Calloway, Lyon, and Marshall counties are among twenty counties across Kentucky to be awarded a portion of approximately $1.15 million in grant funding to clean up illegal dumps. Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet Secretary Charles Snavely made the announcement Tuesday and said the grant program has significantly reduced the number of illegal open dumps across the commonwealth.
As part of the grant funding, a release says counties must agree to provide a 25-percent match of the grant amount. The Energy and Environment Cabinet (EEC) may waive the 25 percent match on an illegal open dump where cleanup costs exceed $50,000.
Funding for the Illegal Open Dump Grant program comes from the Kentucky Pride Fund. The Kentucky Pride Fund is generated through a $1.75 environmental remediation fee for each ton of garbage dumped at Kentucky municipal solid waste landfills. This “tipping fee” was first authorized by the 2002 General Assembly under House Bill 174, for use in a dump cleanup reimbursement program, and for the remediation of historic landfills. In 2006, Senate Bill 50 changed the reimbursement program to a grant program and expanded the scope of the fund to address household hazardous waste collection and recycling infrastructure.
