Session 6: Funding and Sustaining Your Illegal Dumping Prevention Program

1. Institute for Tribal Environmental ProfessionalsTribal Solid Waste Education and Assistance Program (TSWEAP) Addressing and Managing Illegal Dumps in Indian Country Session 6: Funding and Sustaining Your Illegal Dumping Prevention Program Todd Barnell, ITEP

2. Funding and Sustainability Factors • Cost and budget considerations • Types of funding available • Strategies and partnerships for sustainability • Tribal government and community assistance and support

3. Cost and Budget Considerations • Brainstorming: What costs do you think are associated with illegal dumping prevention and management?

4. Cost and Budget Considerations • Staff salaries, benefits, insurance, and training • Equipment (rent or buy?) for office and/or field • Signs, fencing, monitoring and re-vegetation • Outreach materials (paper, ink, design time, etc.) • Assessment costs (mileage, time, GPS, GIS) • Clean-up costs (time, equipment, storage, disposal) • Closure costs (usually on-going)

5. Types of Funding Available • Grants and loans • Tribal funds • Volunteer and/or service labor

6. Grants and Loans • US 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.

7. Grants and Loans • US EPA • General Assistance Program (GAP) Grant • Community Action for a Renewed Environment (CARE) • Brownfields (OSWER) – cleanup grants and loans • Environmental 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

8. Grants and Loans • USDA • Solid Waste Management Grants (communities under 10,000 individuals) • Water and Waste Loans and Grants (usually require matching funds for grants) • Community Facilities Grant • IHS (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)

9. Grants and Loans • States • A growing number of State governments have funding to tackle illegal dumping – it is worth checking with your State’s environmental department • Private Foundations • McKnight Foundation (www.mcknight.org) • Businesses • Many companies, in order to “green up”, are providing small grants to help communities deal with waste

10. Tribal Funds • Revenues from tribal enterprises • Casino profits • HUD set-asides • Waste collection fees • Businesses licenses • Permit fees (fishing, recreation, hunting, etc.) • Other tribes • Some tribes with larger casino and business operations provide grants and loans to other tribes

11. Partnerships • Local 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 groups • All ages, from k-12 through local colleges • Doesn’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

12. USEPA Contacts Contacts for USEPA Tribal Solid Waste Staff • EPA Region 10: Fran Stefan, 206 553-6639 stefan.fran@epa.gov • EPA Region 9:Heather White, 415 972-3383 white.heather@epa.gov • EPA Region 8: Susanna Trujillo 303 312-7008 trujillo.susanna@epa.gov • EPA Region 7:Gayle Hubert, 913 551-7439 hubert.gayle@epa.gov • EPA Region 6: Willie Kelley, 214-665-6761 kelley.willie@epa.gov • Region 5: Dolly Tong, 312 886-1019 tong.dolly@epa.gov • Region 4: Davy Simonson, 404 562-8457 simonson.davy@epa.gov • Region 2: Lorraine Graves, 212 637-4116 chaput.rachel@epa.gov • Region 1: Juiyu Hsieh, 617-918-1646 hsieh.juiyu@epa.gov)

13. 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?

14. 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 obligations • Do 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 first • You are probably going to have to make some hard decisions….

15. 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.

16. 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

17. Organization Is Vital • Be organized • Establish what your goals are – obvious but often forgotten • Use of timelines to track your progress • Delegation of tasks – in writing • Use of working groups to help ensure communication and spread the workload • Writing of reports – for tribal leaders and for future staff (they are not just for project officers anymore)

18. Measuring Success • Create a timeline of when priorities will be achieved • Note successes • Track 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?

19. Community Support • More 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.