Criteria For Technical Assistance Requests

Criteria for Determining Eligible Requestors:

The following organizations are eligible to receive Technical Assistance through Growing Greener Technical Assistance Grants:

• incorporated watershed organizations recognized by DEP and established to promote local watershed conservation efforts in an identified watershed,

• counties, municipalities and their subdivisions,

• county conservation districts,

• organizations that are tax exempt under Section 501 (c)(3), that are registered with the PA Bureau of Charitable Organizations, and that are involved in research, restoration, rehabilitation, planning, acquisition, development, education or other activities that further the protection, enhancement, conservation, preservation of PA's environmental, conservation or related resources, and
  

• educational institutions involved in activities described under tax exempt organizations in the previous paragraph.

Criteria for Determining Eligible Project Types:

Types of Projects eligible to receive Technical Assistance under Growing Greener Technical Assistance Grants are those that address non-point sources of pollution, mining restoration or oil and gas well plugging and involve:

• the organization of a watershed group,

• data collection,

• watershed assessment,

• development of a watershed restoration plan,

• development of a watershed protection plan,

• implementation of watershed restoration,

• implementation of watershed protection,

• environmental education,

• environmental outreach, and

• demonstration.

Eligibility Determination:

For a request to be eligible, both the Requesting Organization and the Project Type must be eligible. The Project Types given above will be eligible, excluding the actual preparation of applications for funds.

Criteria for Determining Request Priority:

High, medium and low priorities will be determined using a balanced consideration of the following criteria, with the first three criteria being weighted more heavily than the others.

• urgency of the Request relative to over-all project schedule,

• extent to which the request is a component of a project previously or currently covered by a Growing Greener, 319, WAG or Source Water Protection Grant, ensuring that no duplication of technical assistance is being charged to the Commonwealth,

• extent to which the request is a continuation of a project previously or currently covered by a Growing Greener, 319, WAG or Source Water Protection Grant, ensuring that no duplication of technical assistance is being charged to the Commonwealth,

• extent to which filling the request will contribute to achieving short-term objectives as implementation steps in the Non-point Source Management Program 1999 Update,

• extent to which filling the request will build on existing data, studies or plans,

• extent to which filling the request will address specific sources and causes of degradation, is clearly focused on feasible objectives and is expected to mitigate significant environmental problems,

• extent to which filling the request will result in pollutant load reductions in watersheds where TMDLs have been developed, and

• extent to which the Requesting Organization is community-based, broadly-representative, watershed-based and expected to be a long-term viable organization.