Greencastle to receive first stimulus dollars
GREENCASTLE -- Lt. Governor Becky Skillman announced Tuesday, 46 Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grants (EECBG) have been awarded to 37 Indiana cities, towns and counties. The grants will go toward energy efficiency upgrades to public facilities.
For the first time since federal stimulus money became available, some of it will be coming to Greencastle. The state awarded the city $42,687 for traffic signal retrofits.
"These are the first stimulus dollars to come our way and we are delighted to anticipate receiving them with the knowledge that they will allow us to finish changing out all of our street signal lights to LED lights," Greencastle Mayor Sue Murray said.
A total of $3.35 million was awarded statewide for upgrades including LED traffic lights, building lighting upgrades and non-lighting building retrofits. Greencastle was selected for the grant through a competitive bid process.
"These communities have stepped up and are leading by example by making sure public buildings and facilities are not wasting taxpayer dollars through inefficiency," Skillman said. "Grants such as these help Hoosier counties, cities and towns to be good stewards of public facilities by reducing energy consumption."
Skillman will preside over an award ceremony for Round 1 grantees to be held at 2 p.m. on March 26 in the North Atrium of the Indiana State House.
The EECBG program is funded through the U.S. Department of Energy (USDOE) and administered in Indiana by the Indiana Office of Energy Development (OED). Cities and towns less than 35,000 in population, and counties with populations of 200,000 or less were eligible to apply for these grants.
Applicants could submit one application in each of the three areas.
Round 2 of this program opened March 8, with five areas of interest.
The purpose of the Indiana EECBG Program is to assist eligible entities in creating and implementing strategies to reduce fossil fuel emissions in a manner that is environmentally sustainable, reduce the total energy use of the eligible entities, increase energy efficiency, reduce energy consumption and reduce energy costs through efficiency improvements and create new jobs and increased productivity to spur economic growth and community development.