EPA has awarded a five-year cooperative agreement to the Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals (ITEP) to expand Tribal participation in the Exchange Network. ITEP will accomplish the following tasks:

• Outreach to Federally recognized Tribes about the Exchange Network via national meetings;
• Development of a website and newsletter;
• Support the Tribal Governance Group (TGG); and
• Promote collaboration, mentoring, and information sharing among Tribal stakeholders.

Contact information for ITEP is available here.

Salena Reynolds
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
P: 202.566.0466
E: reynolds.salena [at] epa.gov

E-Enterprise for the Environment (E-Enterprise) is a joint initiative of States and EPA to improve environmental outcomes and dramatically enhance service to the regulated community and the public by maximizing the use of advanced monitoring and information technologies, optimizing operations, and increasing transparency.

The E-Enterprise Leadership Council (EELC) is soliciting new project ideas for evaluation of their potential to advance E-Enterprise. Projects that improve efficiency and modernize programs, reach across organizational boundaries, and are consistent with the vision and principles outlined in the E-Enterprise Conceptual Blueprint are encouraged. Embodied in E-Enterprise is a State and EPA commitment to achieve the E-Enterprise vision by making meaningful changes, no matter the size or difficulty. The EELC wants new ideas and early wins that will improve environmental outcomes and improve service to the regulated community and the public!

The EELC anticipates selecting a small set of projects for a full scoping and business case analysis. Based on this review, the EELC may recommend a project for funding. Proposed projects should be documented using the E-Enterprise Leadership Council Program Modernization and Streamlining Project Nomination Template.

Proposals should be submitted via email it to Rob Willis, Interim E-Enterprise Executive Coordinator, at rwillis [at] rossstrategic.com, by April 16th, 2014. For more information, please contact Rob at 206.792.4082

Tom Burack
State EELC Co-Chair
Commissioner, New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services

Please join the CROMERR IPT on March 27, 2014, from 2:00-3:30pm ET for an Exchange Network Open Conference Call to learn about the current suite of CROMERR Shared Services. These services represent the collective input from States and Tribes through the CROMERR IPT to help make CROMERR application development more efficient and provide opportunities to share resources.

The Open Call will be a good opportunity for Network Partners to see the Shared CROMERR Services in action and ask questions regarding their implementation. It will closely mirror the EN2014 National Meeting CROMERR Working Session held February 27 in Philadelphia.

All members of the Exchange Network Community are encouraged to register and participate in the open call by visiting: . After registering you will receive the call-in number and a unique login to use the day of the Call.

Documentation on the shared services, including a detailed toolkit with API guidance and project templates, is available at the CROMERR IPT page.

If you have any technical questions about the Open Call, please contact Kristen Durance at kdurance [at] rossstrategic.com.  For questions related directly to the CROMERR services, please contact:

Chuck Freeman (EPA Co-Chair)
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
P: 202.566.1694
E: freeman.charles [at] epa.gov

Christopher Morrell (State Co-Chair)
Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control
P: 302.739.9025
E: christopher.morrell [at] state.de.us

Members of the Exchange Network community gathered February 25-27, 2014, in Philadelphia for EN2014.  If you were among the 240 attendees, we hope you had a great experience!  The EN2014 Program Committee put together an agenda that highlighted the creative work being done by Network Partners, promoted discussion about the future direction of the Network, and introduced the vision for a new initiative called EPA/ECOS E-Enterprise for the Environment.

All EN2014 Presentations and almost all of the Technical Sessions are available here.  Just click on the webcast links and presentation titles in the Agenda.

We hope you find the content about the Network and E-Enterprise both useful and informative.  We encourage you to share the Agenda links with others to help us reach even more new Partners.  EN2014 was the beginning of many more conversations to come.  Please make the most of the archived materials and stay tuned for information about more opportunities to keep the discussion going!

Andrew Battin
EN2014 Co-Chair
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
P: 202.566.2140
E: battin.andrew [at] epa.gov

Andrew Putnam
EN2014 Co-Chair
Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment
P: 303.692.3579
E: andrew.putnam [at] state.co.us

The EN2014 Opening General Session starts at 9:00am ET, Tuesday, February 25, 2014. To view this and all other EN2014 sessions, visit https://www.exchangenetwork.net/en2014-agenda/.

Online registration to attend EN2014 will close Tuesday, February 18, 2014. After that date, attendees will only be able to register onsite at Meeting check-in.

Registration in not required to view any of the EN2014 webcasts.

For all the latest information on EN2014, including the most up-to-date agenda and who is attending, visit https://www.exchangenetwork.net/en2014/.

EPA Releases Exchange Network Grants Unliquidated Obligations Lists For January 2014

EPA has released the January 2014 update on grantees with excessive Unliquidated Obligations (unspent grant balances or ULOs). In FY 2014, applications submitted by the grant recipient with excessive ULOs will automatically lose 10 points unless the delay in project schedule is on the part of EPA. For more information on excessive ULOs, please see page 24 of the FY 2014 Solicitation Notice. This report is the final determination of whether previously awarded Exchange Network grants meet the excessive ULO threshold.

The updated ULO lists are available at http://www.epa.gov/exchangenetwork/grants/.

Salena Reynolds
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
P: 202.566.0466
E: reynolds.salena [at] epa.gov

EPA has released its draft v3.0 AQS schema to give EN Partners a preview of the changes. The draft v3.0 schema is available here.

Version 3.0 adds elements necessary for the implementation of the air monitoring program quality assurance procedures. These include new QA transactions and additional monitor metadata. Site and monitor metadata have been changed to better align AQS with physical reality and the intended meanings of terms in the monitoring program. Finally, elements that are no longer needed or that are superseded by the new elements have been deprecated.

Key implementation dates follow:

• All data collected in calendar year 2015 and beyond must be submitted using v3.0. The structure, however, remains largely unchanged.
• v3.0 deprecates elements that AQS will not longer allow for data collected beginning in calendar year 2015.
• EPA expects to have v3.0 test and production environments available by June 30, 2014.

Nick Mangus
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
P: 919.541.5549
E: mangus.nick [at] epa.gov

The ICIS-NPDES Integrated Project Team (IPT) will be meeting on January 8, 2014, to discuss two proposed category of changes to the ICIS-NPDES XML schema. The first proposed category of changes will impact all States who are submitting compliance monitoring data to ICIS-NPDES. Specifically, the Compliance Monitoring XML submission will include a new key field that will enable States to report multiple inspections into ICIS for the same day. This change is proposed to be available for testing between July 21-October 2, 2014, with a production release date of October 27, 2014.

The second proposed category of changes includes the addition of optional pieces of data to support the upcoming reissuance of the Regional Storm Water Multi-Sector General Permit, and edits to existing XML elements (tags) that have never been submitted by users. These changes are proposed to be available between March 31-April 4, 2014, with a production release date of April 14, 2014.

More information will be available after the IPT meets on January 8, 2014. If you have questions about the proposed changes or the upcoming IPT call, please contact Alison Kittle at kittle.alison [at] epa.gov.

Alison Kittle
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
P: 202.564.6233
E: kittle.alison [at] epa.gov

In only 100 days, the Exchange Network Community will convene in Philadelphia for EN2014, the 2014 Exchange Network National Meeting. Online registration for EN2014 is now available here. A draft agenda; hotel reservation information; and travel reimbursement guidance for State, Territorial, and Tribal Partners are also available.

For all the latest information on EN2014, visit https://www.exchangenetwork.net/en2014/.

Andrew Battin
EN2014 Co-Chair
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
P: 202.566.2140
E: battin.andrew [at] epa.gov

Andrew Putnam
EN2014 Co-Chair
Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment
P: 303.692.3579
E: andrew.putnam [at] state.co.us

The deadline to submit FY 2014 Exchange Network grants applications is November 15, 2013. The Solicitation Notice is available at http://www.epa.gov/exchangenetwork/grants/.

EPA has posted the October 2013 update on grantees with excessive ULOs to http://www.epa.gov/exchangenetwork/grants/. In FY 2014, applications submitted by the grant recipient with excessive ULOs will automatically lose 10 points unless the delay in project schedule is on the part of EPA. For more information on excessive ULOs, please see page 24 of the FY 2014 Solicitation Notice. The final determination of whether previously awarded Exchange Network grants meet the excessive ULO threshold will be made from the following quarter’s report, which EPA will make available during January 2014.

Salena Reynolds
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
P: 202.566.0466
E: reynolds.salena [at] epa.gov

Due to the Federal government shutdown, EPA has extended the deadline for the FY 2014 Exchange Network grant cycle to November 15, 2013. EPA will accept project proposals for Exchange Network grants in one of two ways: 1) a hardcopy mailed or delivered application, including one original and two copies; or 2) a proposal submitted electronically through the grants.gov website. EPA anticipates that it will announce selection decisions in or around April 2014. EPA plans to issue the awards by July 31, 2014.

The FY 2014 Exchange Network Grant Program Solicitation Notice is available at http://www.epa.gov/exchangenetwork/grants/.

EPA will conduct an EN Grant Solicitation webinar at 1:00 PM ET on October 22, 2013. To participate in the webinar, dial: 866.299.3188 and enter code 202-566-1984#. Access the online meeting at: . An Adobe Connect account is not required to enter the webinar, simply log in as a “Guest.”

Salena Reynolds
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
P: 202.566.0466
E: reynolds.salena [at] epa.gov

Due to the Federal government shutdown, EPA has rescheduled the October 1, 2013, FY 2014 Exchange Network Grant Solicitation Notice Webinar for October 22 at 1:00 PM ET. This webinar will be recorded.

To participate in the webinar:

Dial: 866.299.3188 and enter Conference Code 202-566-1984#.

Access the online meeting at:

An Adobe Connect account is not required to enter the webinar, simply log in as a “Guest.”

If you have any questions, please contact Salena Reynolds at reynolds.salena [at] epa.gov.

Salena Reynolds
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
P: 202.566.0466
E: reynolds.salena [at] epa.gov

To promote greater awareness of Exchange Network Governance activities, important discussions and action items from EN Governance meetings, conference calls, and events are consolidated into monthly activity summaries and posted to the Exchange Network website.

The June 2013 EN Governance Activity Summary is available here.

The schedule of upcoming Governance calls and meeting is available here.

To promote greater awareness of Exchange Network Governance activities, important discussions and action items from EN Governance meetings, conference calls, and events are consolidated into monthly activity summaries and posted to the Exchange Network website.

The March, April, and May 2013 EN Governance Activity Summary is now available here.

The schedule of upcoming Governance calls and meetings is available here.

Due to the shutdown of the Federal government, Exchange Network Partners may experience interruptions in services provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. EPA’s Central Data Exchange (CDX) web page currently states:

“Non-mission critical agency services may be limited or unavailable until federal appropriations are enacted. Information on CDX may not be up to date. Transactions submitted via CDX may not be processed, and EPA and the CDX Help Desk may not be able to respond to inquiries until appropriations are enacted.”

Please watch the CDX website at https://cdx.epa.gov/ for additional information as it becomes available.

Kurt Rakouskas
Exchange Network Coordinator
P: 301.531.5186
E: kurt [at] exchangenetwork.net

In preparation for the FY 2014 Exchange Network Grant cycle, EPA will convene four webinars to assist applicants on the following dates and times.

To participate in any webinar, please dial: 1.866.299.3188; and enter Conference Code 202-566-1984 #.

Use the following links to access the specific webinars indicated.

An Adobe Connect account is not required to enter a webinar, simply log in as a “Guest.”

September 18, 2013; 1:00PM ET

September 24, 2013; 1:00PM ET

September 25, 2013; 1:00PM ET

October 1, 2013; 1:00PM ET

If you have any questions, please contact Salena Reynolds at reynolds.salena [at] epa.gov.

Salena Reynolds
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
P: 202.566.0466
E: reynolds.salena [at] epa.gov

The FY 2014 Exchange Network Grant Program Solicitation Notice is now available for interested applicants at http://www.epa.gov/exchangenetwork/grants/.  Applications are due to EPA by November 8, 2013.

In FY 2014, EPA expects to award an estimated $10,000,000 for 40 to 50 grants of up to $500,000. The exact number of grants will depend on the final amount of EPA’s appropriation for the grant program, the number of applications submitted to EPA by the application deadline, the amounts of proposed budgets, and the outcome of application reviews. The primary outcome expected from the Exchange Network assistance agreements is improved access to, and exchange of, high-quality environmental data from public and private sector sources. With this outcome in mind, applications should demonstrate support for and results toward the EN program priorities.

EPA will accept project proposals for Exchange Network grants in one of two ways: 1) a hardcopy mailed or delivered application, including one original and two copies; or 2) a proposal submitted electronically through the grants.gov website. EPA anticipates that it will announce selection decisions in or around April 2014. EPA plans to issue the awards by July 31, 2014.

To assist applicants, EPA will be hosting webinars at 1:00 PM Eastern on September 18, 24, 25 and October 1, 2013. Further details on the webinars will be provided via EN Alerts.

Salena Reynolds
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
P: 202.566.0466
E: reynolds.salena [at] epa.gov