vi£D sr^ vS U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 2005-S-00007 £ nffironflncnorW^onoral September 7, 2005 I® I 0*. U.S. Environmental Protecti Office of Inspector General » SYi^ 1 At a Glance Catalyst for Improving the Environment Why We Did This Review In April 2005, the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure provided the Office of Inspector General with a sample of 15 grants EPA awarded to nonprofit organizations. The Committee asked us to determine the purpose, justification, and progress for each of the grants. The Committee requested a report containing information on each of the 15 grants. Background EPA awarded over $4.3 billion (about 51 percent of its annual budget) in 2004 to entities via assistance agreements. Grants are a type of assistance agreement, and we use the terms interchangeably in this report. EPA awarded about 20 percent of its grants to nonprofit entities accounting for about 8 percent ($337 million) of the total grant funds awarded. Congressionally Requested Review of Selected Grants What We Found This report contains factual information on 15 grants. The report does not contain any audit findings. EPA awarded these 15 grants to nonprofit organizations. These grants were awarded by 10 different EPA offices and regions, and ranged from $6,622 to $5.3 million. EPA awarded all of the grants since 2004, except for one that was awarded in 1998. EPA awarded 13 of the 15 grants competitively. EPA and grantees provided a wide range of purposes for these grants, including improving protection of regional watersheds and wetlands, educating and training local youth to clean up polluted sites in their community, and improving human health and the environment in a region of China. EPA cited various statutory authorities for the grants, including the Clean Air Act, National Environment Policy Act, Clean Water Act, and the Solid Waste Disposal Act. Some projects are still in the early phases of work while others are nearly complete. Project periods for these grants range from 1 to 7 years. What We Recommend This report does not contain any recommendations. For further information, contact our Office of Congressional and Public Liaison at (202) 566-2391. To view the full report, click on the following link: www.epa.qov/oiq/reports/2005/ 20050907-2005-S-00007.pdf ------- |