Publication Summary

These guidelines detail the funding levels, eligibility requirements, and application process for Ecology′s Remedial Action Grants and Loans Program, which helps local governments with the costs of cleaning up hazardous waste sites.

These guidelines will help you, the reader, understand the administrative policies and procedures of the 2003-2005 Remedial Action Grant Program. You can read the grant program′s governing rule, Chapter 173-322 WAC, Remedial Action Grants, in Appendix 4, or visit our Web site at www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/swfa/grants.html.

The guidelines include several forms (Grant Application Form-ECY 070-104, Site Hazard Assessment Progress Report Form-ECY 070-105, Methamphetamine Cleanup Grant Progress Report Form,-ECY 070-106, Progress Report in Support of Request for Reimbursement-ECY 070-107) that can also be downloaded seperately from Ecology's forms website at http://www.ecy.wa.gov/biblio/forms-swfaforms.html

In 1988, Washington voters passed Initiative 97, known as the Model Toxics Control Act (MTCA), Chapter 70.105D RCW. The Model Toxics Control Act authorized a remedial action grant program and designated it as the top priority waste grant program with Ecology. Remedial action grants were also issued under the authority of the 1987 Hazardous Waste Cleanup Act, Chapter 70.105B RCW, which the 1988 law superseded.

Funds for grants come from a tax on the first possession in Washington of certain hazardous substances. The act directed that 53 percent of the revenue from the tax be deposited in the Local Toxics Control Account for these grants. The act also directed Ecology to "adopt the rules for grant issuance and performance." Chapter 173-322 WAC, Remedial Action Grants, adopted in May 1990, created the program described in these guidelines. Ecology amended the rule in 1993, to provide safe drinking water action grants. A rule amendment was adopted in 2001 to 1) provide loans; 2) add grant eligibility at area-wide ground water cleanups; 3) provide for an underground storage tank grant program; and 4) provide incentives to use treatment, recycling, and/or disposal technologies that result in a permanent cleanup of hazardous waste cleanup sites.