Clean Ohio Fund >

The Ohio Legislature has approved, and sent to the Governor for Signature, House Bill No. 3 which creates the Clean Ohio Program. The Clean Ohio Program implements the constitutional authority of Issue 1 which was approved by Ohio's voters last November.

The Clean Ohio Program provides four hundred million dollars over four years for "Brownfield" environmental clean up projects and "Greenfield" open space and conservation preservation projects.

The Clean Ohio Program has four sub-programs, two of which require significant involvement of the district public works integrating committees and the Commission.

• Brownfields: Applications for financial assistance will be submitted to the applicants respective district public works integrating committee for evaluation and prioritization, with the six highest priority projects being forwarded to the Clean Ohio Council for final consideration on a State wide basis. The program will be administered by the Ohio Department of Development, in close coordination with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. Applications and guidelines for project prioritization by district integration committees will be developed by the Ohio Department of Development. Funding; $50,000,000 per year.
  
  
• Open space and watershed conservation (Clean Ohio Conservation Program): Each district integrating committee shall appoint an eleven member Natural Resources Assistance Council which will receive and prioritize applications in a process similar to the Commissions existing programs. Funding; $37,500,000 per year.
  
  
• Farmland preservation: Grants to local entities for the purchase of agricultural easements. Administered by the Department of Agriculture, with the advice of a Farmland Preservation Advisory Board. Funding; $6,250,000 per year.
  
  
• Recreational trails: Grants to local entities for the acquisition and development of recreational trails. Administered by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, with the advice of a Clean Ohio Trail Advisory Board. Funding $6,250,000 per year.

The full text of House Bill 3 will be available on the Commissions web site www.pwc.state.oh.us in early July.

Guidelines for district integrating committees, including the nomination and appointment of their respective Natural Resource Assistance Councils, are being developed and will be available by mid-July.

A district leadership meeting to review the Clean Ohio Program and the new responsibilities of the district integrating committees will be held in conjunction with an introductory meeting with interested parties from the open space, watershed and environmental community. These meetings are tentatively scheduled for July 24, 2001 at a location in the Columbus area. Please hold the date, confirmation of the date, time and location will follow.

Tentative allocations for the Clean Ohio Conservation Program (Open space and watershed Conservation) for Program Year 1 (2001) are as follows:


District Total Allocation

1. 3,685,540
2. 2 2,282,668
3. 3 2,913,435
4. 4 1,533,039
5. 5 2,068,554
6. 6 1,429,047
7. 7 1,848,426
8. 8 1,495,460
9. 9 1,528,231
10. 10 2,192,937
11. 2,314,522
12. 1,266,080
13. 1,838,884
14. 1,875,736
15. 2,210,982
16. 2,103,347
17. 1,829,667
18. 1,991,709
19. 1,073,736

Released: June 29, 2001
Status: Informational
Distribution: Chairs, Liaisons, Interested parties.