The EPA has announced $250,000 in grant funds for up to fiveU.S. communities interested in working on an initiative to integrate transportation, energy, land use, and air quality planning. The Sustainable Skylines Initiative (SSI) will provide a framework that, when implemented in a city or region, can achieve measurable emissions reductions within three years. The SSI was piloted in Dallas, Texas, and in Kansas City, Kansas; and the EPA now plans to expand the effort nationally.

The long-term goal of the SSI is to help communities build self-sustaining, community-based partnerships that will achieve positive environmental impacts, livability, and economic development benefits for many generations to come. The SSI asks participating areas to select at least one project from at least five out of seven activity categories, including:

• central city livability (e.g., decrease amount of heated surfaces, increase permeability of surfaces, mitigation of heat island impacts)
• stationary and area sources (e.g., conduct pollution prevention audits for small business to reduce energy consumption and environmental impacts)
• energy and climate (e.g., reduce landscape equipment emissions through sustainable lawn irrigation and turf management)
• land use transportation strategies (e.g., increase public transportation, reduce vehicle miles traveled, convert parking lots to parks)
• diesel engines (e.g., reduce idling, perform retrofits)
• green building and development (e.g., link green building techniques with affordable housing initiatives)
• off-road sources (e.g., replace or retrofit small off-road equipment)

The EPA is looking for areas willing to commit the time and staff resources necessary for a successful program. The premise of this initiative is that supplemental funding could come from the various stakeholders and initiative partners. Applications are due December 17, 2008 . The full Request for Applications is available at: http://www.epa.gov/air/grants/08-08.pdf (PDF, 23 pp, 152K).

For more information on the funding announcement or on the SSI, contact Yvonne W. Johnson at (919) 541-3921 or Johnson.yvonnew@epa.gov . Visit the SSI website at: http://www.epa.gov/sustainableskylines/index.html .

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State and local officials interested in additional information about developing and implementing cost-effective clean energy and environmental strategies that help further environmental and clean energy goals and achieve public health and economic benefits may visit: http://epa.gov/cleanenergy/energy-programs/state-and-local/index.html