EPA Region 7

Communities Information Digest

November 14, 2016
Welcome to the latest EPA Region 7 Digest!
EPA Region 7s Communities Information
Digest provides communities with the latest
news about funding technical assistance
opportunities, webinars, conferences, and
other activities related to human health and
the environment.
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Headlines
National
*EPA Issues Rule Finalizing Changes to Existing Hazardous Waste Export and Import
Regulations
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently finalized a rule to improve the
nations hazardous waste regulations to protect public health and the environment. The
updated Hazardous Waste Import and Export Regulations streamline the hazardous waste
export and import process, implement mandatory electronic reporting for international
shipments and electronically linking export information.
*EPA Report Evaluation of RE-Powering Americas Land Released
Over the last year or so, the RE-Powering Americas Land Initiative underwent an
evaluation to understand the effectiveness and impact of its efforts and to guide the relative
emphasis and focus of the initiatives activities for the future. EPA encourages review of this
material and additional welcomes feedback on both the contents of the report and other
aspects of the Initiative.
*Six Common City-Level Energy Policies Could Reduce Nationwide Carbon
Emissions by up to 480 Million Metric Tons Annually
The Department of Energy (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory recently
examined the carbon abatement potential of city actions in six policy areas as part of the
DOEs Cities Leading through Energy Analysis and Planning (Cities-LEAP) project. The
analysis uses new data on energy use in more than 23,400 U.S. cities, and estimates the
aggregate impact of city actions related to building energy codes, public transit, building
energy incentives, rooftop photovoltaics, smart growth, and municipal actions.
*Rural America at a Glance, 2016 Edition Released by USDA
USDA recently released Rural America at a Glance, 2016 Edition, an annual report by
USDA's Economic Research Service.
*Planning for Transportation Together: Collaborating to Address Transportation and
Economic Resilience
This report presents case studies that demonstrate how state agencies and regional
planning and development organizations are working together on deliberate interventions to
produce tangible benefits that are specific to the context, are sustained over time, and make
a place more resilient.
*How Transit Fared in the 2016 Election
This election, voters in cities and counties around the U.S. decided on nearly $200 billion in
transit funding, the most in any single election in the country's history. To get a sense of
what this trend means moving forward, here's a look at the 10 largest transit-related ballot
measures around the country and what they will do (or would have done) for their cities or
regions.
*November 15 is America Recycles Day

Remember to eCycle. Take your old computers or other electronics to a local recycling
center. This helps keep lead, cadmium, and other substances out of the landfill. Learn more
about eCycling and find eCycling centers near you.
*USDA Announces $331 Million Investment for Clean Water Infrastructure in Rural
Communities
USDA recently announced that they will be investing in projects that will improve water and
wastewater infrastructure in rural areas in 39 states and American Samoa. Community
infrastructure investments are a key piece of USDA's mission to support America's rural
communities, and these investments build on the $13.9 billion USDA has invested over the
course of the Obama Administration to support 5,825 water and waste infrastructure
projects that currently benefit 19.5 million rural residents.
*Energy Department Announces More than 90% Achievement of 2020 SunShot Goal,
Sets Sights on 2030 Affordability Targets
The Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy today
announced a commitment for its SunShot Initiative to cut the cost of solar-generated
electricity by 50% between 2020 and 2030. This new target is a reflection of the SunShot
Initiative's leadership in helping the industry reach more than 90% of its established 2020
goal in five years.
*EJ 2020 Action Agenda
The EJ 2020 Action Agenda, EPA's strategic plan for advancing environmental justice from
the years 2016-2020, plays an integral part in fulfilling the agency's mission by focusing
attention on the environmental and public health issues and challenges confronting the
nation's minority, low-income, tribal and indigenous populations.
*Revitalizing Neighborhoods and Engaging Youth
Over the past few years, Flint has been front and center in the news because of high rates
of crime and violence, and more recently the water crisis. What we see in the news,
however, doesn't tell the story of the tremendous efforts and successes of community
residents and leaders to restore Flint's vitality and vibrancy. This report highlights some of
those initiatives and their results.
EPA Calls for Nominations for 2017 Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards
The EPA announced its call for nominations for the 2017 Presidential Green Chemistry
Challenge Awards for companies or institutions that have developed a new process or
product helping to protect public health and the environment. Nominations for innovative
technologies featuring greener chemicals and products, are due to the agency by
December 31, 2016.
EPA Presidential Environmental Education Awards for Teachers and Students
Applications are due on March 1, 2017
The award recognizes outstanding K-12 teachers who employ innovative approaches to
environmental education and use the environment as a context for learning. Award winners
receive up to $2,500 to continue their professional development in environmental education.
Additionally, the teacher's local education agency will receive up to $2,500 to fund
environmental educational activities and programs. Kids can receive the Presidential

Environmental Youth Award (PEYA), promotes awareness of our nation's natural resources
and encourages positive community involvement.
Available for Comment: Draft Technical Support Materials for the Final Freshwater
Aquatic Life Selenium Criterion Public comment period closes on December 12.
EPA has posted for public comment four draft technical documents supporting state and
tribal adoption and implementation of EPA's 2016 Clean Water Act section 304(a) selenium
criterion.
EPA Seeks Input on the Gap of Water Quality Standards Coverage in Indian
Reservation Waters Comments Due by December 28
On September 19, 2016, Administrator McCarthy signed an advance notice of proposed
rulemaking (ANPRM) requesting public comment on the establishment of federal baseline
water quality standards (WQS) under the Clean Water Act (CWA) for Indian reservation
waters that currently do not have EPA-approved WQS to protect water quality.

Regional
*EPA Launches New Guide for Long-term Stormwater Planning, names Burlington, IA
as a Pilot Community
EPA recently announced a draft guide, toolkit, and technical assistance to promote
comprehensive, community-wide planning approaches to manage stormwater. EPA
considers this guide a draft that will be supplemented with an integrated online tool to assist
communities in implementing the planning process, piloted through community-based
technical assistance efforts, and updated over time with feedback from users. EPA will
provide coordinated technical assistance in five communities, Burlington, IA included, to
develop long-term stormwater plans to serve as national models.
*USDA Announces Four University Teams Win the First National I-FAST Prize
Competition
The USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) and the National Science
Foundation (NSF) recently announced the winners of the first Innovations in Food and
Agricultural Science and Technology (I-FAST) $200,000 prize competition, including Lincoln
University, in Jefferson City, Missouri.

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Funding & Technical Assistance Opportunities

GRO1000 Gardens & Green Spaces Grant Awards Program November 15
1000 Friends of Iowa Best Development Awards call for nominations November 15
2017 Collaboration Prize, Lodestar Foundation November 16

Agriculture and Natural Resources Science for Climate Variability and Change
Challenge Area November 17
Center for Community Progress Technical Assistance Scholarship Program Request
for Applications November 17
Every Body Walk! Micro Grant Program November 18
EPA FY 2017 Exchange Network Grant Solicitation Notice November 18
Community Food Projects (CFP) Competitive Grants Program November 30
*Building Tribal Capacity for Climate Change Resilience and Public Health Programs
November 30
Call for Proposals: Gathering Input from Tribal Communities to Shape the Next
National Climate Assessment December 2
FY 2017 USDA Farm to School Grant December 8
*Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence (RBA) December 8
Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program December 8
AIA Sustainable Design Assessment Team December 9
Food Insecurity Nutrition Incentive Program Grants December 12
Kansas Organization of Recyclers Video Contest December 15
*Fostering Advancements in Shipping and Transportation for the Long-term
Achievement of National Efficiencies (FASTLANE) Grants December 15
FY17 Guidelines for Brownfields Cleanup Grants December 20
FY17 Guidelines for Brownfields Assessment Grants December 22
Freshwater Harmful Algal Blooms Request for Applications January 4
*FY 2018 Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) January 5
Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative January 19
Environmental Education Grants, Captain Planet Foundation January 31
NOAA Educational Partnership Program Undergraduate Scholarship January 31
NOAA Ernest F. Hollings Undergraduate Scholarship January 31

Endowment for Forestry and Communities Healthy Watersheds Consortium Grant

(HWCG) Program February 1
*Anticipating the Environmental Impacts and Behavioral Drivers of Deep
Decarbonization February 10

Ongoing Opportunities
USDA Food Insecurity Nutrition Incentive Program Grants
River Network National Rain Barrel Program Through June 2017
POWER (Partnerships for Opportunity and Workforce and Economic Revitalization)
Grants Applications accepted on a rolling basis
Tribal Climate Change Funding Guide Regularly updated grants and programs
EDA Public Works and Economic Adjustment Assistance Program
USDA Agricultural Conservation Easement Program Local USDA Service Center
Apply for a Fruit Tree Planting Foundation Orchard in Your Community
American Planning Association Community Planning Assistance Teams
Climate Solutions University Adaptation Plan Assistance
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Meetings, Conferences, & Events

Governors Conference on the Future of Water in Kansas November 14-15,
Manhattan, KS
PastForward 2016 November 15-18, Houston, TX
Water as a Resource: Financing Opportunities and Challenges for Municipal
Stormwater Management November 15-16, Durham, NH
*Region 7 Pollution Prevention Roundtable November 16-17, Lenexa, KS
Free Water Nitrate Testing Event November 17, Iowa City, IA
Green Lands Blue Waters Conference November 29-30, Columbia, MO
National Brownfields Training Conference December 5-7, Pittsburg, PA
Nebraska Conservation Summit December 7, Omaha, NE
Managing Floodplain Development Through the National Flood Insurance Program

December 12-15, Lincoln, NE

*Sustainable Foods Summit January 18-20, San Francisco, CA
AGU Chapman Conference on Extreme Climate Event Impacts on Aquatic
Biogeochemical Cycles and Fluxes January 22-27, 2017, San Juan, Puerto Rico
New Partners for Smart Growth Conference February 2-4, 2017, St. Louis, MO
2017 Midwest Fish and Wildlife Conference February 5-8, 2017, Lincoln, NE
Climate Leadership Conference March 1-3, 2017, Chicago, IL
National Environmental Justice Conference and Training Program March 8-10, 2017,
Washington, D.C.
11th Annual Iowa Water Conference March 22-23, 2017, Ames, IA
Children's Environmental Health Network Translational Research Conference: New
Challenges April 5-7, 2017, Arlington, VA
ASFPM National Conference April 30-May 5, 2017, Kansas City, MO
2017 National Brownfields Training Conference December 5-7, 2017, Pittsburg, PA
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Webinars and Conference Calls

*ENERGY STAR Webinar - Portfolio Manager 101 November 15, 12:00 p.m. CST
Learn about EPAs ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager tool. Attendees will learn how to navigate
Portfolio Manager; add a property and enter details about it; enter energy and water
consumption data; and generate template performance reports to assess progress.
*Building the Case for Green Infrastructure: Outreach and Education November 15, 121:30 p.m. CST
Designing, implementing, and maintaining green infrastructure at the local level requires support
and participation from the community. In this webcast, speakers from the Onondaga County
Department of Water Environment Protection and the City of Columbia, MO will highlight
lessons learned and strategies from two dynamic outreach and education programs.
U.S. EPA Brownfields Promoting Aquaponics in Redevelopment Projects
November 15, 12-1:30 p.m. CST
Learn about a new planning tool, developed by U.S. EPA, which can help communities create
these healthy food production systems. While originally created to encourage aquaponics
development on brownfields, the new guide is now available for use in any community.
2015 National Postconsumer Plastics Bottle Recycling Rate Report Overview November
15, 12-1:00 p.m. CST
This webinar will serve as an Executive Summary, featuring data and analyses from the 2015
National Postconsumer Plastics Bottle Recycling Rate Report.

*EPAs Travel Efficiency Assessment Method: Evaluating the Potential to Reduce

Emissions in Three Case Study Areas November 16, 1:00 p.m. CST
This webinar will showcase the Travel Efficiency Assessment Methodology (TEAM) and its most
recent set of case studies examining the potential for travel efficiency strategies (such as transit,
road and parking pricing, land use changes, and bike and pedestrian infrastructure) to reduce
emissions of criteria pollutants and greenhouse gases.
*ENERGY STAR Webinar - Portfolio Manager: Ask the Expert November 16, 23, & 30,
11:00 a.m. CST
This live webinar gives all users an opportunity to ask their questions directly to EPA experts in
an open forum. Want to talk to a real person? Have a question about how Portfolio Manager
calculates your score? Want to learn more about entering Green Power?
*ENERGY STAR Webinar - Portfolio Manager 201 November 16, 12:00 p.m. CST
Continue to learn about EPAs ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager tool with a deeper dive into
more advanced functionalities such as editing property data; correcting and updating property
use details; using the data quality checker; and sharing property data.
*ENERGY STAR Webinar - Portfolio Manager 301 November 17, 12:00 p.m. CST
With a good background on the basic functionality of EPAs ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager
tool, learn about some advanced features, including using spreadsheet upload templates to
update property data; setting goals and targets to plan energy improvements for properties;
creating custom reports; and using the Sustainable Buildings Checklist.
*Current Practices in Efficiency Financing: An Overview for State and Local
Governments November 17, 1:00 p.m. CST
Efficiency financing programsthose offerings loans and loan-like productsare growing in
number and size. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratorys new report is a guide to all
customer-facing financing products, a look at experiences to date, and a summary of market
barriers and products that address them by customer sector.
*Strengthening Rural Development Through Cooperation November 17, 2- 3:00 p.m. CST
Pooling resources and cooperating across town boundaries is a great way for rural communities
to gain efficiencies and improve quality of life. Join the Orton Family Foundation and the
Citizens' Institute on Rural Design for this free 60-minute webinar to hear how small towns are
working together to support each other.
*Clean Energy States Alliance Webinar - Californias 50 Percent Renewable Portfolio
Standard November 21, 12:00 p.m. CST
In October 2015, California Governor Jerry Brown signed legislation extending the states
Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) and increasing its final requirement to 50 percent in 2030.
Since then, the California Public Utilities Commission and the California Energy Commission
have been planning for implementing this highly ambitious policy. In this webinar,
representatives of these two agencies will discuss how they are preparing for the enhanced
RPS and the state of their plans.
*Disaster Recovery Financing November 22, 12:00-1:30 p.m. CST
Learn how states and communities use State Revolving Funds, FEMA grants, and other
financing opportunities to recover from a disaster.

*DOE Office of Indian Energy Policy Webinar - Tribal Renewable Energy Economic
Success Studies November 30, 12:00 p.m. CST
Learn about successful projects that contributed to over 320 buildings being audited or
retrofitted, moved more than 580 MW of renewable energy projects toward development,
assessed the potential for more than 4,000 MW of renewable energy generation, and trained
more than 170 tribal members on energy topics.
*Hazardous Waste Generator Improvements Final Rule November 30 & December 5, 12:30 p.m. CST
This webinar will delve into the recent changes to Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
(RCRA) and describe in detail: which components of the hazardous waste generator regulatory
program were revised; which gaps in the regulations were addressed in this rule; the greater
flexibility provided by this rule for hazardous waste generators to manage their hazardous waste
in a cost-effective and protective manner; how the hazardous waste generator regulations were
reorganized to make them more user-friendly and thus improve their usability by the regulated
community; and what technical corrections and conforming changes were made to address
inadvertent errors, remove obsolete references to programs that no longer exist, and improve
the readability of the regulations.
*Resilience Mitigation Financing December 7, 12-1:30 p.m. CST
Learn about financing resources for resilience planning and hazard mitigation projects.
Improving Wastewater Infrastructure in Vulnerable Communities December 8, 12-1:30
p.m. CST
This webinar will highlight challenges and solutions to providing wastewater infrastructure in
some of the most vulnerable communities in America.
*FY2017 EJ Small Grants Request for Proposals Pre-application Assistance Calls
Planning on applying to the FY2017 EJ Small Grants RFP? Have questions? Call-in to the preapplication assistance calls for the EJ Small Grants RFP. Dial conference call number: 1-866299-3188. Then input conference code: 202-564-0152# to join the call. All potential applicants
nationwide are welcome to call in. See a schedule of the remaining pre-application calls below:
Tuesday, November 15, 2016: 3:00 p.m. -4:30 p.m.
Thursday, December 8, 2016 (en Espaol): 12:30 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Thursday, January 12, 2017: 3:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Tuesday, January 24, 2017: 6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.

On-Going and On-Demand Webinars

Communicating Climate Change Scenarios With Decision Makers
Research hydrologist Dr. Holly Hartmann discusses approaches for communicating with
decision-makers on climate change, water management and planning.
Leveraging Resources for Brownfields Revitalization Webinar
This previously recorded webinar discusses available tools to assist communities in leveraging
resources to address community revitalization goals and challenges. It includes a presentation
on Dubuque, Iowa's efforts to leverage its own resources to attract other federal, state, public
and private sources of funding and technical assistance.
EPA Computer Training Helps Water and Wastewater Utilities Build Resilience

The training covers several topics including: identifying and funding potential hazard mitigation
projects, developing and updating an Emergency Response Plan (ERP), coordinating mutual
aid and assistance during emergencies, conducting damage assessments, and many more.
EPA Sensible Steps to Healthier School Environments 10-Part Webinar Series
Student Curriculum: Recipes for Healthy Kids, and a Healthy Environment
Each 45-minute lesson empowers kids to take steps in their everyday lives to improve the
environment for their communities and reduce their environmental risk.
LeanPath presents: Five Food Waste Myths to Debunk Now!
This webinar will explore five myths about food waste and the facts you need to debunk them
in your kitchen.

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