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can you get your address please we starting scott yes yes sir all right thank you welcome everyone to the higher blends infrastructure incentive program this is the second application window i'm Tony Crooks with me today are Kelly Bogle Jeff Carpenter and Lisa Noty my HBIIP colleagues together we are administering the HBIIP program today we're going to there we go today we're going to discuss the uh highlight the program updates and the funding notice that was publicly yesterday we're going to talk a little bit about an overview of the program and what we're calling HBIIP 101 we'll discuss a procedure for enrolling in the program discuss some environmental requirements in our process and leave a good bulk of the time today for questions so let's talk about funding notice updates the solicitation of applications for the higher blends program for 2021 was published yesterday it announced a window that would be open for 30 days for up to accept applications uh it will the window will close at 5 59 pm eastern standard time on the 19th of January that's a Tuesday 2021. In this round the maximum grant available to eligible participants is 3 million dollars there is approximately $22 million remaining of the original $100 million that was made available uh we're making available approximately $15 million to fueling stations and approximately $7 million to fuel biodiesel distribution facilities and this time around the agency is reserving for itself the discretion to re allocate available funds as necessary among the applicant types depending on the number of applications received the amount of funds requested the any money returned to the program applicants and we're saying that applicants selected to receive funds in the first round for funding that's the original solicitation that was published on may 5th will not be considered what does this program do the purpose of the hbip is to increase significantly the sales and use of higher blends of ethanol and biodiesel higher blends of ethanol or are ethanol blends greater than 10 percent such as e15 e85 higher blends of biodiesel or greater blends greater than 5 percent such as b20 or higher and we're doing that by expanding the infrastructure for renewable fuels derived from U.S agricultural products who may apply to this program transportation fueling facilities fuel stations convenience stores hyper market fuelers fleet facilities and similar entities and fuel distribution facilities terminal operations depots midstream partners heating oil distributors and similarly equivalent operations what funding is available as I said earlier approximately $22 million remains available to eligible participants approximately $15 million is available to transportation fueling facilities for higher blends of ethanol and higher blends of biodiesel and $7 million is available to transportation fueling facilities and such biodiesel distribution facilities for activities related to higher blends of biodiesel greater than five percent what are the terms of this grant grants of up to fifty percent of total eligible project costs but not to exceed three less how must funds be used funds made available under HBIIP may only be used for eligible equipment infrastructure and related expenses to support the sales and use of higher biofuel plans eligible project costs are those incurred during the grant period and we'll talk about that in just a second are for purchase and installation and retrofitting of fuel dispensers related equipment and infrastructure to support higher black blends of fuel cells different construction replacement improvements fees associated with construction permits and licenses and professional service fees the grant period is that period that extends from the effective date or of the execution of the grant agreement through its expiration date the HBIIP grant period is for 18 months unless otherwise specified in the grant agreement or unless agreed to by the agent so the grant period begins with execution of the grant agreement uh it's for up to 18 months unless otherwise specified by the or agreed to by the agent and so the effective question is when can I start ordering equipment and scheduling contractors you can start that now but just remember that costs incurred prior to you signing a grant agreement are not eligible we expect to begin announcing awards making obligations and signing grant agreements in march there is a matching funds requirement of at least one dollar for every dollar in grant funds has to be in matching funds this is just a table to to it's kind of a reminder of the sources of that of matching funds matching funds can be sourced from arrangements with private entities or commercial vendors of fuels agricultural commodity and renewable fuel promotional organizations state-led programs and private sector efforts matching funds again are required to receive the HBIIP grant are secured by the applicant they are the remainder all eligible project costs not covered by grant funds so grant funds plus matching funds equal total eligible project costs they consist of cash and in-kind contributions there is no in-kind contribution allowed from the applicant matching funds must have written commitments bank statements for applicant cash letters of commitment for all other types matching funds may not be from other federal grants and but they may be from passive tax equity contributions the program has a targeted assistance goal for owners of 10 fueling stations or fewer we're allowing or making available approximately 40 percent of fueling station and fleet facility funds that will be six million dollars in this round approximately again to owners of 10 fueling stations or fewer but also on once at least one station there's also a consideration for geographical diversity uh in order to encourage um uh fueling station uh incentives in uh certain locations we're giving consideration for fuel stations located in along interstate corridors uh those that are the sole station in an area uh fueling stations located west of the Mississippi River and 24 states and and the uh five u.s territories and in the six new england states the number of awards will of course depend on the number of eligible participants enrolled in submitting an application and the total amount of funds they request if it in the unlikely event that every successful applicant is awarded the maximum amount then we'll make eight awards let's talk a few seconds a few minutes about enrollment how do we get started first we recommend that you go to our website at rd.usda.gov/hbiip and click the how to apply button that will take you to our program website at and we click the to apply tab and open the checklist under the to apply tab there's a list of important documents the first one is the checklist for the online application system if you open that you will it will list for you the elements that you need to assemble to submit and to in an access request to the system you'll need an USDA eAuthentication you'll need a SAM CAGE code a DUNs number and your your firm's tax identification number you will need to request access to the online system and you will need to receive access to the online applications all separate steps first you can you can get a Dun and bradstreet universal numbering system number by calling this telephone number or online at this URL then you when you acquire that number you can register it at www.sam.gov include the CAGE code and the expiration date that's along that's associated with that DUNs number and again create a usda e-authentication customer account a level two access is required here's a copy of the online access request and you must request to participate uh we recommend that you select under the request type uh create both company account and user account under the company information you must provide the company's legal name the company tax identification number the DUNs number and the sam cage code you must select under the applicant type one of the four that we provide are you an owner of 10 fueling stations or fewer or the authorized representative are you the owner of more than 10 fueling stations are you an owner of a fleet facility or manager of a fleet facility are you an owner of a fuel distribution facility and again we recommend that you provide at least two authorized users you'll need to submit that completed access request to this email address hirgher blends grants at act hyphen access usda.gov you'll receive an automatic reply to acknowledge a receipt of your email then the agency should be contacting you within two or three days you're probably of course if you're submitting a request today you'll need to allow for the holidays but we will be processing these as quickly as we receive them upon approval your company's authorized and rightful users will receive a correspondence an email from rd.admin app support usda.gov with this URL the higher blends grants hyphen apply.rd.usda.gov we recommend that you copy this URL and paste it into the address bar of a Google chrome internet browser and hit enter and then you bookmark this url for future use we're also provided a on our under the to apply tab the HBIIP online application instruction and user's guide it's a step-by-step set of inspect instructions to take you through the application online application system here's a picture of the front page and of the table of contents of the user's guide there are several elements that are that are required for the application that you can begin to complete or at least start reviewing while you're waiting for your online access so i'm going to turn it over to jeff now and let him talk about the environmental requirements and process scott it's yours now thanks tony um first just a quick reminder to go ahead and submit any questions that you have into the chat so we can answer those when we get to the question portion um first i'd like to start with the environmental review process please keep in mind that this can be started at any time and you are encouraged to begin it as soon as possible an applicant will complete an environmental checklist for each project site location and will prepare the required supporting documentation and submit it to the energy coordinator in the state where the project is located if the applicant has sites in multiple states they should send all of the environmental checklists to the state with the largest number of projects if they are unable to determine which state has the largest number of projects they should send all environmental checklists to the state where the company is headquartered if there is a project located in that state and if not they should choose one of the states with the largest number of sites to submit all of the environmental checklists to the energy coordinator in that state will coordinate with the other states scott could you please put the links for the environmental checklist and state energy coordinator list into the chat audience please note audience please note that you will need to copy and paste the links as they are not clickable also please note that both links are also on the hbip website so step two in this process is that the energy coordinator will acknowledge receipts of the environmental checklist and supporting documentation with an email response to the applicant this response will need to be uploaded into the online application portal under the environmental review documentation section to serve as to serve as evidence that the environmental review process was started prior to applying the energy coordinator and state environmental coordinator will complete their environmental review and will send the USDA Rural Development environmental checklist or 1970-1 or internal review form with supporting documentation to me i will coordinate with the administrator's office to have the form signed by the approval official and will notify the applicant by email that the environmental review has been completed this is a very important part in the process as it must be completed for all sites that the applicant has before funding can be obligated if you are selected for funding so this side this slide shows where you can find the environmental checklist on the HBIIP website just wanted to point that out to you guys this is an example of the environmental checklist the first page of it this slide shows an example of what the environmental checklist submission and response might look like so as I mentioned it's important to get that email back from the energy coordinator that these documents were submitted to to upload into the application portal this slide shows where the email acknowledgement needs to be uploaded in the online application portal and this is the box that you should get when you have a successful upload we will now move on to environmental reviews all federal agencies must promulgate their environmental regulation to be in compliance with the national environmental policy act or NEPA HBIIP utilizes our rv environmental policy and procedures outlined in 7 CFR 1970. there are three levels of classification the first is categorical exclusion and this can be with or without an environmental report depending on which category it falls under the second level is an environmental assessment and the third level is an environmental impact statement so here we're going to discuss what the likely levels of reviews are existing station projects who are replacing dispensers or underground storage tanks assuming that no undisturbed ground is being affected will likely be a categorical exclusion without report existing station projects that are installing new or additional underground storage tanks or dispensers new station projects and most fuel distribution facility projects will likely be a categorical exclusion with report it is important to note that there is no cookie cutter for environmental reviews so it is difficult to say what a project's level of review will be until we have the checklist and supporting documentation regulations vary from state to state so the best advice we can give is to work closely with the energy coordinator overseeing the environmental review it is also important to note that there are excuse me it is also important to note that when we are completing environmental reviews we must look at the project as a whole and not just the portion of the project that the agency might fund additionally there are extraordinary circumstances that we must watch for and which could elevate a project's environmental review to an environmental assessment the main three to watch for are impact to historic properties impact to threaten or endangered species and violations of permit conditions some states have semi automated single point of contact systems for intergovernmental reviews a list of these states can be found under the to apply tab on the HBIIP website these reviews have a regulatory review period of up to 60 days another important item to be aware of due to the current pandemic is related to the american council on historic preservation or achps tolling that has been enacted in relation to state and tribal historic preservation offices normally when we send consultation letters to these entities we have to allow them 30 days to respond under tolling this time frame is essentially paused we have a way of closing this consultation but we will have to send an additional letter that requires 15 business days for response as well as additional contact attempts it's important to keep these time frames in mind as they may delay your environmental review and thus your construction timeline the most important thing to take away from this is to communicate with the energy coordinator reviewing your projects to get a clear picture of what is required i think that is all I have I will turn it over to you scott thanks jeff uh yeah I just want to encourage our audience to go ahead and use that chat box on the left hand side of your screen with any questions that you may have while we have our experts in the room uh this is a good time to do so so I'm just gonna go go ahead and go through some questions again thank you for submitting and I will get started here one second all right can you clarify if the program will be reopening and if it will be open to both transportation fueling stations and fueling distribution facilities hello um I I believe that's to tell you I was on mute thank you no problem I was the first guy [Laughter] thanks for the for the reminder so before I get started answering questions let me just say that we cannot over emphasize early contact with the energy coordinators on these projects if you'll go to our website and look at the tab contacts you'll see a listing a link to a listing for our energy coordinators so contact the one in the state where your project will be located there if you have fuel stations in several states you will need to contact the energy coordinator in several states um so the again uh let's get on with the question uh when will a program start it began yesterday with the announcement of the notice in the or the publication of the notice in the federal register it announced a window for 30 days beginning yesterday the 21st of december and closing the 19th of january which is a tuesday in 2021 awesome thank you tony you're asking about fueling stations and fleet facilities we have $15 million available of the remaining $22 million identified for fueling stations for ethanol and biodiesel higher blends activities and we have $7 million for fuel distribution facilities for biodiesel related activities great thanks tony nice moving along here do our clients that are reapplying need to get another e-authorization or can they use the one they used last round our client was not selected for funding in the first round can they reuse their application and resubmit in the second round and can clients access that request now so uh first things first uh i would check to see if your e-authentic e-author's authentication account is still active if it is you can use it you will have to submit a new access request and you will have to enroll and complete and submit an entirely new application applications from the first round or will not be available and oh and the third question was uh we started accepting enrollment requests late last week uh you we are accepting them now got it thanks Tony um so if you've applied if you have applied previously are there any limitations to applying again and related and is the three million cap applicable just to this round so the limitations that apply if you applied in the in the first round uh pertain to whether or not you were selected for funding those that were selected for funding know who they are because we contacted them directly those who were not selected for funding also know who they are because we also contacted them directly if you were selected for funding in the first round we will not consider your application in the second round if you were not then of course we encourage you to apply in the second round great thank you so this is a long one we were selected for an award in the first round of agevip applications as an owner of more than 10 fueling stations we understand that we are not eligible for the second round under the convenience category but we are eligible under the second round as a fuel biodiesel distribution facility for our bulking are both lending terminals is that correct no you're not eligible to apply in the second round if you were selected for funding in the first round regardless of your intent we will give consideration perhaps if there is another round in fiscal 2022 of applying again if you were selected for funding in these rounds but that's not that does not pertain to this second round if you were selected for funding in the first round you may not apply or your application if if you get through our screening will not be considered let's say that way got it thanks so do you have any of the details on the fuel distribution facilities slash biodiesel recipients that are receiving funding under the initial round of program funding well we uh let's talk about it in and what we can make publicly available and it's very limited until we have the applicants that were selected um have complete the requirements to receive the award and so uh we we really won't have anything until we make that known to uh we can't really announce anything until we first make that information available to congress and then we can make it available to the public so those that re were selected for funding know who they are because we we contacted them directly and those that were not also know who they were because we contacted them directly to make them aware of that that they can apply in this round okay great thank you um so and can the university of missouri apply as a fleet facility they may uh universities and city corporations or municipal authorities can apply uh for a fleet facility uh grant awesome thank you um and now we're going to continue on if the station and or fueling distribution center has already begun a project let's say they start in june or july would any costs be reimbursable at all if they have a few outstanding pieces of the project yet well it depends on whether that that station or fuel distribution facility signed a grant agreement if they have an executable grant agreement then yes those costs would be reimbursable if they have not uh however no they will not great thanks Tony um and then can you can you repeat the amount allocated for 10 or fewer states there was a a targeted assistance goal of 40 percent of the fueling station money we're saying approximately 6 million dollars great thank you and let me just continue on here I just want to make a reminder to the to the participants today that a recording as well as the presentation slides will be available to our participants and we'll get those out within the coming days so you can reference back now if deposits for equipment have already been made for a project will that portion be disallowed since paid prior to grant being awarded so the short answer to that is yes the costs executed outs or costs incurred rather outside the executed grant agreement are ineligible project costs so we can't reimburse you for those things that you having for those expenses incurred if you haven't signed the grant agreement okay thanks tony now does the timing of application affect the applicant's ability to be selected as long as it's within the application period [Music] does the timing of application affect the applicant's ability to be selected no so long as you submit within the application window your application will receive the same consideration and will go through the same process as anyone else that submitted the application within the window so there's no particular preference given to anyone that comes in early there is in the event of a tie a tie breaker that has to do with completion or submission date but that is a remote possibility given the way that we calculate the priority score it's i guess the the quick answer to that question is uh there's a possibility of that but it's a remote possibility basically if you get your application in on time it will get every consideration great thank you so for brand new group site i'm sorry brand new ground up sites are soil samples and environmental testing required so um i i think I would defer that one to prefer to give that one to Jeff to answer I'm guessing his answer is you should contact your energy coordinator and about that yeah yup thanks um so when our our environmental review is different than what I think a lot of the fueling industry is familiar with i think they're more familiar with phase one phase two those types of things where we're dealing with hazardous materials our environmental review is looking at things like impact to flood plain wetlands um prime farm ground historic preservation those kind of things so it's it's a much different environmental review than what you are used to typically I would say soil samples are probably not required again it's going to be best to work with the energy coordinator in the state that this project is located in because the state environmental coordinator may have different requirements specific requirements that apply to their projects and that does vary significantly from state to state and how some of these things are looked at um I I guess that's a short answer but the like Tony mentioned the best answer is probably just to work with that energy coordinator to get that resolved all right hey thanks Jeff um and i just and i know just to reiterate again uh I'll say the question as a second round applicant is it necessary to reach out again to your rural energy coordinator or are we able to use the confirmation from our summer application i can take this thing too yes please I would say that if you apply it in the first round and your environmental review was completed and you received a notification for me that it was completed then you could utilize that initial um documentation to submit that if it was not completed I think it would be best to review your environmental checklist and resubmit it to the energy coordinator due to workloads those projects that were not selected for funding during the first round we had told the energy coordinators to stop working on environmental reviews because we did not know that the second round was going to happen so I guess that's the answer that I would go with awesome all right thank you Jeff um and this is again to the group so was level two access required last time level two access was recommended to start with last time and then uh we made it a requirement we started out as a level one because of the coveted restrictions that we had and we just had difficulty getting people enrolled generally within for a number of reasons but there was always the recommendation that you upgrade that level one to a level two and as we have it now we are requiring a level two access got it and can you can you just explain the difference between the two levels it's a security I can't go into too much detail about it all I can say is that a level two access has to do with presenting a personal identification to someone to verify your that you are who you say you are it has to do with uh security of the system okay great thanks Tony um well well small gas stations convenience stores qualify for this grant and how much could they potentially qualify for and additionally what is the sam code yes sir so small gas stations and convenience stores are in indeed encouraged to apply for this grant their maximum grant available is as with every one other uh eligible participant up to three million dollars or 50 percent of their total eligible project cost whichever is less now I have a general idea what a SAM CAGE code is it is a requirement of anyone for any participant or any uh one requesting federal funds it is uh one of the ways that the federal government identifies who it's providing money to us and if you need much more detail than that i'm happy to uh give that question to an expert but mostly the most important part of it is it is required in order to get access to the system and it's likely to take you two or three days or or even more to get it so it's it's a good idea if you don't already have a sam cage code to begin applying for one today all right thanks Tony um it's basically I don't it's authenticating the applicant um is who they say they are yeah thanks Tony um so moving along here can you apply for permitting prior to receiving funding and how does the permitting timeline work with the grant period you're welcome to apply for permitting you can't occur any costs associated with that until after you've signed a grant agreement we expect to begin signing grant agreements after the middle of march uh so with respect to any timing that's associated with that I I'll let you um you assess what works best for you as as an applicant can I add to that tony yes please Jeff um so I just want to explain I guess the signing of the grant agreement and how that process flows so the initial part of what you're working on is getting your application in and getting the environmental review completed we can make selections prior to a grant agreement or excuse me before an environmental review is completed but we cannot obligate any funding until that environmental review has been completed and if you're if you have multiple sites it has to be completed for all sites before we consider that completed once we obligate funds we have to do that part first we have to complete the environmental review make selections then we can issue our letter of conditions there's a couple forms that need to be sent back to us to allow us to obligate the funding once the funding is obligated then we can issue the grant agreement so it all kind of lays out in a certain format and how this flows and I just want you guys to be aware of that thanks tony thanks Jeff so can you clarify um eligible funding last time we were under the assumption that only equipment was eligible for example dispensers and likewise equipment such as nozzles hoses concrete etc are other items eligible let me go to that slide and pull it up just for clarification here so this is what i have here take a second so any eligible project costs are those that are occurred during the grant period as we said it's for the purchase installation and or retrofitting of fuel dispensers related equipment and infrastructure to support higher blends fuel sales it's for construction related expenses replacements and improvements the fees like construction permits and licenses and to the extent that you're paying a professional service fee to the equipment installer or the manufacturer then those are those that are related to the equipment and to the infrastructure and the dispensers those are eligible awesome thank you uh so we got we have a gentleman who has one gas station and asked if he qualifies for the program well uh you'll have to submit an access request uh with all of the information uh I probably we should have a conversation individually about that I think we I talked to you prior to this sir so um maybe we can talk offline individually and see if uh there are circumstances that would not um allow you to participate but I'm guessing um then in a general answer to that is yes you may great thanks tony um so we own more than one retail location but we are applying for one location only a truck stop um and can mark the applicant type as owner do we mark the applicant type as owner of 10 or more fueling stations still yes you would you it it doesn't depend on the applicant type you select is what type of uh applicant you are not what type you were applying at you the number of stations you're applying for so if you own more than 10 stations then you apply as an owner of more than 10 fueling stations great thanks Tony keep on coming so and what about i think this is an eligibility question above ground storage tanks well I would say if your question is are they an eligible project cost then the answer is yes there are above ground storage tanks for fuel distribution facilities and I am told that some fuel stations use above ground storage tank all right awesome thanks and then I just kind of uh it's all on those lines here but can you address how above ground tanks impact the classification of the environmental review oh that's a very good question I can take that one um so it's going to depend a little bit if um if it's an above ground storage tank and all of the piping and those types of things are also above ground there's no new ground disturbance then it would most likely be a categorical exclusion without reports again this kind of goes back to my comment earlier about there's a lot of variance and how we address environmental reviews and how things are looked at and we have to have a full picture of what the project is so based on just that little bit of information it would most likely be a categorical exclusion without report but that's where that most likely comes in we have to be able to better define what the project is and look at look at everything if you know the piping and those types of things are underground and it's undisturbed ground then it's most likely going to be a categorical exclusion with environmental reports all right thank you Jeff uh now and this probably just goes back to you Jeff if you've pre previously applied do you resubmit an environmental checklist so as I said earlier if if you previously applied and your environmental review was completed then I would just use the documentation that you had from the energy coordinator initially that you submitted if your environmental review has not been completed then I would review your checklist update it as necessary and send that back into them and get a new and new acknowledgment email to submit for two reasons first we want to make sure that it's on the radar since we had kind of told them to stop but also we just want to make sure that there any revisions that may have been needed are made to that environmental checklist as well great thank you and then will there be a need of a phase one ESA um most likely not i can't say for sure i am not a state environmental coordinator so I'm not up to speed on on everything that they do with that phase one and phase two are tied to hazardous materials so we generally don't require them on grant programs but there may be something in the environmental review that would trigger the need for one excellent okay thank you um I can move along the line so this is in regards to the stem CAGE codes again if it takes two weeks to get a SAM number then is it a first come first serve basis okay so I'm not sure how long it takes to get a SAM code now there was a time when it was taking at least 10 working days but let me just um before I say anything else just apologize for the short window that is not something that was in our control in this case we were we're completely doing as we were told and won't speak to the reasons for it um what I what I would say is that the sooner um you apply for a SAM CAGE code the the sooner you will receive one and the sooner and you'll need your DUNs number uh in order to get that so just if you have an interest in applying to this program that is required thanks Tony uh another reminder just wanna let you everyone know there's a couple folks going late so i'm gonna just this meeting is going to be recorded um as we're live now and a presentation the slides will be available to our participants within the coming days what a site plan drawing be helpful for the project in terms of environmental review I would say yes great thanks are sites required to install blender dispenser slash pumps or does the expansion of ethanol products offer awkward count I can repeat that if you'd like I'm reading it and I'm still having trouble sites required to install blender dispenser you have to be it has to be a fueling station located and easily identified I'm not sure what the expansion of ethanol products offered rel count relates to so perhaps we can we can discuss that question offline and we that will help me to provide a com or a more complete answer I apologize I'm just not understanding what what you're asking no problem um you know and like I'm like you guys are very very available um and I'm sure we have the contact information so if anyone would like some clarification questions then sure they could reach out let me just get back to where I was awesome awesome all right okay I'm sorry give me one second here number 27 I think is where we are Scott oh awesome um so our first round awards public record and can they be accessed so we announced the first tranche of awards back in October it was $22 million as it happens and the the awardees were announced publicly in the amounts that they received we haven't had an opportunity to publish any additional awards since then because again we have a process in place where we they have to complete the requirements and we have to make uh Congress aware of those awards and uh not everything in that has been available to us and we have approximately just under 50 candidates that are still working at through the requirements in order to receive the award all right thanks tony and so how do we get an environmental review from the state to get qualified for this program i'll take this one um so as we mentioned during the presentation you would need to go to the hbip website and pull down the environmental checklist from it's under the to apply tab you would need to complete that and then send it to the energy coordinator in the state in which the project is located and and you can find the list for the state energy coordinators on the contact tab once they get it then they would review it and be able to better determine what level of review is likely for that and work with you to get that environmental review completed awesome thanks jeff so there may be a few sites which are under phase 2 ESA are those sites eligible for the grant as long as they can get through our environmental review process yes that would be a a good one to talk with the energy coordinator and probably the state environmental coordinator in the state in which those projects are located about to get further guidance there may be some additional mitigation that is required but you'd have to figure that out with that awesome thank you and so let's say we add tanks and pumps for e15 and e20 but have also put in tanks and pumps for other grades will they also be covered in this grant um well yes tanks and pumps for uh greater than e10 and and I think what they're saying is b20 maybe it's e20 but e20 would be covered for ethanol it's dispensers and related equipment for higher blends of greater than 10 percent ethanol so that would include e15 e20 all the way up e85 is the highest i'm aware of that's being sold in a in a fuel station for for biodiesel that would be greater than five percent such as b20 and higher so yes you can you can install equipment for those higher grades and yes they are eligible project costs thanks tony now is funding available for project and states where the higher blended products are not available well um this is indeed a business decision uh and so um I would leave to you whether it makes good business decent to install equipment for which you cannot sell product so there's no program restriction on you incurring in installing equipment but I would leave that to you whether it makes much sense financially because this is in fact half of this money at least is yours good point thanks tony all right moving along here um inspired me here if the if the convenience store located at the construction site is currently being renovated but the fuel pumps are a separate product not not not to being until after the convenience store is complete does that disqualify an applicant or can it be considered two separate projects yes thank you because that's an environmental consideration more than anything else yeah yep exactly um so essentially yes if the if the site is already being constructed then the project would not be eligible because we would not be able to complete our environmental review on it when we're looking at our projects um we have to look at cumulative effect so that's where we have to look at the project as a whole so we're not looking at just the dispensers being installed we're looking at everything that's tied to that project which would be the construction of the the new store the only potential way around that would be if you stopped construction until we could complete our environmental review but there's still probably going to be some some issues that we have to go work through to get to get that completed anyway got it thanks jeff um so in the situation there is a station that had difficulty getting a quote from a vendor in a timely fashion um due to the torch the short timeline we are concerned with the short timeline that we will not get a complete bid before the january 19th date in this type of situation could estimates be used I would say absolutely uh your best estimate um and as much information from the vendor that you can provide would only help your cause great thank you and then can you explain how the project reimbursement will work what types of documentation is required what is the approximate timeline for two being reimbursed and is there retention so Jeff if you don't mind i'd appreciate your taking a question um so the way we're wanting the project reimbursement to work would be to have applicants submit copies of final invoices um itemized final invoices proof of payment so generally either clear checks or bank statements showing that those invoices have been paid evidence evidence of insurance is showing that there's coverage for the improvements with the property as well as photographs of the improvements with serial numbers if possible we will then review those documents to make sure that the costs are eligible and prepare the required procurement documents to get back out to you there would be documents that the applicant would need to review and sign off on as well as documents that the vendor or contractor would need to review and sign off on once those are all signed and returned we would be able to process reimbursement so as far as the timeline for reimbursement it's really going to depend a lot on how quickly we can review things get things prepared how quickly the applicant can get things signed off on and returned i would think it could go fairly quickly if everything happens in the timely manner but of course if you're having issues you know tracking down a contract or to get a signature or something like that it would delay things great I think I answered thanks about that awesome um so I think we have a we have a first saying that the link that that was sent out earlier two links for the um checklist and what was the other one Jeff uh the energy coordinator list at the end recording that link didn't work but i just want to mention if you copy and paste it did that that's that's going to be the best bet it was noted um but we'll also in our follow-up email send a hyperlink for for those uh energy coordinator list and those links are okay those links are also on the HBIIP website so the environmental checklist is under the to apply tab in the state energy coordinator list is under the contact tab okay thanks Jeff and and let me just remind our our participants today that we strongly encourage that you use a Google Chrome browser um Safari we have issues has issues and there we know that google chrome works let's just say it like that and if if the your comment that the link's not working has to do with the online application system you have to first be enrolled in order to make use of that link all right I'm ready for the next question thanks Tony um is there a limitation to number of stations you own for eligibility I thought you mentioned only those that own 10 or less stations would be eligible is that right there is no limitations on the number of stations that you own there is a special targeted assistance provided to owners of 10 stations or fewer and we said as we said earlier is approximately 6 million dollars that we've identified to those uh owners but no to reiterate there is no limitation on the number of stations that someone can own in order to apply for this program we have some very large retailers that are participants awesome thank you um now so regarding eligibility can a CNG station project that will use renewable natural gas qualify for age group funding unfortunately no this program is for higher blends of fuel ethanol and high higher blends of biodiesel thanks tony so I'm trying to read this correctly if doing a project to upgrade with added biofuels and also non-biofuels would this project be eligible [Music] yes but we would only pay you for the higher blends of biofuels got it thank you you may have mentioned this but it might be worth it again can we reuse documents from the last round if there had not have been any changes for example the signed SF dash 42 42 424-d and the environmental documents yes those documents that you uploaded you can you're welcome to reuse if they're still applicable absolutely we just can't make the application itself available to you okay makes sense thank you so if an environmental review was performed and accepted in round one and does a new environmental review need to be done or will the first one be acceptable for the same question yeah the the first one would be acceptable in a case like this uh in a case where um it was reviewed and accepted and you received the email notification from me indicating that I would upload that email instead of the acknowledgement email from the energy coordinator thanks Jeff so if we have already started our project does this mean that we are not eligible I'll let you address that Jeff and I'll pick up whatever slack there is yeah I would um I would say that that they would not be eligible um for two reasons first the environmental review would not be able to be completed and second the cost would be incurred before they had a fully executed grant agreement thank you thanks Jeff um and what is that again what is the minimum amount of grant money an applicant can receive there's no minimum amount of this grant great and again you can find your energy contact um on the HBIIP website and also the follow-up email that will be sent um if it's possible can we can you review again the matching fun facts and funds elements of the graph I can't I'm happy to do that let me pull that slide up just give me a second here matching funds first there's a cost sharing requirement of at least one dollar for every dollar in grant funds they can come from arrangements with private entities commercial vendors of fuels agriculture commodity renewable fuel promotional organization state-led programs and private sector efforts i'm sure there are others that can assist these are the ones that are that are common to us matching funds are a requirement for the HBIIP grant they are secured by the applicant that's the applicant's responsibility matching funds are the remainder of all eligible project costs not covered by grant funds so matching funds plus grant funds equal total eligible project costs matching funds consist of cash and in-kind contributions they are there's no in-kind contribution from the applicant matching funds must have written commitments bank statements for cash letters of commitment for all other types matching funds may not be from other federal grants matching funds can be passive tax equity contributions thanks Tony um now will applicants who applied in the first round be given priority since they have gone through the environmental reviews that others haven't let you take that as an environmental review question Jeff but then I'll speak to priority just generally yeah i would um they would not receive priority all applicants have to have environmental review completed and then with respect to any preference this although we contacted those that weren't selected and an attempt and tried to uh discuss with them how they could improve their or make eligible their application in the second round there will be no preference given to those that were in the first round and not selected they will have to compete as with all others we review them first for completeness and eligibility then we provide every application to our independent evaluator and then when it's returned to us with the evaluation uh we we begin to compete okay guys um so last time last round our pro or project was described in two phases we did not receive funding last time and phase one of the project is proceeding anyhow this time we'll be applying for phase two should we still describe phase one in the application even though we're not asking for that to be funded so I think we've discussed the challenges associated with us with us providing grant funds to or even doing an environmental uh review on a project that's already begun so it's it's really difficult to get to that Jeff you want to help me with that I think yeah I think they would need to work with the energy coordinator to see I think it depends on how how separate the two phases are and what they are we you probably have to work with the energy coordinator to work through that process to make sure that it would still be um that you would still be able to get an environmental review completed on it without having to stop construction if you're already working on phase one okay they're good um so now how does my client know if they receive level two access as opposed to level one the usdae authentication will notify them of that and you have to apply it and then apply for that specifically and then you'll be notified by them that you've been granted after you meet the requirements got it thank you um okay and so item 20 item number 22 of the environmental information requires phase 1 ESA for all projects over 100 000 in which the agency takes security is this true yes I would say that that is true but we are not taking security understood thank you and item number 26 talks about phase 2 esa information if the investigation is going on and there would be a need of remediation will the government pay the cost of the investigation remediation and closure um I am not an expert in in that remediation so it would you would probably need to talk through that with the energy coordinator in the state well most likely the state environmental coordinator but my assumption would be no that we would not pay for that got it thanks Jeff um are inline blending systems eligible inline blending systems yeah I I has it I'm not sure what that is um so perhaps we need to discuss that uh in detail uh i would say that we we provide a a reference guide in the um in the under the to apply tab that shows you the the equipment that uh that we're happy to fund other than anything that's not in the in the diagrams that we provide we probably need to talk about in particular okay thanks can applicant dollars that are used to change signage and other promotion for the higher blend be used as part of the match let's would you say that again I'm not no problem I'm finding that one an applicant that are used to change signage and other uh promotion for the higher blends be used as part of the match we will let you use up to 10 percent of all total eligible project costs for what we would call marketing and outreach which would include signage that can come from your matching funds with the it can't be um we won't provide grant funds for us for those things okay thank you moving moving along here okay so based from one of the last questions um does this mean that beyond the max amount of 50 percent of the 38 000 max for dispensers for example if the applicant has 5,000 in construction fees permits and licenses are those eligible I can repeat that if you'd like no i i have it i'm able to look at it um okay first of all um we need to discuss what a max means so if in this pertains to the um the activities proposed activities worksheet in the online application and um they're on the the in the first round we had uh we gave some dispensation to to those applica some applications that requested more uh than the max allowed for dispenser installation uh but it was a very small amount and in most cases we rolled back to what was uh we we referred to what was in called the station roll-up and look at a max per dispenser and in this round we're going to be very particular about enforcing that 38 000 max for a dispenser means $38,000 max for a dispenser because that's intended to be the entire cost of installation purchase installation and or retrofitting if there's anything involved with that all right yeah perfect thanks tony um so if my partner and I both own 10 stations together but each of us individually own less than 10 what should they what should they mark on the application [Laughter] if my me and my partner both own more than 10 but each of us own less than 10. what should we mark on the application and you have an ownership in 10 or more stations so you should apply as an owner of up to more than 10 stations thanks tony if we were approved in the first round but one of the stations will no longer get e15 can we replace that station with another one not under this notice thanks no you're not eligible to apply under this notice because you were you were selected for funding in the first round that's right got it and is there a minimum dollar construction value to qualify for the grant um like again we said we have no minimum grant so no i would say there's no minimum construction value to qualify all right we'll go line here can you please restate what considerations will be taken into account in the remote event of a tie um I understood you say the earlier project completion date and or the date application is submitted to doe would be considered can you clarify that yes so you're when you submit the application um the activities that you select the amount that you request go into determining what your priority score is that score is uh has a decimal point assigned to four decimal places to it in order to mitigate the possibility that that two applications come in with the same priority score and we can in fact uh that's only the one calculated we can calculate out to a sixth or a tenth or a sixteenth digit if we choose but we can also consider who submitted the application first in the in as a second go-to in the event that there is some money available and then we give priority to the one first with the highest score uh providing they meet all the other requirements and then to the one who submitted earlier thanks Tony um so we are now okay a biggie pardon Scott let me just finish that by earlier I mean when you submit the application there's a date and time step on it so not only the date that you submitted but the time that you submitted it so all of that goes into to right basically ranking according to a the priority score that you accrue and then the time that you date and time that you submitted that should be sufficient thanks Scott no problem thanks Tony so we are resubmitting our application from last August with some minimal changes would it be helpful to highlight where those changes are in the resubmitted projects yes it would be helpful it would also be helpful to make sure that you address in in careful detail the the particular uh for lack of a better word what comes to mind deficit in your initial application if your application was incomplete because you didn't submit submit a required document make sure that you submit that required document and highlight that if your application was ineligible because you were a fuel distribution facility applying as a fuel station then you need to make sure that when you complete your access request that you apply as a fuel distribution facility now if for some reason now you you were not uh selected for funding because your priority score was insufficient to get you in the money so you just what the reason we gave was low priority then I would work really hard to try and address the HBIIP contribution if if you can do that i would look at ways of of cutting your request because that factors into this the the the amount of score the the lower your request said if it's a number in the denominator the lower it it is the more it affects the overall number the higher your request is of course the opposite is is true the lower your score would be relatively speaking so that that's the way I would address not not being selected in the first round and applying in the second round and trying to ensure your or as best you can your selection in this round great thanks Tony um so moving along here we now have a biodiesel blending system at our bulk plants we are planning to increase our blending rate from b20 to b80 it is the cost of upgrading the system applicable okay so if you were if you have this sort your first time to apply then I would say yes and tell us exactly what you're doing in the technical report if however you applied to do the upgrade above b20 the first time uh in the first round then no you're not eligible to apply in this round thanks tony um so we're nearing the end here um can you can you say one more time how much is being awarded in grants to owners of ten or more fuel stations well we have $15 million available for fueling stations and fleet facilities so and we have a targeted assistance which is not a set-aside of $6 million um there is but we're trying to get to those with six million dollars to the owners of ten stations or fewer that but that's not an earmark that's not a set-aside that's a goal that we've established for ourselves and we have a priority targeted assistance priority that we give to owners of 10 or fewer but overall for all fueling stations and all fleet facilities we have $15 mil approximately $15 million available thanks Tony now could this program be available for use this project this pro product excuse me could this project be eligible for use for renewable renewable fuel excuse me yep I'm not sure the question said yeah can it be is it eligible for renewable fuel I'm yes the renewable fuel includes biodiesel and higher blends of biodiesel and higher blends of ethanol so the answer to that specific question is yes if however they intended to say renewable diesel then the answer is no because renewable diesel needs no special equipment or infrastructure renewable diesel is fully fungible with regular diesel so we don't provide any funds for renewable diesel right thanks Tony um and just to maybe say it again for our participants to fill out the application we go to usda.gov and then after that what link do we follow I believe there's some prompts oh let's do that again um let's go to enrollment and all right let's go through this right quick go to our website and click on the how to apply button then click when you get to the program site click to apply and then open the checklist and there's a checklist for the online application system there it will ask you to it will tell you that you need this information a usda authentication a SAM CAGE code a DUNs number and a tax identification number you can get the Dun and Bradstreet uh DUN's number at this URL or at this telephone number request that uh you can let's see you can also get uh register the DUNs number at SAM.gov you will need to include the CAGE code and the expiration date you and you can get the USDA e- Authentication customer account at www.eos.usda.gov and request a level 2 access thank you sir back to the questions will the remedial cost for an open wdnr site be covered under the construction cost i don't know what a wdnr is do you know what a wd enra is Jeff uh I would assume that it's probably maybe like wisconsin department of natural resources oh okay something like that I would say that remedial costs would not be covered under our portion I don't know if you would consider it under the applicant cost portion got it thanks Jeff [Music] um now is system so you do you have to own 100 of the station as an individual you're required to own have a 51% ownership at least no less than 51 percent ownership relationship got it thank you all right and I think a lot of these we've got we've already covered gentlemen um okay looks like we're running our time too yeah we are and um again you know you just have your contact information so if everyone wants to follow up the presentation is available it will be recorded and it will the presentation slides will be made available to our participants as well so I'll go ahead and let you wrap up Tony okay thanks get back so let's talk about what's next we will have another training webinar it'll have some specific information that we want to provide on next Wednesday 12 30 20 20 at 2 p.m eastern standard time there's a possibility of a third webinar on the 5th of January but we'll discuss those details at the next webinar again by way of reminder the application window closes on the 19th of January 2021 at 5 59 p.m eastern standard time after which we will not accept applications in fact the submit button in the online system is will be unavailable at that point then after that we as I kind of alluded to earlier the agency will review all the submitted applications applications that were submitted in the window before the deadline for completeness and for eligibility and then we will submit all of those that that are complete and eligible to our independent evaluation panel and when after our panel has reviewed them then they we will compete them we expect to make selections beginning in March and we will communicate to all participants the outcome we would do that individually we will make public announcements of awards and obligations as we can after we've made those selections we will begin making grant agreements or executing grant agreements and contracts with our candidates and our successful candidates when we can beginning after that and then they will begin project executions uh as they can on those things in the meantime if you have specific questions uh I introduced Kelly and Jeff and and Lisa earlier here is our contact information we invite you first to see if you can find it on the web page and then you are welcome at any time to send an email to requesting information for to energy programs at usda.gov we ask you to do that first please so thanks everyone for your time today thank you take care everyone stay safe you