Applied Solutions Webinar: 2012 Federal Sustainability Policy and Funding Outlook

In 2011, local governments have seen concerted efforts in the U.S. House of Representatives to slash and cut important federal sustainability programs that benefit cities and counties. In the name of deficit reduction, Congress has sought to eliminate funding for renewable energy, energy efficiency, clean vehicles, smart growth, green infrastructure and more. This federal investment is critical to local efforts to reduce energy use, curb greenhouse gas emissions, improve air and water quality and decrease vehicle miles traveled. As communities have demonstrated, federal sustainability funding enables cities and counties to leverage additional public and private dollars, and helps to create new jobs and economic growth.

As local governments prepare for 2012, several key questions should be asked:

• What types of federal sustainability funding will be available, and how can localities prepare to be competitive?
• What types of technical assistance will be available from EPA, DOE, DOT and other federal agencies?
• What federal sustainability policies are likely to be debated in Congress, and how will they impact cities and counties?

Speakers Included:

Michelle Wyman, Executive Director of Applied Solutions
Ms. Wyman will gave an introduction to the Applied Solutions Webinar Series.

Supervisor Valerie Brown, Sonoma County, California
Supervisor Brown discussed the value of a local government voice at the national level.

Andrew Seth and Matt Ward, Climate Communities
Mr. Seth and Mr. Ward identified opportunities for cities and counties to support local priorities with federal sustainability funding next year, and provided an overview of the federal sustainability policy landscape in 2012.

Click here to see the powerpoint used in their presentation.

Q&A from the Webinar:

1. Do you see the 1603 treasury grants and other tax incentives being continued?
I would doubt that 1603 grants will be continued without a major push by industry, which does not appear to be happening. 1603’s are really the grant version of the 1703/1705 loan guarantees, i.e., Solyndra program. Politically those programs have no chance of moving forward with more funding.

2. You discussed a lot of future opportunities. Can you say if you think these are guaranteed or if they may evaporate? It takes a lot of work to put together a grant project and I am wondering what we should be preparing for.
The “Opportunities Now” programs we talked about early in the webcast are real, funded, and available. The “Opportunities on the Horizon” are real, signed into law, and almost certain to be real grant opportunities by early/mid-year 2012. The “Key Debates” items, discussing issues like SAFETEA-LU reauthorization and a National Infrastructure Bank, are more uncertain and will take much more political debate to finalize.

3. The WaterSMART grant for the West is great. Water management is also an issue in the East and particularly in areas like ours with lots of farmland. Have you heard anything about programs like this being made available outside of the West?
The Bureau of Reclamation does not do work in the east. There are funds available, however, from EPA, States (using EPA funding), and the Corps of Engineers for eastern water management. These are very backlogged and competitive, so you need to put together a very effective project and effective pitch.

4. It looks like the funding coming out is for “bread and butter” type work, not so much the proof of concept type of projects we have seen over the past few years. Is this just my perception or is there less R&D type funding becoming available?
There are still plenty of dollars for R&D in green technologies and energy technologies. We focused our presentation on infrastructure, development, equipment, and other concrete projects that local governments tend to use, rather than R&D. We did not focus on R&D, but could give more information on opportunities.