EPA Region 7 has awarded a total of $172,650 in funding to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the University of Nebraska-Omaha for separate efforts aimed at pollution prevention.

Both funding awards are authorized by the Pollution Prevention Act, which allows EPA to provide funding to states, their entities, and tribal governments for technical assistance projects that address source reduction or elimination of pollution by businesses across all environmental media--air, water and land.

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln will receive $71,300, and provide matching funds for a total grant of $142,773 for its Partners in Pollution Prevention program. The program will provide intensive on-site source reduction assistance to businesses using a model applicable to the current challenging economic environment. This project includes efforts to research collection methods for environmental metrics, and provide intense source reduction education to students.

UNL's project is expected to result in a reduction of 13,000 metric tons of greenhouse gases, a reduction of 15,000 pounds of hazardous wastes or materials, the savings of 1 million gallons of water and 1.1 billion BTUs of energy, and cost savings of $63,000.

The University of Nebraska-Omaha will receive $101,350, and provide matching funding for a total of $202,700 toward a cooperative assistance agreement to enhance the capacity of its Pollution Prevention Resource Information Center. UNO's center is one of eight national centers for the dissemination of pollution prevention information. It has expanded its efforts to assist pollution prevention specialists in business by adding new information resources and strengthening existing efforts in measurement and collection developments. UNO's center is the national lead on infomatics and advancing the use of web-based information systems. It also serves as a national co-lead on greening the hospitality industry.

Key partners in the UNO project include the University of Nebraska Medical Center, the Great Lakes Regional Pollution Prevention Information Center, and the University of Nebraska College of Information Science & Technology.