The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is pleased to announce the Montana/Dakota Environmental Quality and Protection Program.
Donor Name: Bureau of Land Management (BLM)
States: Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 05/01/2023
Size of the Grant: $2,250,000
Grant Duration: 5 years
Details:
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Montana and its partners mitigate hazards to protect public health and safety and the environment, and restore watersheds for resources, recreation, fish, wildlife and domestic animals, and manage air quality for the protection of public health and sensitive ecosystems, and return lands to productive uses including, but not limited to, recreation, fish and wildlife habitat, and preservation of historical/cultural resources. Extractive industry activities of the past, including both underground and surface mining and oil and gas drilling, have left degraded watersheds and airsheds on public lands throughout Montana. Unrestored sites may pose a threat to wildlife, biota, groundwater, surface water, soil as well as well as to risks to the health and safety of public land users.
AML program identifies and inventories abandoned hardrock mines, prioritizes those mines that pose a risk to public safety, human health, and the environment, and seeks funding to address those high risk mine features and sites. Specifically, AML program addresses physical safety hazards through a variety of closure methods including fencing, signing, backfilling, installation of bat-friendly grates, etc., and addresses risks to human health and the environment through a variety of response actions. The AML and Natural Resource Damage and Restoration (NRD) programs also work to restore abandoned hardrock mines sites and restore the Nation’s watersheds impacted by abandoned mines through a risk-based, watershed approach that uses partnerships to effectively leverage funding and facilitate projects; and reduces environmental degradation caused by abandoned mines to ensure compliance with all applicable soil, water, and air quality standards, and applicable Federal, State, Tribal, and local laws and regulations.
The objective of the OWP is to remediate abandoned oil and gas wells to ensure the protection of public health and safety by eliminating known and potential sources of groundwater, surface water and air contamination, removing unnecessary well site infrastructure, and reclaiming land disturbance associated with oil and gas development. Site specific performance goals will be identified for each project funded and ultimate costs will be determined by approved site closure plans. Projects may involve a single OW, or a group of associated wells; while each orphan well location will require well plugging, other necessary work will be site dependent such that each site may need slope reconstruction, road/pipeline/electrical removal, estimates of avoid methane emissions from plugging, production facilities removal and/or reseeding.
Program Goals
- Reclaim abandoned hardrock mine lands to productive uses including, but not limited to, recreation, fish and wildlife habitat, and preservation of historical/cultural resources.
- Reduce inventory of unreclaimed abandoned mines and orphaned wells.
- Reduce liabilities by eliminating or reducing human health and ecological risks posed by abandoned mines and OWs.
- Reduce environmental degradation caused by abandoned mines and OWs.
- Establish partnerships, where possible, with States, local governments, Tribes, and voluntary environmental and citizen groups, non-governmental organizations to pool resources and expertise to address abandoned mines.
- Ensure that remediation and reclamation actions are effective and that lessons learned through post-project monitoring and study benefit risk- and pollution-reducing efforts. Manage air quality for the protection of public health and sensitive ecosystems.
Funding Information
- Estimated Total Funding: $11,000,000
- Maximum Award: $2,250,000
- Minimum Award: $220,000
Project Period
Agreement terms for funded projects are estimated to range between one and no more than five years and are determined based on the period of performance as stated on the recipient’s project proposal.
Eligible Applicants
- State governments
- County governments
- City or township governments
- Special district governments
- Independent school districts
- Public and State controlled institutions of higher education
- Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized)
- Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities
- Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments)
- Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education
- Nonprofits without 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education
- Private institutions of higher education
Additional Information on Eligibility
- Individuals and For-Profit Organizations are ineligible to apply for awards under this NOFO.
- This program NOFO does not support entities hiring interns or crews under the Public Lands Corps Act of 1993. The Public Lands Corps Act of 1993, 16 USC, Chapter 37, Subchapter II Public Lands Corps, is the only legislative authority that allows BLM to “hire” interns under this authority. Therefore, eligible Youth Conservation Corps may only apply for projects developed under NOFO 15.243 – BLM Youth Conservation Opportunities on Public Lands.
For more information, visit Grants.gov.
