Comment on proposed changes to 2027–29 cleanup grants

You can review the full proposed changes online.

Environmental justice criteria updates

As of February 2025, EPA's EJScreen tool and other key environmental justice resources are no longer available. We used these tools to identify overburdened communities and vulnerable populations when evaluating grant applications. We propose updating our criteria to rely only on the Washington Environmental Health Disparities Map, a publicly available dataset that the Washington State Department of Health maintains.

Oversight Remedial Action Grants

We are facing a significant budget shortfall. There is little to no capacity for new investments from MTCA Capital Account in 2027–29, but demand for these grants remains high. To manage limited funding, align with legislative expectations, and support as many cleanups as possible statewide, we propose several changes:

• Refining substantial progress review, especially regarding requests for construction-phase funding, to ensure the timeliness of the request.
• Limiting the amount recipients can bill for their staff time
• Prioritizing Eastern Washington to ensure money is spent statewide.
• Updating scoring criteria around our new site assessment process, time-sensitive construction, funding gaps, and highly impacted communities.

Cleanup grants supporting affordable housing

The competitive Affordable Housing Cleanup Grant program started in the 2023–25 biennium. Since then, we have awarded a total of 14 grants. While many projects are making great progress, several others are no longer moving forward. Based on an external review and lessons learned, we propose restructuring and renaming the grant program. We would award project funding in a biennium in two phases, one competitive and the second based on substantive progress.