Session 6: Funding and Sustaining Your Illegal Dumping Prevention

Program

Addressing and Managing Illegal Dumps in Indian Addressing and Managing Illegal Dumps in Indian CountryCountry

Todd Barnell, ITEP

Funding and Sustainability FactorsoCost and budget considerationsoTypes of funding availableoStrategies and partnerships for

sustainabilityoTribal government and community

assistance and support

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Cost and Budget ConsiderationsBrainstorming: What costs do you think are

associated with illegal dumping prevention and management?

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Cost and Budget ConsiderationsStaff salaries, benefits, insurance, and trainingEquipment (rent or buy?) for office and/or fieldSigns, fencing, monitoring and re-vegetationOutreach materials (paper, ink, design time,

etc.)Assessment costs (mileage, time, GPS, GIS)Clean-up costs (time, equipment, storage,

disposal)Closure costs (usually on-going)

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Types of Funding AvailableGrants and loansTribal fundsVolunteer and/or service labor

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Grants and LoansUS EPA: Tribal Solid Waste Management

Assistance Project Characterize/Assess Open Dumps Develop ISWMP and/or Codes Develop Alternative Waste Management Systems Cleanup and Closure of Open Dumps

Some Things EPA is Going to Look For if You Need Money for Dumps: Do you have an ISWMP in place? Do you have properly trained staff to do the work? How are you going to properly dispose of the waste? What is the background of the dump? Proposed budgets, financial constraints, etc.

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Grants and LoansUS EPA

General Assistance Program (GAP) GrantCommunity Action for a Renewed Environment

(CARE)Brownfields (OSWER) – cleanup grants and loansEnvironmental Justice (usually small and

targeted)CWA Section 319 (Nonpoint Source Pollution)

AIEO: www.epa.gov/tribalportal/grantsandfunding/topic-waste.htm

Region 9: www.epa.gov/region09/waste/tribal/funding.html

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Grants and LoansUSDA

Solid Waste Management Grants (communities under 10,000 individuals)

Water and Waste Loans and Grants (usually require matching funds for grants)

Community Facilities GrantIHS (some of their money goes through the

Tribal Solid Waste Interagency Working Group)

BIA (good luck)Housing and Urban Development (HUD)United States Geological Survey (USGS)

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Grants and LoansStates

A growing number of State governments have funding to tackle illegal dumping – it is worth checking with your State’s environmental department

Private FoundationsMcKnight Foundation (www.mcknight.org)

BusinessesMany companies, in order to “green up”, are

providing small grants to help communities deal with waste

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Tribal FundsRevenues from tribal enterprises

Casino profitsHUD set-asidesWaste collection feesBusinesses licensesPermit fees (fishing, recreation, hunting, etc.)

Other tribesSome tribes with larger casino and business

operations provide grants and loans to other tribes

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PartnershipsLocal groups seeking community service opportunities

Utilize existing service organizations, clubs, churches, and organizations

Consider helping to set up special “Friends of” kinds of groups that can focus on beautification projects

“Sentence-to-Serve”Many law enforcement and corrections entities are

interested in programs allowing people to work off their time or sentences

School groupsAll ages, from k-12 through local collegesDoesn’t have to be just clean up – can help grow plants

for re-vegetations Businesses, Culture Centers, and Tribal government

Look for opportunities to involve local businesses, Cultural Centers, and other tribal agencies in clean up and prevention activities

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USEPA ContactsContacts for USEPA Tribal Solid Waste Staff

EPA Region 10: Fran Stefan, 206 553-6639  stefan.fran@epa.govEPA Region 9: Heather White, 415 972-3383

white.heather@epa.govEPA Region 8: Susanna Trujillo 303 312-7008

trujillo.susanna@epa.govEPA Region 7: Gayle Hubert, 913 551-7439 hubert.gayle@epa.govEPA Region 6: Willie Kelley, 214-665-6761 kelley.willie@epa.govRegion 5: Dolly Tong, 312 886-1019 tong.dolly@epa.govRegion 4: Davy Simonson, 404 562-8457 simonson.davy@epa.govRegion 2: Lorraine Graves, 212 637-4116 chaput.rachel@epa.govRegion 1: Juiyu Hsieh, 617-918-1646 hsieh.juiyu@epa.gov)

You Have the Dough…Now What?

Having the money in hand is only part of the solution to building a sustainable illegal dump management program

What else do you need to keep the program going?

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Potential Challenges Who does what? Be clear and be consistent

Assigning tasks can be highly problematic sometimes. Which department tackles which part of illegal dump management?

Are they trained? Do they have the right equipment? Do they know how to use it? Will their replacements?

What are your deadlines? Meet your obligationsDo you have grant imposed deadlines? Do your

tribal leaders have specific dates in mind for cleanup? Are you prepared for emergencies?

What are priorities? Focus on the vital firstYou are probably going to have to make some hard

decisions….14

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Prioritizing Critical priorities: Which dumps are an

immediate threat to the health and well-being of your land and community?

Non-critical: Which dumps are unsightly, a nuisance, or could be a threat to health in the future?

Desired: What does your ideal illegal dumping program look like? If you had a magic wand, what would you do?

Key is to prioritize. You might not be able to tackle all of them at the onset.

A Few Strategies for Success Be informative: Keep illegal dumping issues,

progress of clean ups, and your continuing needs on the radar screen of local decision-makers and the whole community

Be consistent: Every situation is different, but compliance assistance and/or enforcement measures should be consistent throughout the community

Be persistent: Don’t allow yourself to become discouraged by setbacks – continue your clean up and outreach and prevention activities

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Organization Is VitalBe organized

Establish what your goals are – obvious but often forgotten

Use of timelines to track your progressDelegation of tasks – in writingUse of working groups to help ensure

communication and spread the workloadWriting of reports – for tribal leaders and

for future staff (they are not just for project officers anymore)

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Measuring SuccessCreate a timeline of when priorities will be

achieved Note successesTrack challenges and missteps

Develop measurable outcomes that can be used to verify success, as well as help future decision makers

How are your goals related to your codes and compliance/enforcement activities?

Community SupportMore on this tomorrow – but it is a necessary

ingredient to your overall strategy for developing a sustainable program

Work to instill and maintain a sense of community pride and environmental stewardship

One of my favorite quotes: “It is easier to instill a value than it is to change an existing one.”

A favorite tribal example: Local school kids grew plants - planted them in a cleaned up dump site. The students picked a favorite spot where they sat and drew pictures, wrote a story, or composed a poem. Those kids took ownership of those sites. 19