Section 6029.111 - Remediation grants(a) Authorization.--The department shall award grants for the remediation of waste tire piles existing on or before the effective date of this act upon receipt of a proposal submitted by a person or municipality.(b) Priority.--The department will announce the sites for which each proposal may be accepted. The department shall select these sites based on the environmental danger posed by the sites as determined by the department.(c) Prerequisites.--(1) Persons or municipalities submitting proposals to the department to remediate sites shall do so on a form provided by the department. The proposal at a minimum shall contain:(i) A description of the person or municipality experienced in tire pile remediation.(ii) Markets or uses for the remediated tires.(iii) Schedule for the remediation of tires.(iv) Proposed cost of the used tire pile remediation.(2) Proposals shall include any additional information the department deems necessary. The department shall establish guidelines for awarding grants. These guidelines may be updated by the department as needed.(3) The department shall establish a grant ceiling for each proposed tire pile to be remediated based on the number of tires contained in the pile and estimated processing costs. Proposals must request an amount that may not exceed the ceiling established by the department. The department will give priority to those proposals indicating the removal of tires for reuse, recycling or energy recovery, in that order. The department shall award a grant for the proposal requesting the fewest funds for any given site unless it determines, in its sole discretion, that a greater potential for environmental degradation would be remediated by a proposal for another site.(4) Grant recipients shall apply funds received from the department under this section only to those purposes and activities authorized by contract with the department or otherwise approved by the department.(d) Required grants.--The department shall not award a grant under this section to any person or municipality which has contributed in any manner to the creation of a waste tire pile.(e) Limitation.--(1) Grants under this section shall not be used for the purchase of equipment.(2) No grant recipient may dispose of whole used or waste tires in landfills if the whole used or waste tires are acceptable for recycling, reuse or energy recovery.(3) Grant recipients shall make the whole used or waste tires or processed tires available to an appropriate facility for reuse, recycling or energy recovery, including resource recovery.(f) Lapse of grant.--A grant offering under this chapter shall lapse automatically if funds for the grant are not encumbered within one year of the offering. The department may, in its sole discretion, reoffer the grant, offer the grant for the remediation of that site to another entity which submitted a proposal or announce the solicitation for new proposals for that site.(g) Lapse of encumbered funds.--Grant funds that have been encumbered shall lapse automatically to the Used Tire Pile Remediation Restricted Account if the funds are not expended by the grantee within two years after they have been encumbered. The department may, upon written request from the grantee, extend the two-year period for an additional period not to exceed three months.(h) Availability of funds.--All obligations of the Commonwealth under this section are contingent upon the availability of funds under section 110 . 1996, Dec. 19, P.L. 1478, No. 190, §111, imd. effective. Amended 2002, July 10, P.L. 781, No. 111, § 8, effective in 60 days.