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EPA ANNOUNCES REGIONAL SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGE GRANT WINNERS

Release Date: 05/1/2000
Contact Information: Wesley Lambert, EPA Media Relations, 404-562-8316

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today the selection of three innovative community and business projects for funding under the Sustainable Development Challenge Grant (SDCG) Program. The grants were awarded to the following organizations: Clearwater Marine Aquarium, Clearwater, Florida; the University of Tennessee Center for Industrial Services, Knoxville, Tennessee and the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, Philadelphia Mississippi. These project propose to use partnership approaches to solve environmental problems in ways that meet local needs and help communities help themselves. They will assist urban and rural communities make environmentally sound planning decisions and protect and restore critical natural resources. The SDCG program helps communities become more "livable" by solving specific environmental problems and taking steps to become better places to live, work, learn, and play. The grant awards total $4 million dollars nationwide, however this will be the final year of the SDCG Program. The program funded a total of 123 projects since its inception The Magnificent Mangroves - A Sustainable Coastal Plant Recovery Project (Florida) - $66,590 will demonstrate water quality benefits of restoring natural mangroves along the Florida coast and eliminating invasive exotic species through an education project. Applicant: Clearwater Marine Aquarium, Clearwater, Florida. The Sustainable Economic Interaction with Rural West Tennessee Communities (Tennessee - $120,000 will demonstrate viability of using sawmill waste (which is landfilled or stockpiled, sometimes in ravines) to improve low quality agricultural soils which currently must be heavily fertilized to compensate for lack of organic matter. Water quality and solid waste reduction benefits are expected. Applicant: University of Tennessee Center for Industrial Services, Knoxville, Tennessee. Project site is Hardeman County. Environmental Protection and Sustainable Economic Development (Mississippi) $100,000 proposes to protect water quality through a demonstration project that restores and expands swamp cane stands used in traditional tribal industries and damaged by local development along Pearl River. Applicant: Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, Philadelphia, Mississippi. For descriptions of the other new projects funded nationally go to : www.epa.gov/ecocommunity/ (click "Sustainable Development Challenge Grants)