NEWS RELEASE

May 27, 2004

Ohio EPA Awards a $50,000 Environmental Education Grant
to Area Colleges for Pollution Prevention

The Ohio Environmental Education Fund (OEEF) has awarded $50,000 to five area colleges for a collaborative project called "Pollution Prevention on the College Campus: A Consortial Approach to Education and Training." A total of nine grants was awarded statewide for a total of $347,313.

The Project provides pollution prevention handbooks and training for more than 200 employees, including faculty and staff in the sciences, arts and theater at Denison University (Licking County), Kenyon College (Knox County), Oberlin College (Lorain County), Ohio Wesleyan University (Delaware County) and the College of Wooster (Wayne County).

Training will cover environmental leadership, environmental management systems, ISO 14001 standards, regulatory compliance, security, chemical hygiene, emergency spill responses and hazardous materials management. Train-the-trainer sessions and materials on best practices will be developed for environmental health and safety managers who will share teaching responsibilities for departmental classes at each college.

The OEEF is administered by Ohio EPA. Grants up to $50,000 are funded from one-half of the civil penalties collected by the Agency for air and water pollution control violations. Eligible grant recipients include environmental groups, public and private schools, colleges and universities, trade or professional organizations, businesses and state and local governments.

The next OEEF grant application deadline is July 15. For grant applications and additional information, contact the Ohio Environmental Education Fund at (614) 644-2873 or visit its Web site at www.epa.state.oh.us/oeef/