2020 Small Shipyard Grants - Mid Atlantic

In April, 2020, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) announced $19.6 million in discretionary grants to U.S. small shipyards through the Small Shipyard Grant Program.

MARAD’s Small Shipyard Grant Program provides funding to assist eligible shipyards modernize operations, improve efficiency, and increase productivity by investing in emerging technologies and a highly skilled workforce.

Projects under the program include capital and related improvement projects that foster efficiency, competitive operations, and quality ship construction, repair, and reconfiguration. In addition, the program can fund training projects that foster employee skills and enhance productivity.

The economic footprint of American shipyards is nearly 400,000 jobs, $25.1 billion of labor income, and $37.3 billion in GDP.

Small Shipyard Grant recipients in the Mid Atlantic region include:

MARYLAND

Chesapeake Shipbuilding Corp. of Salisbury, MD, which designs and builds commercial ships up to 450 feet in length, will receive $830,622 to purchase a 130‐ton Rough Terrain Crane.

NEW YORK

Smith Boys Marine Sales Inc. of North Tonowanda, NY, a family-owned boat service and repair company, will receive $317,641 for a transporter and CNC plasma cutter.

OHIO

The Great Lakes Towing Company of Cleveland, OH, a company with 120 years of service on the Great Lakes, will receive $1,400,000 for an 820‐ton Travelift.

PENNSYLVANIA

Philly Shipyard, Inc. of Philadelphia, PA, a U.S. commercial shipyard constructing vessels for operation in the U.S. Jones Act market, will receive $640,158 for a Messer system.

VIRGINIA

Colonna's Shipyard, Inc. Norfolk VA, which performs ship repair, machining and steel fabrication services to both the commercial and government markets, will receive $799,996 to purchase welding machines.

2018 Clean Diesel Grants

In November, 2018, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced funding for three clean diesel projects totaling $4.7 million. The grants are part of an effort to reduce air pollution from aging diesel engines in the Mid-Atlantic region.

The funding will go to the Maryland Environmental Service (MES), the Mid-Atlantic Regional Air Management Association (MARAMA), and the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (WashCOG).

EPA’s Clean Diesel Program provides support for projects that protect human health and improve air quality by reducing harmful emissions from diesel engines.

This program includes grants and rebates funded under the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA). DERA funding has supported nearly 25,000 cleaner buses across the country for America’s schoolchildren.

Cumulatively, this funding will result in overall lifetime emissions reductions of more than 1,013 tons of ozone-forming oxides of nitrogen (NOx): 58.7 tons of particulate matter (PM); more than 240 tons of carbon monoxide (CO): 724 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2); and, will save more than 91,000 gallons of fuel.

Clean Diesel Grants:

Maryland Environmental Service (MES)

EPA will provide $2.5 million to the port of Baltimore to assist MES in its efforts to reduce diesel emissions and exposure at the port. This project will replace or repower cargo handling equipment and drayage trucks, as well as marine engines on the pleasure vessel, The Spirit of Baltimore, which will improve air quality by reducing harmful emissions by 37 tons of PM, 398 tons of NOx, 165 tons of CO, and 724 tons of CO2, as well as saving 64,450 gallons of fuel.

Mid-Atlantic Regional Air Management Association (MARAMA)

The agency will provide MARAMA with more than $1.3 million to provide incentives to dray truck owners serving the ports and railyards of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Wilmington, Delaware for voluntary early replacement of 40 drayage trucks with older (1997 – 2006) engines. Replacement trucks will have model year 2013 or newer engines with the latest particulate and NOx reducing technology. This initiative will reduce emissions by 197 tons of NOx, 11.5 tons of PM, 75 tons of CO, as well as air toxics in areas that are not currently attaining federal health-based air quality standards.

Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (WashCOG)

EPA will provide WashCOG with $882,000 to partially fund the re-powering of four diesel propulsion engines and four auxiliary engines on two marine passenger vessels. These vessels are currently operating on the Potomac River in Washington, DC and surrounding communities in Maryland and Virginia. The retrofits will result in reductions of 418 tons of NOx, and 10 tons of PM.

For more information about the DERA program, visit www.epa.gov/cleandiesel.

source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Delaware River Restoration Fund Grants

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) recently announced 13 grant awards totaling $2.28 million for water quality restoration and habitat conservation in targeted regions throughout the Delaware River watershed.

Grantee organizations have committed $4.19 million in match, generating a total conservation impact of more than $6.47 million.

The grants were awarded through the Delaware River Restoration Fund, a partnership between NFWF and the William Penn Foundation.

This is the fourth year the fund has administered grant awards; this year, additional support was provided by the U.S. Forest Service.

“The 2017 grants from the Delaware River Restoration Fund represent a continued commitment to restoring water quality and habitats in this iconic watershed,” said Jeff Trandahl, executive director and CEO at NFWF. “The William Penn Foundation’s unparalleled investment in the Delaware River watershed and the important work of these grantees will benefit a range of native species, from eastern brook trout to golden-winged warblers.”

The Delaware River Watershed covers 13,539 square miles of land and water, running from the Catskills in New York through Pennsylvania and New Jersey, ultimately emptying into the Delaware Bay.

Grant projects take place in a variety of landscapes across the watershed and ultimately benefit water quality locally and for those downstream.

From 2013 through 2017, the William Penn Foundation has provided $8 million in grant funding for NFWF to administer competitively through its Delaware River Restoration Fund.

source: National Fish and Wildlife Foundation

Philadelphia Named Urban Wildlife Refuge Partnership City

Officials from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), William Penn Foundation, National Audubon Society, and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation recently dedicated Philadelphia as an Urban Wildlife Refuge Partnership city.

The special designation is part of the USFWS Urban Wildlife Conservation Program, which has provided more than $1.1 million since 2013 to partnerships across the nation to connect city residents with nature.

With this designation, Audubon Pennsylvania will receive $49,000 this year to support the partnership through the Five Star and Urban Waters Restoration Grant Program, which is administered by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and supported by the Service, Environmental Protection Agency, Fed Ex and Bank of America. This builds upon a $30,000 grant to support the partnership in 2014, which was from the same program.

The funding will support efforts in Southwest Philadelphia to create neighborhood green spaces and parks, provide environmental education programs in schools, improve access and transportation to the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge at Tinicum, connect the refuge to the Circuit trail network and provide jobs to young people throughout the year.

Other partners are contributing technical and financial support, including the school district of Philadelphia, Eastwick Friends and Neighbors Coalition, Friends of Heinz Refuge, City Lights, Student Conservation Association, TreePhilly, City of Philadelphia Parks and Recreation, and many others.

The William Penn Foundation also awarded a $146,000 grant to the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge to support their environmental education efforts, further bolstering the partnership. This funding will support low-cost and free kayak tours to residents living adjacent to the refuge in Eastwick and Kingsessing. The tours, which will be operating in cooperation with L.L. Bean, will educate residents about the Tinicum Marsh, one of the largest fresh-water tidal marshes in the Delaware River watershed.

Philadelphia is one of 17 urban wildlife refuge partnerships across the country.

North Carolina Oyster Reef Project

NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries) recently announced that the agency will fund an oyster restoration project in North Carolina.

North Carolina Coastal Federation, Inc. will receive $35,000 in funding. During the project, the Federation will work with local fishermen  in North Carolina to create new oyster reefs from recycled derelict crab pots.

source: NOAA Fisheries

Little Patuxent Restoration Grants

The Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays Trust Fund has awarded a $1 million grant to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation for restoration projects in the Little Patuxent watershed.

The funding will go towards wetland and stream restoration projects at the Sunrise-Navy Dairy Farm in Gambrills. The project will include planting trees along 20 acres of stream to filter polluted runoff, clean and enhance wetlands, and restore nearly 7,000 linear feet of stream.

source: Maryland Department of Natural Resources

Delaware River Bristol Borough Waterfront Project

The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission will partner with the Bucks County Riverfront Program to install 25 new day slips on the Delaware River between Philadelphia and Trenton, New Jersey.

The ADA-compliant project will include new educational signage, lighting, and breakwater structures to protect the facility. The project is part of a larger effort to improve the waterfront in Bristol Borough.

Funding for the project consists of a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Boating Infrastructure (BIG) grant of nearly $1.5 million, matched with nearly $1 million in non-federal funding.

source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Additional Grant Money Available for Recreational Boating Facilities in North Carolina

The North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries will be accepting proposals for the Boating Infrastructure Grant Program until April 24. This is a second funding opportunity for this program for federal fiscal year 2013.

The Boating Infrastructure Grant is a program of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that reimburses up to 75 percent of costs for projects that construct, renovate or maintain tie-up facilities and related amenities for recreational transient vessels that are at least 26 feet long. The grant program was authorized by Congress in 1998 and is funded by excise taxes on fishing equipment and motorboat fuel.

The state Division of Marine Fisheries serves as the liaison between projects in North Carolina and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for this program. Proposals must be submitted to the division to be considered for this funding opportunity.

Some examples of potentially eligible activities include transient slips, mooring buoys, day-docks, floating and fixed piers and breakwaters, dinghy docks, restrooms, showers, laundry facilities, retaining walls, bulkheads, dockside utilities (water, electric, telephone, Internet), sewage pump-out stations, recycling and trash receptacles, navigational aids and marine fueling stations. Applicants must have or intend to construct dedicated dockage for transient vessels to receive funding for these eligible activities.

For information about grant availability, project eligibility, and proposal development, please visit the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries’ website at http://portal.ncdenr.org/web/mf or contact Kelly Price, federal aid coordinator for the division, at P.O. Box 769, Morehead City, N.C. 28557-0769. You may also contact Price at 252-808-8168 or 800-682-2632 (in North Carolina only) or by e-mail at Kelly.Price@ncdenr.gov.

Applications should be sent to the state Division of Marine Fisheries and must be received by April 24. Electronic submission is preferred.

source: North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries

2013 Boating Infrastructure Grants

North Carolina's Division of Marine Fisheries recently announced that the agency is accepting proposals for the Boating Infrastructure Grant, or BIG, Program for federal fiscal 2013.

BIG, a program of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, reimburses up to 75 percent of costs for projects that construct, renovate or maintain tie-up facilities and related amenities for recreational transient vessels that are at least 26 feet long. The grant program was authorized by Congress in 1998 and is funded by excise taxes on fishing equipment and motorboat fuel.

The N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries serves as the liaison between projects in North Carolina and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for the BIG Program. Proposals must be submitted to the division to be considered for this funding opportunity.

Some examples of potentially eligible activities include transient slips, mooring buoys, day-docks, floating and fixed piers and breakwaters, dinghy docks, restrooms, showers, laundry facilities, retaining walls, bulkheads, dockside utilities (water, electric, telephone, Internet), sewage pump-out stations, recycling and trash receptacles, navigational aids and marine fueling stations.

BIG funds are distributed each year. Grants are available on a two-tiered basis. For Tier 1 (Basic) grants, all states may receive up to $100,000 per grant cycle as long as proposals meet the program's guidelines. Tier 2 (Competitive) grants are reserved for large-scale, more expensive undertakings and are awarded on a nationwide competitive basis. For fiscal 2013, applicants may apply for up to $88,000 under Tier 1 and up to $1.5 million under Tier 2.

For information about grant availability, project eligibility and proposal development, please visit the division’s website at http://portal.ncdenr.org/web/mf, or contact Kelly Price, the division’s federal aid coordinator, at 252-808-8168 or 800-682-2632 (in North Carolina only) or Kelly.Price@ncdenr.gov. The deadline for applications to be received by the division is Aug. 16. Electronic submission is preferred.

source: N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries