Federal Funding Fridays

5/31/24 – Reg. 7 TC-TAC, Clean School Buses, & Charging and Fueling Infrastructure

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SPECIAL GUEST:

Jeff Severin – Sr. Program Manager for the Heartland EJ Center – Region 7 TC-TAC (KS, NE, MO, IA and adjoining Indigenous nations)

  • The EJ TCTAC program is part of the Federal Interagency Thriving Communities Network and delivers on the Biden-Harris administration’s Justice40 Initiative to ensure that 40% of the benefits of certain federal investments flow to disadvantaged communities. The new technical assistance centers will help ensure that communities with environmental justice concerns can access President Biden’s historic investments in America to address generational disinvestment, legacy pollution, infrastructure challenges, and build a clean energy economy that will lower energy costs, strengthen our energy security, and meet our climate goals.
  • Region 7 TC-TAC: The new center will serve communities throughout EPA Region 7, which consists of Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and nine tribal nations
  • Based out of Wichita, KS – presence in Lawrence, KS and St. Louis, MO
  • Connecting EJ applicants to technical assistance, grant assistance/development pre-submission
  • Eligible entities can get more info here: Intake form

SPECIAL GUEST:

Susan Mudd – Attorney and senior policy advocate for Environmental Law & Policy Center

  • Alliance for Electric School Buses: coalition of nonprofits committed to transitioning school buses to electric in the most polluted areas; Members in all Midwest states except for Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska 
  • Clean Heavy-Duty Vehicle Grants Program
    • One shot deal / different from the Clean School Bus Program
      • Clean Heavy Duty Vehicles Program: $1B via IRA
      • Clean School Bus Program: $5B from 2022-2026 via Bipartisan Infrastructure Law
    • $932 million for class 6 and 7 vehicles
    • Eligible orgs: States, Tribes, local gov’ts, schools, nonprofit transportation orgs
    • Priorities:
      • Tribes and Territories
      • Communities with worst air quality – EPA nonattainment areas
      • DAC (disadvantaged communities)
    • One application per sub-program allowed
      • School Bus Sub-Program – 70%
      • Vocational Vehicles – 30% of funding (e.g. municipal refuse trucks)
    • Eligible uses
      • Replacing old buses – does not pay 100%, but up to 75%
      • Wheel chair lifts – extra $20k available
    • IL, MI, soon MN – opening of new funding to supplement and stack EPA funding
      • IL using VW funding
      • MI – $125 million state funding for clean school buses
      • MN – opening VW funding for EJ counties
    • ELPC can help direct folks to information about this and other school bus funding
    • Direct pay – Up to $40k for the bus itself and up to $100,00 for the infrastructure
      • Rural Central IL district (Clean School Bus program) has converted its entire fleet to electric bus
      • Williamsfield, IL – congratulations!!!

Bonus: Drive Clean Indiana organizes the Indiana Clean School Bus Consortium and supports school districts through grant writing assistance and project planning.

Next meeting is on June 18th at 11am EST. Register here

GRANTS

Charing and Fueling Infrastructure Grants

  • Now open! Click here for more information.
  • Read the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) here.
  • Up to $800 million to fund CFI Round 2 applications to provide grants to eligible entities to strategically deploy publicly accessible EV charging infrastructure, hydrogen fueling infrastructure, propane fueling infrastructure, and natural gas fueling infrastructure in certain locations or along designated AFCs that will be accessible to all drivers of EVs, hydrogen vehicles, propane vehicles, and natural gas vehicles. 
  • Unfunded Round 1 applicants can apply again! Up to $521.2 million to fund applications previously submitted but not selected for award under the FY2022/2023 CFI Round 1 NOFO (693JJ323NF00004) published on March 14, 202310.
  • Grants are available in 2 buckets:
    • Community grants ($500,000 to $15 million) – with a priority on:
      • public roadways and infrastructure on public buildings, parks, and privately-owned publicly accessible facilities
      • Low-moderate income neighborhoods
      • Communities with a low ratio of private parking spaces to households or a high ratio of multi-unit dwellings to single family homes
    • Alternative Fuel Corridor (AFC) grants ($1 million +):
  • Upcoming Webinars

PCAP Reviews

States and MSA’s and submitted their Priority Climate Action Plans (PCAPs) on March 1, 2024. These plans opened up applicants for an additional round of implementation funds from EPA, based on those plans. The $4.6 billion in implementation funds is unprecedented funding for climate work and yet still a drop in the bucket of what it will take to carry out successful and just climate action. The PCAPs can be a road map for cities, states, and Tribes to acquire other sources of funding and engage communities in the next steps of planning and implementation.

In this analysis by RMI, Evergreen, and Climate Xchange, they analyze thousands of pages of PCAPs and identify the various plan elements. This spreadsheet includes a breakdown of their analysis, along with an additional tab that highlights our 12 Midwest states.

Aaron Deslatte of IU’s O’Neill School of Public Policy has also been analyzing PCAPs and coding them for qualitative factors. You can watch his recent webinar to the Chicago Metropolitan Mayors’ Caucus here.