ARP funding granted

As of Friday, the freezing of new grants on the Environmental Protection Agency was lifted, and on Monday the EPA granted the Asbestos Recourse Program a 60 day extension on their current grant that was set to expire at the end of January.

In the midst of grant negotiations between the Environmental Protection Agency and Libby’s Asbestos Resource Program, U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration issued an order last week that halted all pending contract approvals and grant awards from the EPA, according to the Associated Press last week.

The ARP is funded through a cooperative agreement from the EPA, but their existing grant was put on temporary hold back in Sept., 2016, after the Environmental Protection Agency evaluated the legality of past grant spending. ARP manager Nick Raines told the Lincoln County Commissioners on Jan. 11 that the ARP was operating on a negative cash balance after the EPA assured them that they were going to be reimbursed for the money after the evaluation is over.

During that time, the EPA was not allowed to give out information to the press, and at the time Raines said no one knew what the future held.

“It was nervousness out of uncertainty,” Raines said.

Since the freeze was lifted, the EPA granted an extension to their current grant. Now, they will have until the end of March to finalize and approve their new grant.

Raines estimated that they are “probably 98 percent” done with the finalizing process.