U.S. Congressman Garret Graves (South Louisiana) announced today 11 grants, totaling $5,183,666, awarded this week from the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT). More information can be found below with awarded grants listed by agency.
U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC):
Recipient: South Central Planning and Development Commission, Inc
Title of Project: COVID-19 Recovery and Resiliency Project
Grant Amount: $400,000
Description: As part of EDA's CARES Act Recovery Assistance, EDA is providing a supplemental financial assistance award to the South Central Planning and Development Commission, Inc., of Houma, Louisiana, to help them respond to the unusual and compelling urgency of the coronavirus pandemic. The scope of work requires the recipient to undertake one or more of the following pre-approved activities:
(1) the development of an economic recovery and resilience plan, tied to the applicant's approved Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy, to address the economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic
(2) the deployment of disaster recovery coordinators to orchestrate the region's response to the pandemic
(3) the provision of technical assistance, as necessary, to local governments, businesses, and other stakeholder organizations, and
(4) the funding of appropriate technology and staff support for these pandemic-response activities.
U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS):
Recipient: LSU Pennington Biomedical Research Center
Title of Project: Expansion of Clinical Trials Access to Rural and Underserved Children of Louisiana
Grant Amount: $440,207
Recipient: LSU Pennington Biomedical Research Center
Title of Project: Aging and the mitochondrial response to exercise training, measured by noninvasive 31P magnetic resonance spectroscopy
Grant Amount: $667,911
U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT):
Recipient: Louisiana Department of Public Safety
Title of Project: FY 2020 Commercial Driver's License Program Implementation Grant Program
Disc. Grant Amount: $780,769
Description: Louisiana Department of Public Safety
Recipient: Louisiana Department of Natural Resources
Title of Project: PHMSA FY 2020 State Base Pipeline Safety Grants (Two)
One grant focuses on Hazardous Liquid
Grant Amounts: $1,857,158, $318,360 (Hazardous Liquid)
Description: PHMSA State Base Grants program supports State pipeline safety programs by reimbursing a portion of each State's total program expenses for a given calendar year based on their performance. The grant awards are based on each State's estimated program cost for CY 2020 and each State's most recent performance scores. The FY 2020 grant award is PHMSA' s commitment to States to pay a portion of their CY 2020 State program costs, and supports States by obtaining budget commitments for continuing their pipeline safety programs. States will receive the full payment of their FY 2020 award in May of 2021 based on their actual expenses for CY 2020. If a State requests a mid-year payment, PHMSA will reimburse the first half of the State's CY 2020 program costs once the grant is approved-based on the State's actual expenses.
DOT/PHMSA is awarding a total of $60,935,970 to participating states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico to continue their commitment to the Federal/State partnership in pipeline safety and the agency's support for their local presence in protecting the public from pipeline incidents. PHMSA's State Base Grants program supports State pipeline safety programs by reimbursing them a portion of each State's total program expenses for a given calendar year based on their performance. State pipeline safety programs assure public safety through inspecting and enforcing the pipeline safety regulations, conducting incident investigations, and taking corrective actions to assure the safety and integrity of pipelines under their safety authority. State pipeline safety programs currently employ over 400 inspectors who are responsible for inspecting over 80 percent of the Nation's intrastate transmission and distribution pipelines through certifications and agreements with PHMSA.
Recipient: Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation Project
Title of Project: PHMSA 2020 Technical Assistance Grant Awards
Disc. Grant Amount: $100,000
Description: PIPELINE SAFETY PROGRAM FOR MARINE AND NAVIGABLE WATERWAYS The Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation proposes to increase pipeline safety on marine and navigable waterways in Southeast Louisiana by:
(1) engaging and educating stakeholders working in on-the-river commerce on pipelines in waterways
(2) partnering with pipeline companies to identify the emergency contacts for their river-crossing locations and working with these companies to update their annual status reports for the NOAA-Nautical Data Branch
(3) producing a 10-page river corridor booklet with NPMS maps and pipeline emergency contacts
(4) offering three prototypes of signs with electronic signals for stakeholders to test near pipelines; and
(5) providing a spreadsheet of NPMS mapping data and contact information to the Mississippi River Transportation Information Service for upload into a mobile app used by river pilots during navigation.
Recipient: Louisiana State Police
Title of Project: PHMSA 2020 Hazardous Materials Emergency Preparedness Grants
Award Amount: $431,787
Description: Congress created the HMEP Grant Program in 1990 which allows recipients to design and implement planning and training programs based on their individual needs. The program uses a discretionary formula for States and Territories and a competitive application process for Tribes. The formula is based on census data, the number of hazmat incidents, the severity of hazmat incidents, and the estimated costs of incidents. The HMEP grant awards will fund three federally recognized tribes and tribal organizations. In addition, PHMSA will be releasing Year 2 funding for the FY 2019–2021 grant cycle to all 50 States and two U.S. territories to continue conducting planning and training projects. HMEP applicants allocate grant funds towards activities such as: Developing or revising emergency plans and training activities to account for bulk transportation of energy products by rail and over the road; Conducting commodity flow studies to determine the frequency and quantity of hazmat shipments being transported through local communities; training emergency responders to respond appropriately to incidents involving bulk shipments of energy products as well as other hazmat.
Recipient: Louisiana Department of Natural Resources
Title of Project: PHMSA 2020 State Damage Prevention Grants
Disc. Grant Amount: $100,000
Description: The funds will be used to cover the staff engineer and division director's personnel and related costs for their work in damage prevention. The engineer's duties include reviewing reports and complaints and conducting inspections. The director's duties include oversight of the damage prevention program, reviewing all correspondence and conducting Show Cause Hearings. (Element 7) The nine elements of effective damage prevention programs include:
(1) Participation by operators, excavators, and other stakeholders in the development and implementation of methods for establishing and maintaining effective communications between stakeholders from receipt of an excavation notification until successful completion of the excavation, as appropriate.
(2) A process for fostering and ensuring the support and partnership of stakeholders, including excavators, operators, locators, designers, and local government in all phases of the program.
(3) A process for reviewing the adequacy of a pipeline operator's internal performance. measures regarding persons performing locating services and quality assurance programs.
( 4) Participation by operators, excavators, and other stakeholders in the development and implementation of effective employee training programs to ensure that operators, the onecall center, the enforcing agency, and the excavators have partnered to design and implement training for the employees of operators, excavators, and locators.
(5) A process for fostering and ensuring active participation by all stakeholders in public education for damage prevention activities.
(6) A process for resolving disputes that defines the State authority's role as a partner and facilitator to resolve issues.
(7) Enforcement of State damage prevention laws and regulations for all aspects of the damage prevention process, including public education, and the use of civil penalties for violations assessable by the appropriate State authority.
(8) A process for fostering and promoting the use, by all appropriate stakeholders, of improving technologies that may enhance communications, underground pipeline locating capability, and gathering and analyzing information about the accuracy and effectiveness of locating programs.
(9) A process for review and analysis of the effectiveness of each program element, including a means for implementing improvements identified by such program reviews.
Recipient: Louisiana Department of Natural Resources
Title of Project: PHMSA FY 2020 One-Call Grants
Award Amount: $46,738
Description: The One Call Grants are designed to improve various aspects of states' damage prevention programs, including one call notification systems, notification service quality, one call record retention, state investigations of excavation damage to pipelines, enforcement against violators of state law, improvements in underground facility-locating capabilities, training of involved personnel, and public outreach and education. Grant funds requested to pay salaries and benefits of two field agents whose primary responsibilities are damage prevention activities. While these responsibilities also include 192/195 inspections, grant will only be used to pay salaries and benefits for days that are spent in the field conducting onsite investigations pursuant to the "Louisiana Underground Utilities and Facilities Damage Prevention Law".
Recipient: Louisiana Department of Natural Resources
Title of Project: PHMSA 2020 Underground Natural Gas Storage Grants
Award Amount: $40,736
Description: The Underground Natural Gas Storage Grants (UNGS) program participation requires a certification or agreement with PHMSA to enforce federal pipeline safety regulations. The program has increased from 6 to 12 states since it began in 2017. The UNGS grants are formula grants that fund awards to State underground storage safety programs under the authority of 49 United States Code§ 60107. The grant is funded through a user fee on operators of underground natural gas storage facilities and not public funds. The statute allows PHMSA to reimburse up to, but not more than, 80 percent of the total cost of personnel, equipment, and activities reasonably required by State UNGS safety programs over the course of one calendar year (CY). Initial allocations for individual grants are based on each State's estimated program cost for CY 2020. These awards also support States' efforts to obtain additional State budget commitments for their UNGS safety programs.
PHMSA is awarding over $5,482,390 (combined) in Underground Natural Gas Storage Grants (UNGS) to ten states to support the inspection and enforcement of applicable UNGS regulations. PHMSA's FY 2020 UNGS grants will be the third year it provides Federal grant assistance awards for state natural gas storage programs, continuing PHMSA's UNGS partnership with States and expressing the agency's support for their efforts to protect the public from natural gas storage incidents.
