News Releases from Region 03
EPA Announces $1.16 Million in Grants to Support Innovative Approaches to Source Reduction
Delaware State University, Slippery Rock University, Northampton Community College among grantees
PHILADELPHIA (Nov. 5, 2020) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today the selection of 11 organizations across nine states receiving $1.16 million in grant funding to support pollution prevention activities. The announcement coincides with the 30th anniversary of the Pollution Prevention Act and continued focus on national pollution prevention efforts.
Three Source Reduction Assistance (SRA) grants were presented to colleges/universities within the Mid-Atlantic Region: Delaware State University, Dover, Delaware; Slippery Rock University, Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania; and Northampton Community College, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
The grants will fund innovative, cost-effective, replicable source reduction approaches enabling grant recipients and others to save energy and water, reduce pollution and improve public health.
“We are glad to award these institutions of higher learning funding to research innovative ways to preserve our environment,” said EPA Mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator Cosmo Servidio. “Their research leads to best practices that can be shared with organizations nationwide to save our natural resources, spur economic growth and assist in reducing waste in years to come.”
“When the groundbreaking Pollution Prevention Act was signed 30 years ago, EPA was given a simple charge: work to prevent pollution before it happens,” said EPA Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention Assistant Administrator Alexandra Dapolito Dunn. “By providing our partners with essential tools, resources and information, we have taken a strategic approach that has yielded millions of dollars in savings and avoided the use of tens of thousands of pounds of hazardous chemicals. I’m looking forward to seeing the contributions of EPA’s 2020 source reduction grantees to our national pollution prevention effort.”
EPA’s individual SRA grant awards range from $43,000 to $174,000 for a two-year funding period. For these grants, EPA prioritized funding for projects that support research, education, and/or training of innovative source reduction techniques. The grantees will document and share and source reduction best practices that are identified and developed through these grants so that others can replicate these practices and outcomes.
Here is a snapshot of the grantees’ projects from the Mid-Atlantic Region:
Delaware State University
National Emphasis Area: Chemical Manufacturing, Processing and Fabrication
EPA Grant: $43,536
The grantee will work with several industry and agency partners to present a model for water and energy conservation in the agrochemical and pharmaceutical industry that includes facilitating pollution prevention education, informing local industry of the disparity between water supply and demand, creating a regional partnership network, and encouraging a culture of conservation. This project will employ real-time monitoring in manufacturing facilities to detect corrosion, microbial activity, salt content, and other contaminants that can adversely affect water and energy consumption.
Slippery Rock University
National Emphasis Area: Food, Beverage Manufacturing and Processing and Metal Manufacturing and Fabrication
EPA Grant: $72,146
The grantee will provide four food and beverage manufacturers within the greater Pittsburgh area with industrial assessments recommending actions that will minimize operating costs and reduce the use of water, energy, and hazardous substances in their processes. The grantee will also create a new intern pollution prevention program and will develop a best management practices training manual as part of this effort.
Northampton Community College
National Emphasis Area: Food, Beverage Manufacturing and Processing
EPA Grant: $72,146
The grantee will assist businesses in reducing their environmental footprint, operating expenses, and liability risk by promoting sustainable economic development, encouraging good corporate citizenship, and delivering a cleaner, safer environment. The grantee aims to demonstrate that providing for a healthy economy and a healthy environment are not mutually exclusive goals by promoting Pollution Prevention technical assistance as an effective business development strategy. The project will target businesses in Pennsylvania’s ozone nonattainment counties to decrease human exposure to pollutants that contribute to the severity of respiratory diseases.
Since the inception of the program in 2003, EPA has awarded SRA grants to state, local, and tribal government entities; non-profits; and university partners to work directly with U.S. businesses to develop and implement source reduction techniques. For instance, the University of Minnesota, using 16-17 SRA grant funds provided technical assistance to 45 businesses in Minneapolis to reduce air pollution in surrounding neighborhoods and cut electricity expenses. In addition, seven participating companies switched to environmentally-safer chemical alternatives in their sanitization and disinfection processes.
Click here to read more about the Source Reduction Assistance (SRA) Grant Program and about the individual projects.