economic interests are directly threatened or harmed.

"Applicant" means any group of individuals that files an appplication for a technical assistance grant.

"Application" means a completed formal written request for a technical assistance grant that is submitted to the Agency on EPA Form 5700-33State and Local Nonconstruction Program, or to a State on its appropriate form.

"Award" means the technical assistance grant agreement signed by both EPA and the recipient.

"Award Official" means the official delegated the authority to sign grant agreements.

“Budget” means the financial plan for the spending of all Federal and matching funds (including in-kind contributions) for a technical assistance grant project as proposed by the applicant, and negotiated with and approved by the Award Official.

"Budget period" means the length of time specified in a grant agreement during which the recipient may spend or obligate Federal funds. The budget period may not exceed 3 years. A technical assistance grant project period may be comprised of several budget periods.

"Cash contribution" means actual non-Federal dollars, or Federal dollars if expressly authorized by statute to do so, that a recipient spends for goods and services and real or personal property used to satisfy the matching funds requirement.

"Contractor" means any party (i.e., technical advisor) to whom a recipient awards a subagreement.

"EPA" means the Environmental Protection Agency. Where a State administers the Technical Assistance Grant Program, the term "EPA" may mean a State agency.

"Federal facility" means a facility that is owned or operated by a department, agency, or instrumentality of the United States.

"Grant agreement" means the legal document that transfers money, or anything of value, to a recipient to accomplish the purpose of the technical assistance grant project. It specifies budget and project periods, the Federal share of eligible project costs, a de

scription of the work to be accomplished, and any special conditions.

"In-kind contribution" means the value of a non-cash contribution used to meet a recipient's matching funds requirement in accordance with 40 CFR 30.307(b). An in-kind contribution may consist of charges for equipment or the value of goods and services necessary to and directly benefiting the EPA-funded project.

"Matching funds" means the portion of allowable project costs that a recipient contributes toward completing the technical assistance grant project using non-Federal funds or Federal funds if expressly authorized by statute. The match may include in-kind as well as cash contributions.

"Operable unit" means a response action taken as one part of an overall site response. A number of operable units may occur in the course of a site response.

"Potentially Responsible Party" (PRP) means any individual(s) or company(ies) (such as owners, operators, transporters, or generators) potentially responsible under sections 106 or 107 of CERCLA for the contamination problems at a Superfund site.

"Recipient" means any group of individuals that has been awarded a technical assistance grant.

"Recipient's project manager" means the person legally authorized to obligate the organization to the terms and conditions of EPA's regulations and the grant agreement, and designated by the recipient to serve as its principal contact with EPA.

"Response Action" means all activities undertaken to address the problems created by hazardous substances at a National Priorities List site.

"Start of Response Action" means the point in time when there is a guarantee or set-aside of funding either by EPA, other Federal agencies, States, or PRPs in order to begin response activities at a site. The document which reflects the set-aside of, or formally guarantees, funding during the coming fiscal year, is EPA's annual Superfund Comprehensive Accomplishments Plan (SCAF).

"Subagreement" means a written agreement between the technical as

(c) States wishing to administer the Technical Assistance Grant Program must inform the appropriate EPA Regional administrator. If a State elects to administer the program, it must do so in conformity with this regulation. Where States administer the program, EPA will have an oversight role.

(d) A State that chooses to administer the Technical Assistance Grant Program will receive technical assistance funds plus administrative costs from the Agency under a cooperative agreement. A State will receive $10,000 for administrative costs for the first technical assistance grant. For each subsequent technical assistance grant, the State will receive an amount equal to 8 percent of the technical assistance grant. Using the criteria established under this regulation, the State may select a qualified recipient and provide assistance in either of two ways:

(1) A State will pass through technical assistance funds to a recipient group by way of a subgrant, and reimburse the recipient group for its expenditures as provided at § 30.4080 of this regulation. A State that elects this option is also responsible for monitoring the subgrant to ensure that recipients comply with its terms and with 40 CFR Parts 30 and 33; or

(2) If a recipient group agrees, a State will use technical assistance grant funds to obtain the services of a technical advisor and provide those services to a grant recipient in lieu of cash. The recipient group may work closely with the State in advertising, reviewing bids and recommending a technical advisor, and managing the technical advisor. The State will make the final selection of the technical advisor. A State that elects this option becomes directly responsible for awarding the technical assistance contracts, submitting financial and progress reports, and for disbursing all technical assistance grant funds in compliance with applicable EPA regulations and requirements.

§ 35.4020 Responsibility requirements.

(a) An applicant must meet the minimum administrative and management capability requirements set forth at 40 CFR 30.301. Thus, each applicant must demonstrate that it has established reliable procedures or has plans for establishing reliable procedures for recordkeeping and financial accountability related to the management of the technical assistance grant. These procedures must be in effect before the recipient incurs any costs. If EPA concludes that the applicant is not capable of meeting the responsibility requirements, the application will be rejected.

(b) Each recipient of a technical assistance grant must be incorporated as a non-profit organization for the purpose of addressing the Superfund site for which the grant is provided in order to receive a grant. At the time of award, a recipient must either be incorporated or must demonstrate to EPA that the group has filed the necessary documents for incorporation with the appropriate State agency. No later than the time of the first request for reimbursement for costs incurred, a recipient must submit proof that the group has been incorporated by the State.

§ 35.4025 Eligible applicants.

Eligible applicants, except as provided in § 35.4030, are any group of individuals that may be affected by a re

lease or a threatened release at any facility that (a) is listed on the National Priorities List (NPL) under the National Contingency Plan (NCP) is proposed for listing and a response action has begun.

§ 35.4030 Ineligible applicants.

(a) Groups and organizations which are ineligible to receive or to be represented in groups receiving technical assistance grants are:

(1) Potentially responsible parties (PRPs);

(2) Corporations that are not incorporated for the specific purpose of representing affected individuals at the site;

(3) Academic institutions;

(4) Political subdivisions (e.g., townships and municipalities); and

(5) Groups established and/or sustained by governmental entities (including emergency planning committees and some citizen advisory groups).

(b) This section shall not preclude any individual affected by a Superfund site from participating in a recipient group in his or her capacity as an individual.

§ 35.4035 Evaluation criteria.

EPA will award a technical assistance grant only after it has determined that all eligibility and responsibility requirements listed in §§ 35.4020, 35.4025, and 35.4030 are met, and after review of the applicant's qualifications in the narrative section of the grant application. Each applicant will be required to provide information on low it meets the eligibility criteria in the grant application. If the Agency is administering the technical assistance grant program, the “Applicant Qualifications" section is Part IV of EPA Form 5700.33, "State and Local Nonconstruction Programs." The following factors will be evaluated and weighted as indicated:

(a) The presence of an actual or potential health threat posed to group members by the site. This criterion can be met by establishing a demonstrable threat to members' health or a reasonable belief that the site poses a substantial threat to their health. (30 points);

(b) The applicant best represents groups and individuals affected by the site (20 points);

(c) The identification of how the group plans to use the services of a technical advisor throughout the Superfund response action (20 points);

(d) The demonstrated intention and ability of the applicant to inform others in the community of the information provided by the technical advisor (20 points); and

(e) The presence of an actual or potential economic threat or threat of an impaired use or enjoyment of the environment to group members that is caused by the site. This criterion can be met by establishing a demonstrable economic or environmental threat to group members or a reasonable belief that the site poses a substantial economic or environmental threat. (10 points).

§ 35.4040 Notification process.

(a) Groups wishing to apply for a technical assistance grant shall first submit a letter of intent to EPA. EPA will respond in writing to a letter of intent.

(b) Upon receipt of the first letter of intent, EPA will undertake certain activities depending on the schedule for work at the site:

(1) If commencement of the remedial investigation or a removal action is not underway or scheduled to begin, EPA will advise the group in writing that grant applications for the site are not yet being accepted. EPA may informally notify other interested groups that it has received a letter of intent; or

(2) If a response action is already underway or scheduled to begin, EPA will conduct one or more of the following activities-mailings, meetings, and public notices to provide formal notice to other interested parties that a grant for the site soon may be awarded. These formal notification activities will generally be conducted far enough in advance of the start of the response action to allow time for groups to consolidate, apply for and receive a grant award, and procure a technical advisor before work commences at the site.

(c) Other potential applicants will have 30 days to contact the original applicant to form a coalition. If the community groups are unable to form a coalition, they must notify EPA within the 30 days. EPA will then accept separate applications from all interested groups for an additional 30day period. EPA may consider written requests for extensions of this time. If there is a qualified applicant, a grant will be awarded from among the competing applications based on the evaluation criteria described in § 35.4035 of this regulation. The schedule for response activities at a site will not be affected by the technical assistance grant application process.

(d) A formal grant application from a group which has not first submitted a letter of intent to EPA will be considered a letter of intent for the purposes of this subsection.

§ 35.4045 Submission of application.

(a) After an applicant submits a letter of intent, it must submit to the Agency its request for a technical assistance grant on EPA Form 5700-33, "State and Local Nonconstruction Programs." Each applicant must submit the original and two copies of the application to the Agency. At least one application must have the original signature (i.e., not a photocopy of the signature) of the Recipient's Project Manager. If the State is administering the program, an applicant must submit a request for a technical assistance grant to a State on the appropriate State form;

(b) An applicant must submit a proposed budget clearly showing the proposed expenditure of funds, how it will provide the cash and/or in-kind contributions to meet the "match" requirement, and how the funds and other resources, including the "match," will be used to complete the technical assistance grant project;

(c) An applicant must submit to the Agency or the State on the appropriate form a short narrative justification to show compliance with the evaluation criteria in § 35.4035. Instructions for filing an application with the Agency are contained in the application kit and explained in EPA's "Citizens' Guidance Manual for the Tech

nical Assistance Grant Program." Application kits are available from EPA Regional Offices upon request.

Instructions for filing an application with a State will be provided by the State.

§ 35.4050 Timing of award.

An award of a technical assistance grant will be made no earlier than the start of the response action. Grants to qualified applicants could be delayed depending upon the availability of funds for the Superfund program.

§ 35.4055 Ineligible activities.

(a) The following activities are ineligible for assistance under this program:

(1) Litigation or underwriting legal actions such as paying for attorney fees or paying for the time of the technical advisor to assist an attorney in preparing a legal action or preparing for and serving as an expert witness at any legal proceeding;

(2) Political activity and lobbying in accordance with 40 CFR 30.601 which incorporates OMB Circular A-122;

(3) Other activities inconsistent with the cost principles stated in OMB Circular A-122, "Cost Principles for NonProfit Organizations";

(4) Tuition or other expenses for recipient group members or technical advisors to attend training, seminars or courses;

(5) Any activities or expenditures for recipient group members' travel;

(6) Generation of new primary data such as well drilling and testing, including split sampling; and

sponse action has begun. Technical assistance grants shall be used to fund activities that will contribute to the public's ability to participate in the decisionmaking process by improving the public's understanding of overall conditions and activities.

§ 35.4065 Technical advisor's qualifications.

(a) A technical advisor must possess the following credentials:

(1) Demonstrated knowledge of hazardous or toxic waste issues;

(2) Academic training in a relevant discipline (e.g., biochemistry, toxicology, environmental sciences, engineering); and

(3) Ability to translate technical information into terms understandable to lay persons.

(b) A technical advisor should possess the following credentials:

(1) Experience working on hazardous or toxic waste problems;

(2) Experience in making technical presentations;

(3) Demonstrated writing skills; and (4) Previous experience working with citizens' or community groups or other groups of individuals.

(a) Grant funds may not be used to pay costs incurred prior to award of the technical assistance grant, except as provided in paragraph (b) of this section.

(b) Necessary and reasonable costs of incorporation, if incurred for the sole purpose of complying with this regulation, will be eligible pre-award costs and may be charged to the technical assistance grant or count toward the matching funds requirement described in § 35.4085(a)(2).

§ 35.4080 Method of payment.

All grant recipients shall be reimbursed for grant-related eligible, allocable, allowable, necessary, and reasonable costs up to the amount of the

technical assistance grant which have been incurred and which the recipients are currently and legally obligated to pay. Recipients may submit quarterly requests for reimbursement to the Agency on SF 270-Request for Advance or Reimbursement, or the appropriate State form if the State is administering the technical assistance grant program. Costs incurred greater than $500 may be submitted monthly. § 35.4085 Grant limitations.

Technical assistance grants will be awarded subject to the following limitations:

(a) The recipient must contribute 35 percent of the total costs of the technical assistance grant project, except as provided in § 35.4090(b) of this regulation.

(1) Absent specific statutory authority, no Federal funds may be included in the matching share.

(2) To meet the matching funds requirement, the recipient may use cash and/or in-kind contributions.

(b) The technical assistance grant award will not exceed $50,000 for a single grant recipient, except as provided in § 35.4090(a) of this regulation.

(c) Not more than one technical assistance grant may be awarded for any eligible site.

(d) Unless a waiver is granted, the technical assistance grant award of $50,000 will cover the entire Superfund cleanup process.

(e) Costs of administering the technical assistance grant are allowable to the extent that they do not exceed 15 percent of the total project costs.

§ 35.4090 Waivers.

(a) Waivers of the $50,000 limit may be granted only in the case of a single application covering multiple sites. In order to reduce the administrative burden to a recipient, the limitation that a single recipient cannot receive more than $50,000 may be waived by the Agency where there are several eligible sites in close geographic proximity to each other (e.g., 3 sites x $50,000=grant of $150,000).

(b) Waivers of the matching funds requirement will be granted only in exceptional cases. At any point in the