Contact: Stephen McBay, (212)-637-3672, mcbay.stephen@epa.gov

NEW YORK (September 15, 2022) – Today, EPA announced that Rowan University in Glassboro, NJ, has been selected to receive one of the first pollution prevention grants to be awarded under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which provides a historic $100 million to fund pollution prevention projects. These grants will allow states, Tribes and public universities to provide businesses with technical assistance to help them develop and adopt P2 practices to prevent or reduce pollution before it is created, while also reducing business and liability costs.

“This EPA pollution prevention funding will support Rowan University’s cutting-edge engineering department to partner with a major pharmaceutical company in finding ways to use less toxic chemicals, cut emissions and energy used in the manufacturing processes,” said EPA Regional Administrator Lisa F. Garcia. “It is always better and cheaper to prevent pollution before it happens, and that is exactly what these types of grants aim to achieve.”

Using the $314,416 in EPA funding, Rowan University will sponsor a student-faculty-industry partnership with a leading pharmaceutical manufacturer through its highly regarded Engineering Clinics. The project will focus on the chemical manufacturing, processing, and formulation sector, specifically a pharmaceutical facility in Delaware. Through the partnership, Rowan University will help to identify, develop and recommend safer alternative chemicals, and lower-energy and lower emission technologies that can be used in the early stages of pharmaceutical design and manufacturing. These alternatives would reduce in the long-term environmental impacts, as well as create cost savings in comparison to the existing facility level operations. 

The P2 Program advances President Biden’s Justice40 Initiative, which aims to deliver at least 40 percent of the benefits of certain government programs to underserved communities. State and Tribal programs awarded grants will not be required to provide matching funds, as is required by traditional P2 grants. The ability to waive the match requirement under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, in addition to the new National Emphasis Area (NEA) for businesses in Indian country, helped to broaden and diversify the applicant pool. A significant number of grants selected will support implementing pollution prevention practices in Indian country.

The U.S. produces billions of pounds of pollution each year and spends billions of dollars per year controlling this pollution after it has been created. Preventing pollution at the source, also known as P2 or source reduction, rather than managing waste after it is produced or released is an important part of advancing an efficient, competitive and a sustainable economic and environmental infrastructure. P2 can lessen exposure to toxic chemicals, conserve natural resources, and reduce financial costs for businesses, particularly costs associated with purchasing initial production inputs and with waste management, disposal and cleanup. These practices are essential for protecting health, improving environmental conditions in and around disadvantaged communities, and preserving natural resources like wetlands, groundwater sources, and other critical ecosystems.

Selected and awarded grantees will document and share P2 best practices they identify, develop and implement through these grants so that others can learn from and replicate the practices and outcomes.  Each selected grantee will address at least one of the NEAs, which were established to focus resources to achieve measurable results and to create opportunities to share information among P2 grantees and businesses affiliated with similar NEAs. Each selected grantee will also develop at least one case study during the grant period on P2 practices that are new or not widely known or adopted, or where detailed information on the P2 practices could benefit other businesses or P2 technical assistance providers.

EPA anticipates that it will award the grants once all legal and administrative requirements are satisfied. Grants supported with Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funds will be fully funded at the time grants are awarded.

A full list of the entities selected to receive funding through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law can be found at EPA’s web page about P2 and the P2 Grant Program.

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