Federal grant programs / Environmental Protection Agency

Environmental Protection Consolidated Grants for the Insular Areas - Program Support (66.600)

Also known as Consolidated Grants Under the Omnibus Territories Act

• Awarded, FY 2021 to 2025$626 million
• Grant awards29
• Typical award$20.6 million
• Awarded in FY 2025$147 million
• Size rank321 of 1,823
• Type of assistanceFormula grants

Key findings

• Annual funding rose from $37.0 million in fiscal 2021 to $147 million in fiscal 2025.
• It is the 321st largest of 1,823 federal grant programs by five-year awards.
• The 7 largest recipients received 100% of the money.
• Awards went to recipients in 4 states and territories.

What the program funds

The Omnibus Territories Act (OTA) allows the Insular Areas to consolidate their Federal grants. U.S. territories may submit a single application for two or more grant programs and receive a single award in order to reduce administrative and application burdens. Any consolidated grant for any Insular Area shall not be less than the sum of all grants which such area would otherwise be entitled to receive for such year. The funds received under a consolidated grant shall be expended in furtherance of the programs and purposes authorized for any of the grants which are being consolidated, which are authorized under any of the Acts administered by the EPA, and which would be applicable to grants for such programs and purposes in the absence of the consolidation. The territories shall determine the proportion of the funds allocated to programs and purposes. Consolidating grants under the OTA does not represent additional funding beyond grants provided under individual authorities; it reflects the consolidation taking place within the Agency's total grant appropriations. Funding Priorities - Fiscal Year (FY) 2024-28: Consolidated grants under the OTA support and is consistent with Pillar 1: Clean Air, Land and Water for Every American; and Pillar 3: Permitting Reform, Cooperative Federalism, and Cross-Agency Partnership. Funding priorities include all activities covered under the grant or cooperative agreement that align with EPA’s Pillars , including but not limited to: establishing fishable, swimmable waters through surveillance, monitoring, and enforcement of water quality standards and regulations towards the goal of zero beach closure postings; complying with and enforcing safe drinking water regulations towards the goal of having potable water for 100 percent of the population; advancing watershed management as the overarching mission for all environmental protection activities to help improve water quality; establishing and managing special management areas to prevent groundwater contamination; and mitigating or eliminating nonpoint discharges of pollution.

From the federal Assistance Listing. Read the full listing on SAM.gov.

Open opportunities

No opportunity under this program is open or forecast on Grants.gov right now. Programs often post once a year, so the funding history below shows what to expect.

Rules from the program listing

What the money can and cannot pay for

Grants and cooperative agreements are awarded to Insular Area agencies under the above referenced authorities to provide technical and managerial support in relation to continuing environmental program grants that serve to protect the public health and welfare of the Insular Areas. Assistance agreement awards under this program may involve or relate to geospatial information. Further information regarding geospatial information may be obtained by viewing the following website: Geospatial Resources at EPA (https://www.epa.gov/geospatial).

Matching requirements

This program has no statutory formula. Matching requirements are not applicable to this assistance listing. MOE requirements are not applicable to this assistance listing.

Deadlines

Contact the headquarters or regional location, as appropriate for application deadlines

Award range and average, in the agency's words

In general, financial assistance has increased annually depending on program funding that is consolidated into the grant. Financial assistance has generally ranged from $2,000,000 to $3,500,000/territory/fiscal year for environmental program assistance. The total estimated average is $8,000,000/fiscal year. Historically, territorial Drinking Water and Clean Water infrastructure grant funds have been consolidated into grants for the territories of Guam, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa. Continuing in FY24, the U.S. Virgin Islands will consolidate Drinking Water and Clean Water infrastructure grant funds under the OTA. Continuing with the recent 5-year FY24-28 consolidated grant, for each FY each territory will be receiving an additional $9,000,000 each FY for Emerging Contaminants for FY 23 –FY27.

Examples of funded projects

Fiscal Year2025: EPA Pacific Southwest (Region 9) worked with the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands to complete reef flat sampling sites at all 50 targeted sites in the Saipan, Tinian and Rota and the samples included 35 fish tissue samples. EPA Region 2 works with the US Virgin Islands through its Caribbean Environmental Protection Division, which provides technical and funding assistance to territorial environmental protection programs. In FY 2025, EPA awarded 3 consolidated grants to the USVI Department of Planning and Natural Resources. One of the grants consolidated Clean Water (CW) and Drinking Water (DW) Base Construction Programs for FYs 2024-2025; and the second and third provide funding under the FY 23 and FY 24 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to support Drinking Water and Clean Water Infrastructure Construction Grant Programs authorized under Section 1452 of the Safe Drinking Water Act and Section 201(g) of the Clean Water Act.

Quoted from the program's federal Assistance Listing. The notice of funding opportunity is the official source for each competition's rules.

Who usually wins

Almost all of the money went to state and local governments.

By state

Each state below has its own page for this program, with its recipients and yearly totals.

Award amounts are federal obligations reported to USAspending.gov for fiscal 2021 to 2025; see how our data works.