Title
Approval of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Climate Pollution Reduction Grant (CPRG) Application for an amount not to exceed $2,489,000 for the Purpose of Developing a Community Food Composting Program And Authorization for Letter of Intent
Recommended Action
I move that Council approve submission of an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Climate Pollution Reduction Grant (CPRG) application in an amount not to exceed $2,489,000 for the purpose of developing a community food composting program and authorize the County Manager to draft and sign a letter of intent indicating the application and MOA submission.
County Manager's Recommendation
The County Manager recommends that Council approve the motion as presented.
Body
Recently, County staff learned about a potential grant opportunity from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with availability of up to $4.3 billion for the Climate Pollution Reduction Grant Implementation general competition for the purpose of implementing ambitious measures that will achieve significant cumulative GHG reduction by 2030 and beyond. EPA anticipates awarding approximately 30 to 115 grants ranging between $2 million and $500 million under this general competition.
To be eligible to apply for this grant, the GHG reduction measure must be included in New Mexico Environment Department’s Priority Climate Action Plan. In January 2024, Los Alamos County requested New Mexico Environment Department to include Organic Waste Diversion and Food Waste Prevention in the state’s priority climate action plan.
For this grant application, four prominent NM communities are forming a coalition to expand access to organics diversion and reduce greenhouse gas emissions across the northern and southern part of the state. Coalition members include Santa Fe County, Los Alamos County, Las Cruces, and Dona Ana County. The City of Las Cruces has verbally agreed to serve as the fiscal agent and South Central Solid Waste Authority has ...
Click here for full text