Bowling Green has a blank state to draw up ways to cut down on pollution thanks to a new grant opportunity created by the Environmental Protection Agency.

The Board of Commissioners gave approval Tuesday for the city to participate in the EPA’s Climate Pollution Reduction Grants program, aimed to curb greenhouse gases and other forms of air pollution.

The two-phase program provides $250 million in noncompetitive planning grants and will dish out $4.6 billion in competitive implementation grants later down the line.

Kentucky, along with Florida, Iowa and South Dakota, were the four states who did not turn in a notice of intent before the March 31 deadline, instead giving the opportunity to metropolitan statistical areas.

“The Beshear administration is actively applying for and receiving a number of federal grants to help boost efforts to build a better Kentucky for all our people,” a spokesman from the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet said. “In this instance, however, local governments are best situated to apply for and administer the Climate Pollution Reduction Grant funds.”

Cities like Bowling Green, Louisville and Lexington are eligible to receive up to $1 million in phase I funds, which can be put toward the “development, updating, or evaluation of state, local, tribal or territorial plans to reduce climate pollution,” the EPA’s site reads.

The EPA will then allot phase II implementation funds through a competitive process, with applications set to open in 2024. That money, if awarded, will be used to put planned projects into action.

Matt Powell, the city’s environmental manager, said Bowling Green is the third-smallest community in the country eligible for the planning funds, right ahead of Iowa City, Iowa, and Rapid City, South Dakota. Warren, Allen, Butler and Edmonson counties can all benefit from the program.

“The potential here is enormous,” Powell said. “In the simplest terms that I can think of, this first plan that we’re going to be writing to turn in by March (2024) is going to be the most imaginative, exhaustive list of potential projects that we can conceive of.”

Powell said grant funds will be used to secure a “qualified consultant, an engineering firm that is going to be doing all of the work under our supervision.”

He gave a hypothetical example to the board to illustrate what the implementation funds can accomplish. If the city improves an intersection on a road with a 7,500 per-day traffic count, and cuts average wait times by one minute, approximately 60 fewer gallons of fuel would be burned each day at that intersection.

“That’s about an 1,100 pound-a-day reduction in CO2, and that’s about 215 tons per year of reduction of CO2,” Powell said. “That’s one example of the kinds of things this grant is going to try to identify.”

Projects may include roundabouts, pedestrian bridges or linking public transit systems. Powell said his team will be looking for any way to make things “more efficient, more expedient and to use less energy.”

“Even programs that local utilities are offering now may see some funding,” he said.

Usually the city can look at previous grant use to map out what works and what doesn’t. Not with this project.

“This is a complete blank slate,” Powell said. “You can Google the terms of this grant, and there are no results. We are inventing this.”

After the consultant is secured, Powell said the plan is to create a series of online dashboards that will feature a way for citizens and officials to leave comments and feedback on the plan.

Also Tuesday, the board approved a $1.3 million bid to Scotty’s Contracting & Stone to install roundabouts on Westen Street at the intersections of Patrick Way and Ashley Circle.

City Manager Jeff Meisel said the city anticipates project completion by the end of September, “possibly earlier but it’s hard to say.”

The fire station No. 8 project in the Transpark has run into a few issues. A water line was not buried deep enough, so 240 feet of it had to be lowered, which cost $23,045. After that, the sewer the station was going to tap into turned out to be a force main, not gravity-fed.

“We have to hook up a force main to a force main, therefore we’re going to have to change our plans,” Meisel said. Installing a force main line for the fire station comes out to a $75,830 expense, which the commissioners approved.

Facilities coordinator Dave Hehner said this was not caught until the planning review stage, but “at that point the project had already been awarded.”

“I don’t like these surprises,” Commissioner Melinda Hill said.

Meisel said the city’s FY 2024 budget should be shared online next week. It will be up for approval at the board’s next meeting on June 6.