EECBG Planning Strategy Tribal Webcast Presentation (Text Version)
Below is a text version of the June 12, 2009 EECBG Planning and Strategy Development for Tribal Governments presentation. Speakers were Charles Hemmeline, Johanna Zetterberg, Lizana Pierce, and Roger Taylor.
First Slide: Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program
Charles Hemmeline:
Hey, to all. Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you very much for joining us today. Let's go ahead and get started. This is the third in our series of Planning and Strategy Development for Tribal Government webinars that we've been holding here on the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program, in addition to a whole series on a variety of other topics from the application process to finance and other issues. This is really one of the more important ones, all about how the applications can come in focused on the right topics with the right information to really succeed and meet the objectives not only of the program, but your own objectives, which we think are really important.
I want to draw your attention; hopefully you've seen our Block Grant web site at www.EECBG.energy.gov, where you registered for this webinar, as well as found hopefully some really useful information in our solution center on putting your application together and some concepts there. I just wanted to tell everybody upfront that these slides will be available on that Web site very soon. A previous version of this webinar is already available on that Web site under the "past webinar" section on the solution center. So the bulk of this information you can already find there if you want to go grab the slides.
Next Slide: Speakers
Charles Hemmeline:
So I'll just walk you through what we're planning on doing here today. We have myself, Charles Hemmeline, U.S. Department of Energy. Joining me for the Q&A session later on will be Johanna Zetterberg. In Golden, Colorado we have Lizana Pierce also from DOE; and Roger Taylor, from the National Renewable Energy Lab, who will be taking us through some of the planning material later on in the presentation.
Next Slide: Agenda
Charles Hemmeline:
So our agenda here today is fairly straightforward. I want to give you just a little bit of background on the program, for those who haven't listened to this before. I'm going to walk you through a few of the key items in the application process. We're not going to spend a lot of time on that piece today. We have another webinar scheduled for next Wednesday purely on the application process, and those previous slides are also on the Web site, if you want to look at that.
Next we're going to go in detail through each of the eligible activities under the Block Grant Program to really delve into what those are all about and the intent, that are kind of your options in putting your plans together.
Next we're going to get into the strategy development, both in terms of how you go about developing your strategy, and also developing the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Strategy, EECS document that you will need to prepare to submit an application and receive the funds.
Then we'll get into some of the additional resources out there that we've prepared, and spend a good deal of time at the end really getting into your specific questions that we can help you with and prepare your applications and getting some good content.
Hopefully you can all see the Q&A window on the lower right-hand portion of your screen. We encourage you to submit questions throughout the presentation in writing there. Then we'll have those queued up for our Q&A session later, and we can tee those up and hopefully get to all of them today.
Next Slide: Program Purpose
Charles Hemmeline:
So just to kind of dig into some background on the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program, as hopefully you all know, this was a part of the Recovery Act, and that purpose was really to spur economic growth and create and retain jobs and really be a stimulus to the U.S. economy. Additionally, from an energy perspective, the goal there is to assist state, local, and tribal governments to accomplish the purposes you see there listed in terms of reducing fossil fuel emissions, reducing energy use, and improving efficiency across all sectors, really trying to make this an investment in the energy efficiency performance of our country and having that be a benefit to you.
Next Slide: Objectives
Charles Hemmeline:
So the specific objectives that are involved here in the program and in the overall Recovery Act of which this program is a part, there has been a true unprecedented focus on transparency and accountability as key objectives. We obviously understand there's a tremendous amount of public trust that has been put in us with these funds, and we want to ensure that we're conducting the business in a transparent, straightforward way and that everyone is confident that we are conducting these activities appropriately and that the results of everyone's efforts are made transparent and out there for all to see, so we can all be accountable for the results of what happens because of this funding. And hopefully there will be a public confidence in that investment made, and so we'll feel comfortable making those kinds of investments in energy infrastructure again in the future.
In terms of kind of our energy objectives, strategically, there's a variety of them listed there. I won't read them all, but basically trying to balance the near-term need of stimulating the economy with trying to get full value out of this investment and energy that we're making and really meet long-term goals. And part of that is creating kind of the comprehensive strategy and program development with this funding, hopefully that persists beyond the grant period. So there's obviously a certain amount of time for which you spend the funds directly, but we hope, again, that that's an investment in the future that is leveraged highly with your other efforts, and hopefully coordinated amongst others in the area such that together we can make the biggest overall impact possible.
So with that I'd like to turn it over to Lizana Pierce to really walk you through the next phase and getting into this program and some of the application steps. Lizana, take it away.
Lizana Pierce:
For those who may not know me, I am the project manager for DOE's Tribal Energy Program, a separate and distinct program from this new Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Program funded through the Recovery Act. I've been asked to present some briefly on the application process, and I guess first you will need, you must submit an application in order to receive these funds. And we'll go through that in more detail.
Next Slide: Funding Opportunity Announcement
Lizana Pierce:
As Charles mentioned, there's a number of resources on the EECBG Web site. The slide you see here is a picture of the funding opportunity announcement. It can be found on the EECBG Web site at www.EECBG.energy.gov or through FedConnect, which is another system.
The funding opportunity announcement includes the requirements, it includes attachments; those are forms you must submit with that, your application. And on page 21 and 22 I believe there is a checklist of the components of that application.
Next Slide: Tribal Eligibility
Lizana Pierce:
On the next slide a listing of the eligibility requirements that were prescribed. Basically the program formula-based part of the program is eligible to federally recognize tribes, 562 of those, including Alaska native villages, village corporations, and regional corporations - and the 12 regional corporations, pardon me. So there's a total of 574 eligible tribal entities for which these allocations have been made.
The formula that was used is based on two factors: one population, and one climate. The first factor, on population, is weighted as 75-percent, and that's based on census data as adjusted by Health and Human Services for birth and death rates, and the second factor, climate, is based on heating and cooling days for the state in which your reservation resides, and that is weighted to 25-percent. And those allocations are located on the Web site for each eligible entity.
Next Slide: Eligible Uses of Funds
Lizana Pierce:
On the next slide, per the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, where this Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Program was originally authorized, there was a list of eligible uses of those funds. Primarily for energy efficiency and conservation, the intent was that it be community-wide and that these projects or activities will be long-term in nature. There's a list of the various activities there, and I won't go into those in detail because we have them later individually and in more depth.
The funds, as prescribed by the Recovery Act, must be obligated within 18 months and expended within 36 months. So this is a very short timeframe with the intent that these projects will sustain after DOE funding.
Please be aware of the fact that Recovery Act which funded this new program did impose some constraints and prohibitions on the use of those funds, primarily that funds could not be used for gambling establishments, aquariums, zoos, golf courses, or swimming pools. But for more on those conditions the part one of the FOA lists all the requirements that the Recovery Act imposed.
Next Slide: Applications Accepted Now
Lizana Pierce:
On the next slide I want to indicate that currently only electronic applications are being accepted, and those must be uploaded to FedConnect; however, if the process does prove difficult, to let us know and we will see how we can assist in that process. As indicated, to receive these funds you must apply by June 25, 2009. That's our goal at the moment. And again, if that date proves unattainable, to contact DOE and we will try to work with you in that regard.
I must indicate that in order for you to actually submit an application you must register in a three-step process. The first is you must obtain a DUNS number, you must register in CCR, and you must register in FedConnect. And I would urge you to do so if you haven't already, register in FedConnect to ask questions, to be notified of any amendments that might occur.
Next we're going on to doing business - you must - you will need to download the actual application package from www.grants.gov. And that is the package in which all of the application elements will be attached or are already embedded in that particular form. So you need to download that, save that to your computer, and then attach all the various application elements so that it can be uploaded. There is a checklist on page 21 and 22 of the FOA that goes through in detail where to obtain each of those required elements that you can use in preparing your application. Some of the elements are standard forms, some are provided as attachments to the Funding Opportunity Announcement, and some you will need to generate, such as the budget justification.
Next Slide: Doing Business with the Federal Government
Lizana Pierce:
On the next slide, Doing Business with the Federal Government, it gives you the links in order to obtain a Dun and Bradstreet Universal Numbering System, how to register in the Central Contracting Registration, CCR, and how to register in FedConnect. There is a time aspect to this, and it may take at least 21 days to complete that process, so hopefully you have already begun the registration process.
Next Slide: Accessing the Application Package
Lizana Pierce:
On the next slide, as far as accessing the application package, as I indicated, you can obtain that from www.grants.gov, and the link is cited there. One of the pieces of information you will need to know is that the CFDA number for this is 81.128, and you can search on that and obtain that file. If you have difficulties, you know, contact us and we will try to help you through the process. There has been a number of tools to sort of walk through both FedConnect and Grants.gov.
And just to reiterate, once you've downloaded the application package, save it to your computer, complete the embedded forms, attach the other forms, and save it before you upload it to FedConnect.
Next Slide: Tribal Application Considerations
Lizana Pierce:
On the next slide, some considerations. The requirements for tribal applicants is that with your application you will need a Tribal Council Resolution, and that must be submitted as part of the application. Something that may be of interest to others is that a group of eligible Indian tribes may choose to submit a single application as long as it is submitted by a single tribe representing the group. But again, Tribal Council Resolutions from each participating tribe must be included with the applications.
Those are another option that might be of interest, is that an organization may submit an application on behalf of an eligible tribe or a group of eligible tribes, provided, again, that the resolution from each of the tribes is included and that it authorizes that organization to apply for, receive funds, and minister the grant on behalf of the tribe. Be aware that only one application may be submitted by each eligible Indian tribe. And I would urge you to download the Funding Opportunity Announcement, if you haven't already, and read through that, because it does contain the requirements and the information you'll need in order to apply.
Next Slide: Register and Apply to Receive Funds
Lizana Pierce:
Going on to the next slide, there are application instructions, and they are available on the EECBG Web site. And there is information through webinars, there is information on past webinars. The site also has formats and samples for the Energy Efficiency and Conservation strategy, as well as project activity sheets.
Thank you. And if you have questions on the process, there is a mailbox, an e-mail mailbox set up, and you can submit questions there. The e-mail address is eecbg@netl.doe.gov. Thank you. And now I'm going to turn it over to Roger Taylor from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory to discuss eligible activities and the model Energy Efficiency and Conservation Strategy. Roger.
Next Slide: What Do You Plan to Do?
Roger Taylor:
Thank you, Lizana. And good afternoon, everyone, unless you're in Hawaii or Alaska, which I guess is still good morning. The next set we're going to walk through here quickly is the eligible activities under the EECBG program.
Next Slide: Development of a Strategic Plan
Roger Taylor:
The first one of those is developing a strategic energy plan. If you don't have an energy plan within your tribal community, it's probably to begin to think about and develop one. Again, we don't have time to walk through this whole graphic that's on the right-hand side here, but be aware that one of the main purposes of the program is to use the EECBG funds to leverage other activities. So having a plan, having an idea of the other energy activities, of the other building activities, of the other sort of building codes, a variety of things touch the energy space, and it's often useful to have a broader energy plan, not to be confused with what's being asked for in this proposal explicitly, which is an energy plan about how you want to spend the EECBG funds, but if you have to go further in energy planning and actually spend a significant part of the funds on developing a more comprehensive energy plan, that is an allowable activity.
If you do not have an energy plan at all, even one that ties directly to the activities that you want to do, you can apply to the program, depending upon the dollar value of your allocation, and get resources to develop the plan for the program as a first step in figuring out what to do for follow-on activities with the resources available through this EECBG program.
Next Slide: Technical Consultant Services
Roger Taylor:
The next slide, if it's necessary and useful to you to reach out to others to purchase consulting services to help with the planning or the implementation of the program, that is also an allowable activity. Everything from developing the strategies to developing reports, a lot of folks are stretched very thin, and so if you need to reach outside of the tribe to get that support, that is an activity which is permissible funds.
Next Slide: Residential and Commercial Building Energy Audits
Roger Taylor:
On the next slide, Residential and Commercial Energy Audits, here we get into, and over the next several slides, some very specific program ideas that are eligible activities under the program. Funding residential energy audit programs, providing small business audits, commercial travel building audits, which may be everything except the excluded activities at casinos and pools and that set that Lizana went through a moment ago. But most of the regular tribal buildings could be open for energy auditing to link into the DOE weatherization program, again, trying to leverage funds across a variety of activities.
Next Slide: Financial Incentive Programs
Roger Taylor:
The fourth eligible activity is financial incentive programs. Strong encouragement from the Department to use these as seed funds to leverage other funds, ideas of revolving loan funds, or setting up a revolving loan fund that would help use the EECBG funds to create a framework that folks would repay energy efficiency improvements over time, creating a fund that rolls over and keeps on giving past the expiration of this particular activity are very welcome and encouraged. Providing on-bill financing services for tribes that may have their own tribal utility authority, use of energy savings performance contracts, which is reaching out to the private sector, using other peoples' money to actually provide for the installation of the efficiency or renewables hardware, those, the savings of the energy in the building that would otherwise be paid go back to reimburse that capitalization. So as you're thinking about this, think about the possibility of leveraging these EECBG funds into a bigger program.
Next Slide: Energy Efficiency Retrofits
Roger Taylor:
Eligible activity number five is energy efficiency retrofits, funding residential, commercial, industrial, local government energy audits, implementing those services either directly or through an energy service company framework, like we were just talking about, recommissioning of facilities that may have aged over time and need to have the control systems refurbished to bring them back up to spec and operate and continue to perform as advertised. Conducting training, use of diagnostic equipment, building capacity within the tribe that would carry on beyond the extent of this program is also encouraged. Building capacity is important such that other programs could fund the activities after the EECBG program is over.
Next Slide: Energy Efficiency and Conservation Program for Buildings and Facilities
Roger Taylor:
Eligible activity number six, energy efficiency and conservation programs for buildings and facilities. This is after the audits have been done, you know what you want to do in these facilities, is actually going in and making the efficiency improvements, the weatherization improvements, the insulation improvements, and such. Very similar to what the DOE weatherization and HUD weatherization programs are doing. Here's another opportunity to get into the weatherization business. Once again, the ability to train our folks who reside within the tribe who can carry the skills forward beyond the extent of this program would be highly encouraged.
Next Slide: Development and Implementation of Transportation Programs
Roger Taylor:
Activity number seven is really focused primarily at urban areas, cities and towns where there's a lot of transportation activity. If you have those sorts of issues, I know we have a lot of tribes in urban areas, in Southern California, for example, that maybe there are some transportation activities that you want to undertake. Those would be eligible activities as well.
Next Slide: Building Codes and Inspections to Promote Building Energy Efficiency
Roger Taylor:
Building Codes and Inspections, it is the next slide. We see a huge opportunity is to further build out the opportunities for building codes, and particularly the inspection side of things. We know a lot of tribes have not adopted the building code at this point. Even if they wanted to adopt the international building code, which is where most of the states are throughout the country, it's one thing to have a code, it's another thing to enforce it, getting an enforcement program going such that we make sure that the new buildings that are built on reservations and in the Alaska communities are actually built to spec and that they perform so that we don't have to go back and do retrofits later on. Think about using these resources to sort of institutionalize the idea of energy efficiency buildings in your area.
Next Slide: Energy Distribution Technologies
Roger Taylor:
The next activity, number nine, is energy - it says "Energy Distribution Technologies," as it was called in the solicitation, a small semantics issue, not only think about distribution technologies on the utilities side as poles, wires, switch gear, that sort of thing. What's really intended here is what is generally being called distributed energy technologies, and that language picks up in the first paragraph of the description. And what we're talking about here is the range of renewable and combined heat and power opportunities that essentially put generation and heat - both heat and electricity generation out in the field at particular building locations.
So distributed energy applications, particularly things like combined heat and power. If you have an engine generator set there, and we know that there's a lot of these, for example, in Alaska, with the diesel generators, opportunity here to pick up on the heat side of that, the heat rejection coming out of the stack and off the cooling jackets of these generators to provide heat that would otherwise be provided by standalone diesel oil-based burners. If there's a way that we can efficiently use existing resources out there with a simple retrofit, we can double the efficiency of the diesel putting through the engine, that is something to look at and be encouraged.
Next Slide: Material Conservation Programs that Lead to Energy Efficiency
Roger Taylor:
Activity number ten is focused at conservation programs. The broad definition of recycling here, we know that there are places that have, for example, a sawmill nearby, or actually landfill gas is the next one, but those sort of things, where there's an energy source waiting there to be grabbed that can be used cost effectively to provide heat and power on an industrial or commercial location. Again, these are the kinds of activities - a wood chip heating system was recently installed in the community up in Craig, Alaska would be an eligible activity under this program.
Next Slide: Reduction and Capture of Methane and Greenhouse Gases Generated by Landfills or Similar Waste-Related Sources
Roger Taylor:
Number 11, if you happen to be fortunate or unfortunate enough, depending on your perspective, to live near a landfill, most of these landfills have been out there long enough that they are creating methane gas. It would be better, preferable to combust that methane and turn it back into carbon dioxide from a climate change standpoint. It can also be a cost-effective way to provide heat and power locally through a program that taps into the naturally occurring methane generation in these landfills, makes them useful heat and power off of those systems and prevent that methane from getting into the atmosphere, which is a much more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.
Next Slide: Traffic Signals and Street Lighting
Roger Taylor:
Number 12 sort of couples down to the transportation program again, opportunity and encouragement to move off of old incandescent light bulbs to the whole new family of light-emitting diodes and low-energy use, highly energy efficient electric lighting systems within the transportation sector. So traffic lights, streetlights, we are going to see continued emergence and movement toward light-emitting diode kinds of technologies, which are very, very long-lived and very efficient.
Next Slide: Development or Implementation of On-Site Renewable Energy on Government Buildings
Roger Taylor:
Number 13 is where we see a lot of folks wanting to go in the energy pyramid, as we call it. It's always better to start with building energy efficiency and work your way up. But if you have completely rung out all the efficiency opportunities in a building, it may make sense at that point to look at the renewable energy options. Specifically approved here is appropriate technologies are renewable energy on government buildings, underlying government buildings at this point. But once again, only hopefully after one has made the building as efficient as possible to begin with. But this is an opportunity; tribal council buildings, other buildings that may be relatively new, where you want to go after the electricity side of the equation after squeezing all the heating side out that we can, renewable retrofits, solar, electric, wind, fuel cells, and biomass opportunities on these buildings might be something to consider and are eligible activities.
Next Slide: Other Appropriate Activities as Approved
Roger Taylor:
Item 14 is other eligible activities as approved, but I will say in the training program that was done internal to the department earlier this week, it is highly discouraged to try and push the envelope here, because not only does the Secretary of Energy have to sign off on this, but the Secretary of Interior and the Secretary of the Environmental Protection Agency. And to actually expect something to make it through the approval chain is probably not realistic at this point. As all these other activities are clearly eligible, we'd encourage you to think twice before trying to put in for a different program or a different activity.
Next Slide: Attachment D of FOA
Roger Taylor:
Moving on. To help you out here we have spent a little time in what's called Attachment D of the FOA. As has already been mentioned, it's a requirement that you come in with an Energy Efficiency and Conservation strategy. Now this is not sort of the comprehensive energy plan that we mentioned and we'll come back to here in a moment, but how does your activities fit in to a conservation strategy on the tribe. This is sort of the - and as we walk through the steps here you'll see some of the intent of this strategy, to make sure that it fits into context, that somebody owns this problem, that it's going to be managed as it moves forward.
Next Slide: Two Options for Submitting EE&C Strategy
Roger Taylor:
If you don't have a strategy going in, that's okay. The first step is you ask for funds to create the strategy. You have 120 days, essentially three months, to go through and develop this plan and report back to the department with what you planned, "Here is the strategy and here's how we anticipate the balance of the funds to be used." That's a perfectly acceptable approach, and encouraged if you don't quite know what you want to do in the short-term.
We have a draft of Attachment D here that we'll go through in just a moment.
Next Slide: EE&CS: Your Answers Should Address
Roger Taylor:
Within the strategy there are six questions that are asked. On the next slide you'll see the first three of those questions. We're not going to read through these line-by-line, but go over from the high level. Question one is "What is your proposed energy efficiency and conservation strategy?" Okay. Clearly define the goals related to the use of the Energy Efficiency and Conservation funds only in the program. How do you plan to spend these moneys? If you have an existing strategy then how does what you propose to do here link to an existing strategy? It would be wonderful to come in with a comprehensive strategy and say, "We have a comprehensive strategy that covers the following eight items. Here's what we're going to do under this program in two of those areas." The milestones, briefly outline the milestones and what capital investments you plan to make.
Question two is "What is your proposed implementation plan?" This is more the how. We'll get into these in a moment. Like I said, I don't want to read through all these.
Question three, "How are you working with adjacent units of local government?" Now this one's not - it's optional for tribes to apply to this, but it would link directly into what was described earlier; if multiple tribes are working together, this would be a great place to highlight why you've decided to come together and provide a single proposal for multiple tribes or Alaskan native villages, for example, and why this is a good thing to do. If you do have a link to a state activity and you plan to work in cooperation with non-tribal governments, again, this would be the place to highlight that. Working cooperatively is always encouraged.
Next Slide: EE&CS Your Answers Should Address (continued)
Roger Taylor:
On the next page we'll see the next four or three questions. Question four is "How will you share information with your state?" Again, optional; it may or may not apply. If you've got a tribal consortium coming in, this would be a great place to talk about information sharing and expanding of the portfolio.
Question five, "Describe how the project sustains benefits beyond the recovery period." Once again, emphasis on spending these resources not entirely in capital investments, where it's a one-time shot to do one thing, but spending them wisely so that it seeds programs that transition this funding and can carry on beyond the two to three-year period where these funds need to be spent: training activities, developing a weatherization program within the tribes, figuring out how to do things that not only benefit in the short-term, but benefit everybody in the long-term.
And question six, "How will you ensure transparency and accountability?" You can see these transparency and accountability words throughout this program and other Recovery Act programs. It's important to be able to lead the footprints to make sure, and at the end of the day that the jobs were created, that the energy is saved, and as the program moves forward it will shift from trying to get the money out the door to trying to shift attention to what is really happening in the field and tracking the benefits of the expenditure of these federal funds.
Next Slide: Energy Efficiency and Conservation Strategy Template
Roger Taylor:
In the next slide and the next one, two, three, four, five, six slides, we have gone in and taken a cut at providing a template for this energy conservation strategy. I don't want to read through all the words here. This template is up on the Web site under the tribal template, and what we've tried to do is construct words that match those activities that were just described as required for this strategy and to make it as easy as possible. This is not quite fill-in-the-blank, but it is structured in a way that if you read through this you can quickly intuit how to actually provide and develop this strategy in a rational timeframe that allows you to get the strategy into the proposal into your response to the opportunity here, and then build out the specific activities on the back end that link into this strategy.
So we have the same questions that were asked earlier, and so just in highlight, "What do you plan to do?" So the first two slides sort of answer the "what" questions, "What are you going to do as part of that?"
Next Slide: Major Actions Timetable
Roger Taylor:
Major Actions and Timetable. Skip down two slides, if we would, please. So a timeline, how do you plan to spend the money, what's going to happen and what sort of timeframe? Sort of a standard project outline, how long do we anticipate this to be done, with the awareness that all of these funds need to be essentially expended and out there doing their activities within a 36-month period, which is getting shorter every day. We don't know that it's going to be extended on the back-end. So give us a timeline. If you're going to do procurements, say what you're going to do before the procurement and how the procurement is going to happen and what the run-out is, including the verification that the equipment was installed and is performing as advertised.
Next Slide: Describe Your Government's Proposed Implementation Plan for the Use of EECBG Funds Only
Roger Taylor:
Describe the implementation plan. Some key words there, that's sort of the how are you going to go about doing the program.
Next Slide: Describe Your Government's Proposed Implementation Plan for the Use of EECBG Funds Only (continued)
Roger Taylor:
The next item is describe how the government is taking into account the proposed implementation plans and the use of funds to adjacent local units. Here we've also what I've already said previously, start up a tribal consortium with neighboring tribes may be something that you want to do.
The other one, again, is not mandatory for tribes, so we'll skip over that.
Next Slide: Describe Your Government's Proposed Implementation Plan for the Use of EECBG Funds Only (continued)
Roger Taylor:
Item five, describe how this plan is to - sustains benefits beyond the program. We've hit on that already. And the auditing and monitoring. Downstream one aspect of that is to be able to articulate who's in charge, who's running the program, who's responsible for the implementation of the program to make sure that somebody is overseeing this activity after the awards are made and moved forward.
There's a few slides here that we've appended after the words that get at this issue, and I'll make a few comments here with our experience in working with the Indian country and strategic planning.
Next Slide: Strategic Energy Planning
Roger Taylor:
And this is backing up, this is a bigger picture beyond just the limited scope of this strategic plan that's requested as part of the solicitation. But since we've got you captive here, here's a few words of advice. What is strategic energy planning? It's really in a very simple sense defining where you are in the energy spectrum today, figuring out where you want to be at some point in the future, one generation, 20 years, how do you want things to change between now and then? Figuring out what your energy options are, and increasingly we think renewables and efficiency are a critical important part of this portfolio, and then developing a plan to get there. So in essence that's all a strategic plan is.
Next Slide: Tribal Strategic Energy Planning
Roger Taylor:
The next slide shows a stepwise way of thinking about the program, developing an energy baseline, or developing common tribal energy vision. Anointing, and we'll talk more about the importance of a champion here in just a second, but somebody's got to lead this program. Energy is a long-term commitment; it cannot be waylaid by changing in tribal council. So if you decide to get into the energy business in a serious way, it's important to have a tribal champion who can carry this out and knit the pieces together.
Doing things in a culturally and environmentally responsible way, of course, is important. Identifying the resource options, the solar wind, geothermal, hydro, biomass; on the renewable space, convectional technologies on the other side. What can we do in energy efficiency on the demand side of the equation? That's basically in the buildings versus getting to reach out and develop new supplies. And then integrating all of that together consistent with what hopefully had been established as your tribal objectives. And we've listed a number of them here in the box. This is our list; take them, build on this, make your own list. Energy reliability and security; off-grid electrification is an issue, still 12,000 homes unelectrified in Navajo nation. So off-grid electrification is high on their list. Minimize the environmental impacts, diversification of supply, use of local resources, jobs creation is always on the list, economic development is always on the list. How are we going to build the technical expertise, and other activities that you may want to integrate this?
So understanding where you are or what the resources are, what you need to do on the demand side; are there new buildings, is there a new activity, is there a new firehouse, is there a new judicial center that's going to be built, think about those things now so that the energy plan can include them as you move forward.
And then finally, understanding where you are and where you want to go, establishing the organizational structure and human resources that are going to be needed to push this plan forward. That then is all consolidated in what we call the energy plan, which is simply a written capture of all that stuff up above. Energy planning is also sort of like a business plan; it's a living document. You don't just do this once; things change as times move along, so think of it as a living document, as a guidepost, a roadmap that you can update as you learn where the hills and valleys and streams are, as you move along. And out of that comes all the programs and projects.
Having gone through this exercise, it puts the tribe in charge instead of the outside world in charge, so we see lots of folks often trying to do projects starting at the bottom in response to a solicitation. I can assure you, if you've gone through this plan everybody will be on board; you'll all be talking from the same music so to speak, and it will make things move forward much, much easier in the future. A highly encouraged activity. And if you want to just spend all of your funds in strategic planning, this is kind of the space that that activity number one would fit into.
Next Slide: The Tribal Energy Development Challenge
Roger Taylor:
A few words on the importance of community or tribal energy champion. This has to be done internally, and there's lots of different - there's this sort of bubble chart here, shows the importance of having someone in the tribe knit these things together. We've got legal issues to resolve, environmental issues to resolve, financing issues are always an issue, financing challenges are always an issue. Is the community going to grow in residential, commercial, other activities? Are the technologies continue to mature? And depend upon where you are, everything in the renewable energy world is site-specific, so it's important to both get onboard with the technologies and figure that space out.
And in the big scheme of things, if you're interested in getting into the merchant power business, which is essentially selling electricity or natural gas on the wholesale market to other consumers throughout the country, that is another piece. So having a tribal energy champion, or more ideally, a team of folks internal that own energy is critically important to moving these activities forward.
Next Slide: Establish Implementation Program & Projects
Roger Taylor:
The next slide shows what we've learned, both domestically and internationally. You don't have to do it all to begin with. Start small. Success does beget success in this business, so pick easy things to do to get going, to get organized, to show success, to get the rest of the community behind the program. Things that are technically and institutionally sustainable, things that maximize the coordination, that are politically feasible of course is important locally. Things that attract financing, capital, and don't underestimate, particularly at the community scale, the importance of sweat equity in some of these programs. We can do a lot with a little bit of money if folks can get organized and put some of their own resources, human resources into these things.
And of course activities that support tribal enterprises are important.
Next Slide: Opportunities & Strategies
Roger Taylor:
Some strategies to move forward in the broader scheme of things; you may want to look at the possibility of utility formation, actually creating a poles and wires utility or creating a framework that just sort of formalizing the responsibility for energy in the form of a utility.
Industry partnerships, we see a lot of activities moving forward. The capital is out there; other folks want to work with Indian country, so developing strategic partnerships may be a way.
Intertribal cooperatives. This is close to what we were talking about for collaboration earlier, of actually creating a formal framework where a number of tribes are working together to a common goal, perhaps even with a tribal electric cooperative framework that allows you to play in the utility world, yet be independent of the regulatory commissions of states. Intertribal cooperative would be a real interesting thing to entertain.
And of course, education.
Next Slide: Barriers Identification
Roger Taylor:
The barriers on the next slide are the typical set. Financing is always a problem. Human capacity development is a challenge. Organizational development can be a challenge, particularly with folks that have two-year election cycles, that flip back and forth in the internal politics. Developing state laws and regulations in the energy space, building code enforcement is an example there. Clear decision-making process and stable leadership; these are the challenges to moving forward.
Next Slide: B-1 Attachment: Project Activity Sheet
Roger Taylor:
The next sheet is once you have the strategy for every one of the activities that you want to carry out, building efficiency, improvement on one building, a renewable energy system on a tribal community hall; every one of sort of the separate activities to be carried out under the program will have a separate activity sheet. So what the strategy does is tie the pieces together, and then when you're actually finishing up the proposal, each one of the activities, the substantial activities that you want to carry out has its own easy to fill out one-page form here that basically says how it's going to be done, how much money are you going to spend, with a brief description of that project. All of this is made to be fairly simple, as easy as possible. The templates are there. Use them, turn it around, get your proposal into the system so that you can get the funds and get moving with the program.
So, Charles, I think you're going to pick it up here and talk about this issue with staged disbursement and a few other activities. Thank you.
Next Slide: Staged Disbursement of Funds
Charles Hemmeline:
Great. Thanks very much, Roger. That was very helpful. Good stuff.
So I'd like to introduce my colleague, Johanna Zetterberg, who is going to take you through a few additional considerations for your application and the process you move going forward.
Johanna Zetterberg:
Hi, everyone. This is Johanna. Great to be with you today on this Friday. Just a couple notes about how the funds are disbursed. Depending on what your allocation amount is, there will be a slightly different disbursement schedule for some of you. If your allocation is between - well, it's basically under $250,000.00, you can receive 100-percent of your allocation at the time of your award. If your award - or your allocation is between $250,000.00 and $2 million, depending on when you submit your strategy, you'll get a certain amount of your allocation. So if you submit your strategy with your application and it's approved, you will get the full amount of your allocation at the time of the award. If you submit your strategy a little bit later, within 120 days, of your award you will get an initial award of up to $250,000.00.
So in that case, that's really for tribes who need a little bit of time to plan, need a little bit of time to develop their strategy, and they can receive $250,000.00 right upfront in order to do that planning. Now please note that amount comes out of your allocation; it's not an additional amount on top of your allocation.
Then for those tribes whose allocation is over $2 million, similarly, you can receive up to $250,000.00 right upfront if you need to develop your strategy. If you do submit your strategy with your application and it's approved, the most you'll be able to get at the initial award is 50-percent, and then after one or more progress reviews we will obligate the balance to that to you.
Next Slide: Limitations on the Use of Funds for Local Governments and Tribes
Johanna Zetterberg:
There are a few limitations on the use of your funds that are important for you to consider as you're developing your strategy. There is a cap on the administrative costs. This does not include reporting costs. And that is 10-percent of your allocation or $75,000.00, whichever is greater. There is also a cap on a revolving loan fund; that is 20-percent of your allocation or $250,000.00, whichever is greater. You may have heard there's some talk and some interest in lifting that cap. That cannot be done by DOE; that's going to have to be done through an act of legislation, and we will certainly keep you updated if that changes. I know that there are some interested parties pursuing that now, but as of today, and likely as of, you know, the application date, the cap will remain.
There is also a cap on sub-grants to non-governmental organizations to help you develop or implement your strategy, and that's 20-percent of $250,000.00 whichever is greater. The group guidance on this right now is that for these sub-grants for the nine governmental organizations, that cap would apply basically to the administrative costs associated with what their activities are that are supporting you. So it is possible if let's say you were not capable in-house or didn't have the capacity of implementing your strategies, you could hire a technical consultant services to help you develop or implement your strategy, and there's no cap on that. I hope that's clear.
There are also some limitations that are not on this slide that come from the Recovery Act legislation relating to gambling establishments and pools and zoos and it sounds like we talked about that already. Okay.
Next Slide: NEPA- National Environmental Policy Act
Johanna Zetterberg:
The National Environmental Policy Act is an act that requires all federal agencies to base major decisions on high-quality environmental information. All the activities under this program are subject to a review under NEPA. But depending on the activities you pursue, there will be different levels of review needed. So I would encourage you all to take a look at page - it begins on page 18 of the Funding Opportunity Announcement. There's a table there that will indicate to you the likelihood of a very extensive review being needed, or a categorical exclusion, which is basically no review being needed, or no further review being needed at that point, depending on the activities you choose.
So this is a really important consideration, because if you do need a very thorough review, for example, an environmental impact statement, that could delay the ability of us to award you your funds, which in turn delays your ability to obligate and expend the funds within the required timeframes. So it's really best to, all things being equal, avoid the activities that are going to require an extensive review under NEPA.
Next Slide: Start Now!!!
Johanna Zetterberg:
And finally, we just really encourage you to get active. If you're not already beginning your planning, begin identifying, you know, those people who can help you through this process and people in your community who you need to be involved with. I'm sure you all know that the deadline is less than two weeks away now, so I hope you have all started. And the fact that you're on this call today means that you probably have started.
Next Slide: Bookmark Program Site: www.eecbg.energy.gov
Johanna Zetterberg:
Okay, this is just a snapshot of our main program Web site. I would encourage you to bookmark it, refer back to it often. Anytime there's new information, we post it on our Web site here. This is really the best way that you can keep in touch with us in a general sense as to what's going on with the program. In fact, there is some new information up there now that I don't think we've e-mailed out to you yet, but it's up there. But if you go on the top navigation bar there, where it says "solution center," if you click on that, on the left-hand side there's a link that says "application resources." And if you go to that page there is a very easy-to-use Excel spreadsheet that will give you the estimated benefits that are needed on the B-1 attachment of the funding opportunity announcement, which is the Project Activity Sheet. It's very easy to use. All you do is type in the amount of money you are allocating to different activities, and it will just calculate what those benefits are for you. So that's up there right now.
We also have some model activity sheets that are filled out to give you a flavor of, you know, how much - what level of detail we're looking for in those and the types of language you might use. We also have some model strategy forms on that Web site as well. So lots of great example materials and helpful calculators for you up on our Web site.
Next Slide: For More Information
Johanna Zetterberg:
And finally here is just a few Web pages that will be great references for you as you go through this process. The solutions center, which is where everything I just mentioned is, is that top bullet point. The next one is just the main program page. If you're interested in following all the Recovery Act activities of the Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, you can go to that third link. And then finally, our program office is on the bottom there.
Next Slide: New Resources for Grantees
Johanna Zetterberg:
Well you made it onto the _______. That means you know where you go to register for them. And please do check back, we are offering several more webinars over the next couple of weeks. And we do plan on continuing the series beyond the application deadline to help you in more topical areas as you're implementing your program. So please go there, register and come join us again.
I just went over the solution center, so I'm not going to say anything on that. And coming soon will be a major technical assistance on our part to help you with all aspects of implementing this program. And we will be in touch with you as that becomes available, but it is under development now still.
Next Slide: Questions?
Johanna Zetterberg:
And finally, if you have further questions please send them to the e-mail address listed here, which is eecbg@netl.doe.gov. If you don't want to bother with an e-mail, there is a phone number on the bottom here and you can talk to a live person.
Next Slide: Thank You!
Johanna Zetterberg:
And thank you very much. I think we're going to move now into Q&A, so I'm going to turn it back over to you, Charlie.
Charles Hemmeline:
Great. Thanks very much, Johanna. Good stuff.
I've got a handful of great questions that came in here in the chat window, so I want to make sure we have plenty of time for that. Real quick though, I had a clarifying question just to direct folks to the Excel calculator again on the Web site. Basically that's at www.eecbg.energy.gov Web site, click on the solution center, and in there one of the links will be "application resources" on the left-hand side of the page, and down near the bottom of that application resources page there will be a section on the EECBG expected benefits calculator, both the Excel file itself, as well as a user guide that's very helpful in explaining that.
And I will also say we have scheduled a webinar explicitly on that topic for next Thursday to really walk you through the tool, how you use it, what numbers can go in there, some examples. And so you can register for that webinar also on that Web page where you registered for this one.
So just want to tee up a few questions here. I'll go ahead and do some Q&A with Johanna just to kind of get through as many of your questions that we have time for.
The first question is from Pat, "Since tribes have their respective allocation, do tribes have to follow the same application process as the other non-tribal entities?
Johanna Zetterberg:
Pat, the application process for tribal government is very similar to that of other non-tribal entities. There are a few places where information that we collect does not apply to tribes, so that's nice for you; you actually don't provide us as much information as some of the others. But aside from that it's very similar.
I'm not sure if there was a more specific question you had. If there is, please go ahead and ask it in that Q&A box.
Charles Hemmeline:
Great. Next question is from Sandy, "Can EECBG funds be used to purchase energy efficient lights for sports stadiums in a new school with no previous or existing usage?"
Johanna Zetterberg:
Yes, that would be eligible.
Charles Hemmeline:
All right, done. Another DOE - this question is from Tom, "Another DOE ______ requirement that the tribal council resolution was allowed to be submitted later. Might this be a modification on this ______?
Johanna Zetterberg:
I might need to differ to Lizana or Roger on this one. If you guys don't know, I can give it my best shot.
Lizana Pierce:
Yes, Johanna, it is my understanding that we would like the tribal council resolution with the application. In fact, it would delay the process if the entire application wasn't submitted at one time.
Johanna Zetterberg:
Okay, great. And if there are, you know, specific problems relating to that, please do get in touch with one of us, or e-mail that e-mail address we gave you earlier, and we can talk through your specific situation with-
Charles Hemmeline:
Great. Next question is from Donald, "In regards to the strategy, are you limited to the number of pages that you need to provide the description of the strategy, or just the space provided in Attachment D?"
Johanna Zetterberg:
It's just the space provided in Attachment D, because it is a .PDF document with just a defined amount of space that you can write in. So we're really not looking for anything, you know, extremely long; we just want to know your summary of what you're proposing to use yours for.
And I'm not sure if this came up earlier in the webinar, but we are restricting the scope of your answers on Attachment D to just your use of these program funds. So some of you may have, you know, a tribal energy strategy of some type or another that is comprehensive and goes well beyond what this program will allow you to do. But for the purposes of tracking your success in implementing this program, we need to _______ the benefits that you're going to be reporting to us to the dollars invested by the American taxpayers into your programs. So please just limit your strategy to your use of these program dollars.
Charles Hemmeline:
Great.
Johanna Zetterberg:
And with everything, please be brief and concise on that form.
Charles Hemmeline:
Deal. Next question is from Muriel, "Is there a course available to become an energy auditor, either as an individual or a group or corporation?"
Johanna Zetterberg:
I really don't know the answer to that. I'm sure that there are certification programs and other types of training programs. I'm not sure what kind of course you're envisioning. Do you know where they could find information on that?
Charles Hemmeline:
Well, from DOE's perspective I would certainly offer that we are at this time not offering as a part of this program that information. It's also come up from others, you know, whether we're providing lists of approved contractors or approved consultants for the recipients to use, and that answer unfortunately is also no, DOE is not kind of vetting consultants or organizational resources to tap into, but we encourage you to look locally.
Roger, you might jump in if you have some ideas on auditing programs or resources available to pursue that.
Lizana Pierce:
This is Lizana, Charles. There's a whole sort of network of weatherization training centers that have been set up under the DOE weatherization program, which would be a very good place to explore training courses and opportunities.
Charles Hemmeline:
That's a great reference.
Lizana Pierce:
Right. And all those Web sites are on the weatherization Web site, locations and names and contact information.
Roger Taylor:
There's also a national certification program called NABCF, National - oh.
Male:
NABCF is a North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners.
Roger Taylor:
Thank you. Thank you. And their Web site would be another great link to explore for where to get the training and what that certification is all about.
Charles Hemmeline:
Right. Yeah, it's NABCEP.org, NABCEP.
Johanna Zetterberg:
NABCEP.org.
Charles Hemmeline:
Correct.
Roger Taylor:
Thank you, Charles.
Charles Hemmeline:
Okay, next question is from Cindy, "Last week Mary Ann Lydon gave a presentation on this program to the National Travel Air Forum. If I understood her correctly, she said that if we submit Attachment D the tribe would have 120 days to complete the application to do a strategic plan."
Johanna Zetterberg:
Almost, but not quite right, Cindy. You don't have 120 days to complete the application; what you do have is 120 days to submit your strategy. So if you need a little bit more time to plan your strategy, what you would do is submit all the application materials except for Attachment D, and you would fill out the Attachment B-1, which is the Project Activity Sheet, and you would put there that your activity is to develop a strategy. So that would come in with your application by June 25th. Then we would make an award to you, which would be up to $250,000.00. And then within 120 days of when that award is made you would be required to submit to us your strategy or Attachment D.
Charles Hemmeline:
Great. Thank you for that clarification.
Next question, from Bob Mills, "When can I get a copy of this webinar from the EECBG Web site?" I'll go ahead and answer that one. The previous webinar that we did on this topic is up there already. If you go to the solution center and the webcasts link you'll find a section on past webcasts that has previous presentations we've given, and this one is included. This one is a slightly updated format, but the previous version is still very relevant. And this specific one will be posted early next week, in a matter of days, also in the same place with those other webcasts.
Another question from Cindy, "Is there a budget template available?"
Johanna Zetterberg:
I don't believe there is a budget template available at this time, Cindy. If you have some specific questions please go ahead and e-mail eecbg@netl.doe.gov and we will make sure to help you with what your specific question is regarding the budget.
Lizana Pierce:
Johanna, can I interrupt here, please?
Johanna Zetterberg:
Please.
Lizana Pierce:
There is the 424A form, which is basically the top-level budget summary that needs to be included in the application, and there is a form available. In addition to that, you need to do a budget justification, which is information that supports that budget, how many staff members, how many trips, etc. In that particular budget justification format, there's not a format available; you can do it in a format you have existing or a self-generated format.
Charles Hemmeline:
Great.
Johanna Zetterberg:
Thanks, Lizana.
Charles Hemmeline:
Okay. Another question from Muriel, "What level of quantitative detail is necessary in terms of defining the goals of an EECS? And for tribes without specialists in these technical areas, where can they look for TA to come up with the figures?"
Johanna Zetterberg:
That's a really great question, Muriel; I'm glad you asked that. There's no requirement for the level of quantitative detail necessary in defining your goals within your strategy. I think just in a general sense we certainly expect you to create goals that are achievable but that are aggressive and are well thought through. It would be definitely, you know, an eligible use of your funds to hire a technical consultant to help you develop these goals. That is certainly within what is eligible under the program, so you don't need to come up with things yourself; you can use your funds to get some experts to assist you in creating these goals.
Charles Hemmeline:
Great. I have a question here, kind of a comment about larger projects from Robert about larger projects that tribes may be pursuing with other entities, and what grants might be available for the bigger piece. I'll go ahead and jump in here just to kind of talk about - we didn't talk too much about the competitive grants. It was listed there at the end, but basically most of what we're talking about here today are the formula awards that are a part of the Block Grant, which are the bulk of the program awards and the program dollars. There's also an additional roughly $450 million of competitive awards that were part of this program. That funding opportunity announcement is separate from this, and it's under development right now.
So there's going to be, you know, a couple of different topics in that where all entities are eligible and a certain amount is set aside for entities that are not - that are too small to be receiving the direct formula grants through the Block Grant program. And that ______ will be kind of a good place to go for your innovative ideas and some larger ideas that may go beyond kind of your core strategy or your core energy plan that you're funding through the formula dollars, but we'll be coming out shortly. I can't give you a solid timeline, but look within the next couple of months for that to come out. It will have its own set of criteria and goals, but basically within the same set of objectives as the Block Grant program in terms of reducing fossil fuel emissions, improving energy efficiency and that sort of thing. So it's a good place to go for other projects you may be thinking of.
All right, so next question here from Brian, "Can I apply for and be awarded more than what was allocated for my tribe?"
Johanna Zetterberg:
No. Like Charlie said, there will be an additional opportunity to apply for funds, which is the competitive grants. But those are competitive, so you are not sort of guaranteed an allocation as you are under the formula grant, as long as you meet all the requirements of that program. So, Brian, in a nutshell the answer is no.
Charles Hemmeline:
A question here from Crystal, "I recently updated the CCR registration, and I'm worried that FedConnect will not be ready for our proposal to be submitted on time. Could I e-mail the application by the 25th if FedConnect registration is not complete?"
Johanna Zetterberg:
Crystal, no, you cannot. We are not accepting applications by e-mail; we are only accepting them through FedConnect. However, if you're not able to submit it to FedConnect by the 25th because of a problem that you're having with the CCR registration, you need to just submit it as soon as you possibly can and we will accept it, through FedConnect.
Charles Hemmeline:
That's a good clarification. Question here from Donald, "When is disbursement expected to take place?"
Johanna Zetterberg:
I've seen that question before. Donald, the answer is it really depends, and that is because it really depends on when you get your application in, whether there's any missing information or any back-and-forth basically that's needed between us and you, so that we can make a determination about making your award. You know, that could take very little time or could take a long time, and also depends on what level of ______ review, if any, your proposed activities need. So I'm sorry I can't give you a hard date, but rest assured that the secretary is letting us know every day that we need to get these funds out as quickly as possible, aside from the important energy, you know, objectives of this program that's funded through the Recovery Act, and we're all trying to expedite this as quickly as possible to get these funds to go to work for you in your communities.
Charles Hemmeline:
Great. Thank you. Question here from Theresa, "How do you define administrative costs or IDC, indirect costs?" Lizana, you may be better able to answer this one.
Lizana Pierce:
Generally administrative costs include overhead expenses, which are cross-cutting. They may include indirect costs, and be aware that that cap does not include the expenses to report as part of your grant.
Johanna Zetterberg:
Yeah, I believe we wanted just to add on to that, DOE is not defining a set of administrative costs. U.S. tribal governments should just whatever standards you already have in place for defining those. But we do have a frequently asked question and answer on this on our Web site, and I'd encourage you to go look at that in writing. Actually, another resource we have that's new to the Web site is just if you go to the main page, www.eecbg.energy.gov, in the bottom right-hand corner there is a little graphic that says "FAQs." If you click on that it's going to take you to a searchable database of all the questions and answers that are contained within FedConnect. We just - we have another site that mirrors FedConnect's questions and answers, but now it's searchable and you can access it directly from our Web site.
So for example, if you went into that database and you used the search term of administrative costs," it would pop up with the answers that we have provided on that topic to grantees or to eligible entities in FedConnect.
Charles Hemmeline:
Great. Thank you. Question here from Tracy, "We will include our strategy as activity number one, since we do not have any type of plan in place. We plan to conduct an energy audit of tribal campus facilities. Will this be activity two, or will it be a part of the strategy?"
Johanna Zetterberg:
So, Tracy, if I'm hearing you correctly, you're going to conduct an activity of developing your strategy as one activity, but then there's another activity that you know you want to do, which is the energy audit. And that's fine. So you can submit two activity sheets with your application; one for the development of your strategy, and one for your energy audit activity.
And then when you do submit your strategy or Attachment D, you will include information on that audit program in there as well.
Charles Hemmeline:
Great. Question here from Pete, "The Chishna Tribal Council in Chitina, Alaska is proposing under activity five to increase the efficiency of our lighting in our tribal buildings. Can we also provide high-efficiency light bulbs for tribal homes?
Johanna Zetterberg:
Yes, you can do energy efficiency and conservation programs for buildings under this program using the funds. So yes, you can do that.
Charles Hemmeline:
Excellent. How is the amount - a question from Galene, "How is the amount of allocations per tribe determined?" I think Roger or Lizana spoke to that a little bit, but you might explain that a little more.
Johanna Zetterberg:
Basically there's a formula that we use that was outlined in the statute that created this program; it's primarily based on population, but it's also based on some energy usage data, which is basically the number of heating degree days and cooling degree days for your state. There's a wealth of information in a document that is also on our Web site, which is the formula methodology document. I believe if you go to the main page eecbg.energy.gov, if you click in the upper left-hand corner on "about the program," there's a list of documents on the right-hand side, and you'll see it there. I think it's called "formula methodology." And that goes into a lot of detail about how the tribal formula was developed.
Charles Hemmeline:
Excellent. Question here from Angela, "Is it possible to get a listing of tribes already in the application process to avoid duplicate applications by outside entities?"
Johanna Zetterberg:
I'm not exactly sure, Angela, what you're asking here. But no, we're not going to be able to provide a listing of applications that have come in. But there shouldn't be an issue, because there are no outside entities that should be submitting applications. If they do they won't be considered. The only applications that will be considered are those coming from tribes that have received an allocation, as seen on our Web site under the tribal allocation section. So there will be one application submitted per tribe essentially, and not by anybody else.
Charles Hemmeline:
A question here from Joanna, "Will the tribal resolution act as our authorized representative assurance?"
Johanna Zetterberg:
Let me kick that one over to Lizana.
Lizana Pierce:
Yes.
Johanna Zetterberg:
I'm not sure what an authorized representative assurance is.
Lizana Pierce:
Yes, tribal council resolution for tribes is consistent with the assurances by state and local governments by their leadership.
Johanna Zetterberg:
Okay.
Charles Hemmeline:
Great. Thank you for that clarification; that's very important.
Question coming here from the Net, "We have an EPA grant that has similar objectives. Can the grant be a Block Grant fund supplement or coordinate in the use of those funds?"
Johanna Zetterberg:
Yes, absolutely. We encourage you to leverage other sources of funding as much as you can to stretch these dollars. Those can be other public funds, other federal funds, state, whatever. They can be private funds, such as foundation money. Really, anything you can find, as long as it's legal, you can certainly use to leverage.
Charles Hemmeline:
Excellent. A question from Brad, "If we want to create an Office of Energy to create tribal capacity to manage energy use, should this be described on an activity worksheet?"
Johanna Zetterberg:
Yes, it sounds like that would be a discreet activity, and you could have an activity worksheet just for that activity. And by the way, that's a great activity to do.
Charles Hemmeline:
Question from Tracy, this should be kind of an FAQ; I've seen this one a lot. "If some tribes do not apply, will the remainder of funds be distributed amongst the tribes who have submitted applications?
Johanna Zetterberg:
Yeah, I've gotten that question a lot. We have not released any information on how any remaining funds will be used at this point. So stay tuned.
Charles Hemmeline:
Great. Another clarification from Tracy here, "We plan to hire a contractor to assist with our project, and I see in the budget justification file it mentions bids and quotes. What are we required to justify our budget?" Lizana, you want to take a crack at some of that?
Lizana Pierce:
Basically they're looking for how did you determine the amount of funds to be contracted. Is it an estimate? Did you obtain a verbal quote, a written quote? So generally you need to make a realistic projection of what those costs will be and hopefully have some basis for budgeting that amount.
Charles Hemmeline:
Great. Thank you. A question here from Gary, "I work with several small Alaskan native tribes in South Central Alaska. The average Block Grant is $39,000.00. How are they to accomplish weatherization work on their older homes and buildings, yet produce a comprehensive energy strategy plan with this amount of funding?"
Johanna Zetterberg:
Well, Gary, it's really up to, you know, each tribe how to use these funds in the best way that will benefit them the most. If they feel that weatherization activities are really going to give them the most energy savings and dollar savings, you don't have to get a comprehensive energy strategy. For example, your strategy could be to weatherize these older homes and buildings, and you would just describe that program as your strategy. So remember that the strategy is your strategy for using the funds; however, if you want to conduct more comprehensive planning activities, you can use your funds for that as well. But there's never enough money in the world really for all the things that need to be done here, so you will have to prioritize and figure out which activities you want to use funds for.
Charles Hemmeline:
Great. Thank you. And just a few more minutes here. I'm going to try to get to all the last remaining questions here; we're getting close. "If a casino is not eligible to receive funds, can the hotel and other portions of the facility be eligible?"
Johanna Zetterberg:
The basic answer to that question is no. Funds are not eligible for use on let's say hotels or other structures that support the casino. So the real test here is, let's use the example of a hotel; if the casino were not there would the hotel be there? If the hotel would be there then you could use funds to treat it, but if it wouldn't be there, if it really is there to support the casino, then you would not be able to use funds to treat that hotel.
Charles Hemmeline:
And a similar follow-on question here, which you may have just answered. If a tribe that owns a hotel that is attached to a casino with separate mechanical systems, can funds be used to implement ECMS in that hotel?
Johanna Zetterberg:
The answer would be the same for that. Yes, the hotel supports the casino, then it's not eligible.
Charles Hemmeline:
Mm hmm. And I'll go ahead, there's another follow-up there on whether or not competitive grant funds could be used to do those types of activities in the casino. And even though we haven't released that FOA, I think the answer would still be no, unfortunately, because the boundaries of that project and that work would still be under the same guidelines as the formula grants, and so since that regulation is in place we'd be following it in the competitive piece as well.
Question here, "Are energy assistance activities limited to homes within the reservation boundaries?"
Johanna Zetterberg:
I don't believe we are requiring that. The tribal government that receives the grant can use it outside of their jurisdiction if they wish to do so.
Charles Hemmeline:
Great. Question here from Angela, "Earlier you mentioned that an organization can submit an application on behalf of multiple tribes, so as long as each tribe furnishes the appropriate resolution. Is it safe to assume that you're referring to an outside organization or company?"
Johanna Zetterberg:
Lizana, do you want to take a shot at that one? Can you repeat the question?
Charles Hemmeline:
Sure. "Earlier you mentioned that an organization can submit an application on behalf of multiple tribes, so as long as each tribe furnishes the appropriate resolution. Is it safe to assume that you're referring to an outside organization or company?"
Lizana Pierce:
That would be one possibility. Yes.
Charles Hemmeline:
So either a separate organization or one tribe on behalf of multiple tribes?
Lizana Pierce:
Or a subdivision of a tribe, or a sub-organization, sub-element of a tribe may also be delegated that authority. Or _____ an Alaskan association that's composed of a variety of native villages, and that may be one option to submit on behalf of their member villages, as long as they have resolutions from each of those, and do an aggregated sort of energy plan or an energy conservation implementation.
Charles Hemmeline:
Great. I think we may have time for just about one more, so I want to take one here. "Normally when I write a grant there is an outline to follow on what we will do and how we will do it. When we're describing our activities, how detailed do you want us to be, or is there an outline template available somewhere?"
Johanna Zetterberg:
There's not an outline template available, but there is a template of a filled in form that is on our Web site. There's a strategy example form, and also an activity sheet example form, so please go ahead and take a look at those; they're posted in our solution center.
Charles Hemmeline:
Okay. I'm just going to follow on the _____ last one, since we had several questions on this and it's pretty relevant, from Vanessa, "Why are casinos excluded, since they are such a large consumer of energy?" And I'll answer that and say we don't have a specific justification, other than that's what was in the legislation that we created this program from, the authorizing legislation we described in the Recovery Act as a whole. Unfortunately a few uses mentioned zoos, swimming pools, casinos, were simply knocked out of consideration, and so the legislators who passed the Recovery Act had some intent in mind in doing that, and so we've had to be faithful to that in writing the regulations for this FOA, but that one was not our decision.
All right, well I see that we're about out of time, so I just want to wrap it up here. I really want to thank Johanna for the good answers to these questions. Thank you very much to Lizana and to Roger for helping with describing the program and walking through those activities. Very helpful and hopefully everyone got a lot out of that material.
I want to just close by saying thank you for joining, and please look for additional webinars that we're going to hold next week and the week after, kind of taking you through some finance issues, the benefits calculator we talked about, and an even deeper dive on the process that you'll need to go through to register with FedConnect and actually apply for these funds, so look for that next Wednesday.
So with that we'll sign off. Thank you very much. Have a great Friday.
Johanna Zetterberg:
And thank you, Charlie.