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EPA announces $8 million in grants for controlling pollution in Chesapeake Bay

Release Date: 10/5/2005
Contact Information: Roy Seneca (215) 814-5567

Contact: Roy Seneca (215) 814-5567
PHILADELPHIA – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation are seeking grant proposals for the new Chesapeake Bay Targeted Watershed Grants Program.

Congress appropriated nearly $8 million earlier this year to set up a pilot program in the bay watershed to demonstrate innovative, sustainable and cost-effective strategies for reducing the discharge and runoff of nutrients into the Chesapeake Bay and the bay watershed.

“Protecting and cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay is a perpetual project of partnerships and teamwork, and these grants will help support ideas on how we can continue to work toward ensuring that this valuable resource will be protected for future generations,” said Donald S. Welsh, regional administrator for EPA’s mid-Atlantic region.

Under the grants program, eight to 12 grants of up to $1 million each will be awarded on a competitive basis to eligible organizations including non-profit groups, universities and state governments that develop proposals on how they will help reduce nutrients in the bay watershed.

Earlier this month, EPA awarded a cooperative agreement to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to administer the grants. For more information about the program and to download an application form, visit the foundation website at www.nfwf.org/targetedwatershed .

Potential applicants and interested parties are encouraged to attend a free workshop on the watershed grants program from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 18 at the Hall of the States, 444 North Capitol St. NW, Washington, D.C. For directions, please visit www.sso.org/general.htm#direct . Persons interested in attending the workshop, should send an email to chesapeake@nfwf.org and plan to arrive 15 minutes early with photo identification. For more information contact Tom Kelsch at (202) 857-0166.