeline safety issues. Technical assistance is defined as engineering or other scientific analysis of pipeline safety issues. The funding can also be used to help promote public participation in official proceedings. However, the funding may not be used for lobbying, in direct support of litigation, or for activities associated with regulatory compliance or typical operations and maintenance of pipeline facilities. Local projects can range from public awareness activities to technology solutions, such as the conversion of paper maps into electronic format. The awards have funded a broad range of activities, including:
o Improvement of local pipeline emergency response capabilities
o Improvement of safe digging programs
o Development of pipeline safety information resources
o Implementation of local land use practices that enhance pipeline safety
o Community and pipeline awareness campaigns
o Enhancements in public participation in official proceedings pertaining to pipelines
| If you intend to apply for a grant, the preparation for doing so (obtaining online accounts and numbers and entering your proposal in the online system) takes quite a bit of effort and time, so plan accordingly to allow enough time before the deadline to get help if you need it. |
We’re happy to help give you feedback on your TAG idea, or talk to you about what some other communities have done, so feel free to contact us for more information if you’re interested.
Background on the TAG Grants
When Congress began working to strengthen the nation’s pipeline safety laws in 2001, the forerunner of The Pipeline Safety Trust pushed for the creation of a federal program that would provide money to local governments and communities for hiring independent experts. These experts would help them obtain information so they could be informed and active participants in decision-making activities about pipelines running through—or proposed for siting in—their communities.
In the Pipeline Safety Improvement Act of 2002, Congress authorized the Technical Assistance Grant (TAG) program, which was based on a successful Superfund grant program that had been operating within the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency since 1988. However, Congress did not appropriate any program funds when it passed this law. Over the next four years, Congress failed to fund the TAG program, and the Office of Pipeline Safety (OPS), which is within the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), didn’t move ahead to implement it. Consequently, the Pipeline Safety Trust worked with supporters in Congress to break this “logjam” and a provision was inserted in the Pipeline Inspection, Protection, Enforcement and Safety Act of 2006 to withhold funding from other activities until PHMSA established procedures and criteria for initiating the TAG program. In 2008, Congress provided $1 million in the federal budget for funding this program and in 2009 the Pipeline Safety Trust helped OPS develop criteria for evaluating grant applications.
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