$500,000 in grants announced for counties to dispose of debris after flooding

Gov. Andy Beshear and Energy and Environment Cabinet (EEC) Secretary Rebecca Goodman announced in a press release today that $500,000 in grant funding is available to qualifying counties for flood debris cleanup.

Grants will be made available for the 12 counties that have received a state of emergency declaration from the governor: Bell, Clay, Harlan, Hickman, Knox, Lawrence, Leslie, Letcher, McCreary, Metcalfe, Perry and Whitley. Counties will be eligible for up to $50,000 each to cover the cost of collecting, transporting and disposing of municipal solid waste resulting from the flood event.

Gov. Beshear, who declared a state of emergency Feb. 7 and deployed state resources as he visited areas hardest hit by recent rains, said, “I am pleased to make this money available and stand with communities as they recover from recent flooding. I encourage everyone doing cleanup to be safe and to help the environment by properly disposing of all debris.”

Funding for the cleanup comes from the Kentucky Pride Fund, through a $1.75 environmental remediation fee for each ton of garbage disposed of at Kentucky municipal solid waste disposal facilities. The Kentucky Division of Waste Management administers the fund.

Grant application packages will be emailed to eligible counties.

For additional information, please contact Gary Logsdon (gary.logsdon@ky.gov or 502-782-6405) or Lisa Evans (lisa.evans@ky.gov or 502-782-6355).