EPA Announces $15 Million in Supplemental Funds to Clean up and Redevelop Contaminated Brownfields Sites Across the Country

EPA Press Release:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 15, 2013

EPA Announces $15 Million in Supplemental Funds to Clean up and Redevelop Contaminated Brownfields Sites Across the Country 

WASHINGTON – Today the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced approximately $15 million in supplemental funding to help clean up contaminated Brownfields properties. The Revolving Loan Funding (RLF) will help 41 communities carry out cleanup and redevelopment projects. These projects will help communities create jobs while protecting people’s health and the environment. 

“These funds – granted to communities who have already achieved success in their work to clean up and redevelop brownfields – will help boost local economies, create local jobs and protect people from harmful pollution by expediting Brownfield projects,” said Mathy Stanislaus, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response. “The RLF supplemental recipients are some of the nation’s top performers. Collectively, these communities have already leveraged more than $2.5 billion in clean up and redevelopment investment – the RLF funding announced today will help sustain that incredible progress.”

Revolving loan funds specifically supply funding for grant recipients to provide loans and sub-grants to carry out cleanup activities at brownfield sites. When these loans are repaid, the loan amount is then returned to the fund and subgranted or re-loaned to other borrowers, providing an ongoing source of capital within a community for additional cleanup of brownfield sites. The supplemental grants range in funding from about $200,000 to $400,000 with an average grant award of $300,000.

This year’s supplemental funds will support an array of cleanup and redevelopment projects across the country. For example:

• The City of Brea, Calif., will use its supplemental funding to clean sections of a former rail line, which will be reused as a rails-to-trails project for alternative transportation and recreation options. 
• Cleanup of a downtown property in Great Falls, Mont., will allow Easter Seals Good Will to move forward with a $2.5 million redevelopment, which will create numerous construction and permanent jobs. 
• A loan from the Indiana Finance Authority will go toward cleanup of the former Carpenter Manufacturing site, which will be redeveloped into a business park redevelopment creating approximately 100 jobs. 
• The Land-of-Sky Regional Council will use the additional funding for cleanup at the former Chatham Mill in Salem, N.C. Once cleaned, developers plan to rehabilitate the 300,000 square foot structure into approximately 150 multifamily rental units.
• In Nassau County, N.Y., funds will be used to address the last un-remediated parcel of Glen Cove’s 52 acre waterfront redevelopment area. 

There are an estimated 450,000 abandoned and contaminated sites in the United States. EPA’s Brownfields program targets these sites to encourage redevelopment, and help to provide the opportunity for productive community use of contaminated properties. EPA’s Brownfields investments overall have leveraged more than $20 billion in cleanup and redevelopment funding from public and private sources and on average, $17.79 is leveraged for every EPA Brownfields grant dollar spent.

The funds have enabled the support of 90,000 jobs in cleanup, construction and redevelopment.

More information on EPA’s Brownfields program: http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/

More information on Brownfields Revolving Loan Fund grants: http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/rlflst.htm

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