EPA to allocate $300K for the CNMI’s beaches

By Edith G. Alejandro
Asian Writers Institute

The Northern Mariana Islands may be able to tap into the recently approved $9.92 million grants released by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for its 2005 Water Quality Monitoring program that monitors the nation’s beaches across the United States and its territories.

In a notice released Friday, the EPA disclosed that the CNMI may be eligible to receive at least $303,000 from its Coastal and Great Lakes program that is aimed at monitoring the water quality. The allocation also hopes to help states and territories when water quality problems exist.

According to Stacie Findon of the USEPA, the federal agency would release $9.92 million in grants that would be distributed to 35 states and territories that would include the CNMI, Guam, American Samoa, U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.

If eligible, the CNMI would get $303,470 while Guam would receive $302,710. Of the territories, Puerto Rico would be able to receive $329, 570, the highest to be given to all territories.

Findon said the grant would help state and local health and environmental protection agencies in monitoring the quality of water at the nation’s beaches.

“When bacteria levels in the water are too high, there is greater risk of people becoming sick. So when monitoring indicates bacteria levels are too high, these agencies post beach warnings or close the beach. State and local monitoring and notification programs differ across the country and provide different levels of protection for swimmers,” the USEPA said in its statement.

The grant also aims to make monitoring programs more consistent nationwide, to improve water quality testing at the beach, and to help beach managers better inform the public about water quality problems, in response to the Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health Act 2000. The Act authorizes the USEPA to award grants to help eligible states, tribes, and territories develop and implement beach water quality monitoring and notification programs.

Findon said these grants also help states and territories develop and implement programs to inform the public about the risk of exposure to disease-causing microorganisms in coastal waters (including the Great Lakes).

In 2005, USEPA would award about $9.92 million in grants that would be distributed to states and territories who apply based on the allocation formula used in 2004. The formula was based on three factors—beach season length, beach miles, and beach use.

Based on this allocation formula, implementation grant awards range from $150,000 to $537,390 assuming that all 35 eligible states and territories apply. If fewer apply or qualify for the grants, then the USEPA would redistribute available funds to states according to the following principles that include states that would meet the program performance criteria, grants for continued program development, grants to local governments that have not met the requirements, and the use the grant allocation to make additional funds available for implementation grants to states that have met the performance criteria.

Also, the USEPA set aside $50,000 funds that would be awarded to eligible tribes who may apply to develop a beach program. The program and the funding should be implemented for one year.

The USEPA said the CNMI may apply for the grant through its regional grant coordinator. Also, the EPA said that interested territories may consult the July 2002 National Beach Guidance and Required Performance Criteria for Grants, which explains the requirements for states, tribes, and local governments to qualify for implementation grants.

The BEACH Act, which was passed into law in October 2000, authorizes the USEPA to give a grant to a local government to implement a monitoring and notification program only when the state is not implementing a program that meets requirements within a year after the published performance criteria for beach programs.