National Estuary Program (NEP)

Financing Strategies Used by the National Estuary Program

On average, the National Estuary Programs (NEPs) raise $18 for every $1 provided by EPA. The NEPs successfully leverage federal seed money by:

developing finance plans
building strategic alliances
demonstrating environmental results
providing seed money or staff to initiate and develop new funding sources such as stormwater utilities

Figure 1: NEP Primary Leveraged Dollars: 2003 to 2013. The graph shows Cumulative Primary Leveraging increasing from approximately $0.2 billion to $4.2 billion from 2003 to 2013. Cumulative Section 320 funding increasing from approximately $0.0 billion to approximately $0.2 billion.

Over the 2003-2013 period, the NEPs leveraged $4.2 billion from $230 million in EPA grants. This additional funding came from a variety of federal, state, local and private sources through such mechanisms as:

annual membership appeals
license plate revenues
fines and penalties
state appropriations
intergovernmental agreements

There are many sustainable funding examples from the NEPs.

Figure 2: Primary Leveraging Investments: 2005 to 2013 ($3.5 billion). Wastewater 46.0%, Sewer (CSO) 6.7%, Restoration 11.1%, Monitor/Rsrch. 4.2%, NPS/Stormwater 7.9%, Land Acquisition 17.6%, Administration 2.7%, Other 3.7%

The NEPs use leveraged resources to:

protect and restore important habitat
support critical land acquisitions
upgrade wastewater and stormwater infrastructure
conduct outreach and education
implement other priority actions contained in their Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plans (CCMP).

Note: Leveraged dollars are defined as the dollar value (cash or in-kind equivalent) of resources dedicated to implementing an NEP CCMP above and beyond the funding provided to the NEP under Section 320, including earmark funding. "Primary” leveraging indicates that the NEP Director and staff, rather than NEP partners, played the central or leadership role in obtaining the additional resources.

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