(a) Yes, your community group is eligible for a TAG if:
(1) You are a group of people who may be “affected” by a release or a threatened release at any facility listed on the National Priorities List (“NPL”) or proposed for listing under the National Contingency Plan (NCP) where a “response action” under CERCLA has begun;
(2) Your group meets the minimum administrative and management capability requirements found in 2 CFR 200.302 by demonstrating you have or will have reliable procedures for record keeping and financial accountability related to managing your TAG (you must have these procedures in place before your group incurs any expenses); and
(3) Your group is not ineligible according to paragraph (b) of this section.
(b) No, your community group is not eligible for a TAG if your group is:
(1) A “potentially responsible party” (PRP), receives money or services from a PRP, or represents a PRP;
(2) Not incorporated as a nonprofit organization for the specific purpose of representing affected people except as provided in §35.4045;
(3) “Affiliated” with a national organization;
(4) An academic institution;
(5) A political subdivision (for example, township or municipality); or
(6) Established or presently sustained by ineligible entities that paragraphs (b) (1) through (5) of this section describe, or if any of these ineligible entities are represented in your group.
[65 FR 58858, Oct. 2, 2000, as amended at 79 FR 76058, Dec. 19, 2014
You can make your group eligible by establishing an identity separate from that of the PRP or other ineligible entity by making a reasonable demonstration of independence from the ineligible entity. Such a demonstration requires, at a minimum, a showing that your group has a separate and distinct:
(a) Formal legal identity (for example, your group has different officers); and
(b) Substantive existence (meaning, is not affiliated with an ineligible entity), including its own finances.
(1) In determining whether your group has a different substantive existence from the ineligible entity, you must establish for us that your group:
(i) Is not controlled either directly or indirectly, by the ineligible entity; and
(ii) Does not control, either directly or indirectly, an ineligible entity.
(2) You must also establish for EPA that a third group does not have the power to control both your group and an ineligible entity.
You may participate in your capacity as an individual in a group receiving a TAG, but you may not represent the interests of an ineligible entity. However, we may prohibit you from participating in a TAG group if the “award official” determines you have a significant financial involvement in a PRP.
Yes, EPA uses the same criteria found in §35.4020 in evaluating the eligibility of your group or any group of individuals who may be affected by a release or a threatened release at a Federal facility for a TAG under this subpart.
(a) Only one TAG may be awarded for a site at any one time. However, the recipient of the grant can be changed when:
(1) EPA and the recipient mutually agree to terminate the current TAG or the recipient or EPA unilaterally terminates the TAG; or
(2) The recipient elects not to renew its grant even though it is eligible for additional funding.
(b) In each of the situations described in paragraph (a) of this section the following information applies:
(1) If you are a subsequent recipient of a TAG, you are not responsible for actions taken by the first recipient, nor are you responsible for how the first recipient expended the funds received from EPA; and
(2) The process for changing recipients begins when an interested applicant submits a Letter of Intent (“LOI”) to the Agency expressing interest in a TAG as described in §35.4105. We will then follow the application procedure set forth at §§35.4105 through 35.4165.