Montana Coal Endowment Program: Emergency Grants (MT)

The Montana Coal Endowment Program offers emergency grants to address critical infrastructure needs, supporting projects like drinking water and wastewater systems. With $100,000 allocated per biennium, these grants are available year-round, provided they address unforeseen emergencies that threaten public health or safety. Projects must be essential and cannot be for preventive maintenance. Typically, grants are capped at $30,000, ensuring timely resolutions to urgent infrastructure challenges.

NOTE: Applications for emergency grants will be accepted on a continuous basis, until there are no more MCEP emergency grant funds available in any given biennium. Emergency grants are available beginning July 1 of odd years, following Legislative authorization, and remain available until funding is fully awarded.
The Montana Coal Endowment Program (MCEP) is a state-funded program that is designed to help address the "affordability" of local infrastructure projects by providing grants to lower the cost of constructing public facilities.
The situation being corrected must be the result of reasonably unforeseen circumstances and not the result of normal use, age, deterioration, or negligence on the part of the owner; funding will generally not be recommended for projects that would have been addressed and prevented through an adequate O&M program.
Before being considered an emergency for purposes of this program, the project must mitigate a problem that is critical to the operation of a system. Funding will not be provided for preventive maintenance or to provide a backup to an existing system component. All of the proposed expenditures must be essential to resolving the emergency and necessary for completing the proposed emergency project. The emergency should be a project that is taken care of promptly (as opposed to a project that might not go forward without the emergency grant funding).
Types of projects eligible for MCEP emergency grant assistance include:
Drinking water systemsWastewater treatment systemsSanitary sewer or storm sewer systemsSolid waste disposal and separation systems, including site acquisition, preparation, or monitoringBridges
Usually limited to $30,000 per project.