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Waste 2 Resources Program

Remedial Action Grants and Loans

Remedial action grants and loans are provided to local governments in Washington State to facilitate the cleanup of publicly owned lands that have been contaminated with hazardous substances.

How to apply for Remedial Action Grants or Loans

If you are a local government and want to apply for a Remedial Action Grant or loan, please:

Additional information on the specific categories of Remedial Action Grants and Loans can be found through the links below.

Remedial Action Grant and Loan Categories

Oversight Remedial Action Grants

These grants help local governments study and clean up hazardous waste sites being cleanup under an Agreed Order, Consent Decree, or Federal Cleanup Agreement.

Independent Remedial Action Grants

These grants help offset some of the expense involved when a local government cleans up a site independently under Ecology's Voluntary Cleanup Program.

Safe Drinking Water Action Grants

These grants help local governments or a local government applying on behalf of a purveyor to provide safe drinking water to areas where a hazardous substance has contaminated drinking water.

Area-Wide Ground Water Remediation Grants

Area-wide ground water remediation grants enable local governments to assist with the cleanup and redevelopment of property within their jurisdictions where ground water has been contaminated by hazardous substances from multiple sources. The goal of these grants is to develop area-wide solutions, including investigation work plans, model remedies, or area-wide determinations on whether ground water is drinkable.

Integrated Planning Grants

These grants are for local governments, to integrate future land use plans with cleanup actions. They are available to local governments who meet the disadvantaged communities' criteria. Activities include developing integrated project plans, project scoping, budget and financial planning, conceptual design, initial stakeholder agreements, boundary survey, title reports, cultural review, habitat assessment and surveys, and Phase I and II Environmental Assessments. These grants cannot fund any legal costs.

Site Hazard Assessment Grants

Site Hazard Assessment grants supplement Ecology's effort to rank hazardous waste sites; encourage local government initiative in cleaning up hazardous waste sites; and expedite cleanup actions.

Methamphetamine Lab Site Assessment and Cleanup Grants

These grants provide funding to local health districts/departments that assess and cleanup sites of methamphetamine production.

Derelict Vessel Grants

These grants assist local governments with the costs of hazardous substance removal and disposal aboard vessels when the substances cause a threat or potential threat to human health or the environment.

Loans

Ecology will consider offering loans to local governments to encourage and expedite site study and remediation. Loans will be considered on a case-by-case basis depending on the financial need of the local government and its ability to pay over a period of time.

Financial and Grant Management Issues

Discussion of common issues that arise during the implementation of Remedial Action Grants and Loans.

Remedial Action Grant and Loan Program Forms

The following forms are available for download in Microsoft Word and Adobe PDF

Payment Request Forms

Reporting Forms

Administrative Requirements for Ecology Grants and Loans (Publication # 91-18), "Yellow Book"

Administrative Requirements for Ecology Grants and Loans (Publication # 91-18), more commonly known as the Yellow Book, contains the agency’s basic policies regarding grant and loan programs.

Related Law and Rule

History of the Remedial Action Grant and Loan Program

In 1988, Washington voters passed Initiative 97, known as the Model Toxics Control Act (MTCA), Chapter 70.105D RCW. MTCA recognizes that the state contains hundreds of hazardous waste sites which threaten the state's water resources, including those used for public drinking water; that many of our municipal landfills are current or potential hazardous waste sites and present serious threats to human health and the environment; and that the costs of eliminating these threats in many cases are beyond the financial means of local governments and ratepayers. So the statute established the grant program to assist with the costs of cleanup.

Funds for grants come from a tax on certain hazardous substances. The MTCA directed that 53 percent of the revenue from the tax be deposited in the Local Toxics Control Account. The MTCA also directed Ecology to “adopt the rules for grant issuance and performance.” Ecology adopted Chapter 173-322 WAC, Remedial Action Grants, in May 1990. Ecology has since amended the rule in March 2007, to create a new Extraordinary Financial Hardship loan program.

Brownfields

Brownfield sites are abandoned or underused properties where there may be environmental contamination. Redevelopment efforts are often hindered by the liability for the cleanup or the uncertainty of cleanup costs. Brownfield sites that aren’t cleaned up represent lost opportunities for economic development and for other community improvements. Many local governments have used remedial action grant funds to clean up contaminated properties that are key to revitalization efforts.

Contacts

If you have questions regarding a specific grant/loan or project ideas funding under the Remedial Action Grant/Loan Program, contact the appropriate grant manager for that county.

Grant Manager Counties Covered

Diane Singer

(360) 407-6062 dire461@ecy.wa.gov

Adams, Asotin, Clallam, Clark, Columbia, Cowlitz, Ferry, Franklin, Garfield, Grant, Grays Harbor, Jefferson, Lewis, Lincoln, Mason, Pacific, Pend Oreille, Pierce, Skamania, Spokane, Stevens, Thurston, Walla Walla, Wahkiakum, Whitman

In addition to the counties listed above, Diane Singer is the Grant Manager for the Port of Bellingham cleanup projects.
Lydia Lindwall

(360) 407-6067 llin461@ecy.wa.gov

Benton, Chelan, Douglas, Island, King, Kitsap, Kittitas, Klickitat, Okanogan, San Juan, Skagit, Snohomish, Whatcom, Yakima