EPA Provides $388,000 to Assess Contaminated Properties in the Cano Martin Pena Communities in San Juan, Puerto Rico

EPA Press Release:

EPA Provides $388,000 to Assess Contaminated Properties in the

Cano Martin Pena Communities in San Juan, Puerto Rico

Contact: John Martin, (212) 637-3662, martin.johnj@epa.gov

(San Juan, P.R. – May 28, 2014) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is providing grants totaling $388,000 to Corporacion Del Proyecto ENLACE del Cano Martin Pena in San Juan, Puerto Rico to assess abandoned and contaminated properties. The funding was awarded through the EPA’s Brownfields Program, which helps communities assess, clean up, redevelop and reuse contaminated properties. Brownfields are properties with moderate contamination which can threaten environmental quality and public health and can interfere with redevelopment.

“People living in the communities along the Martin Pena Canal are getting sick from exposure to raw sewage and untreated wastewater in their frequently flooded neighborhoods,” said EPA Regional Administrator Judith A. Enck. “These brownfields grants will enable ENLACE to expand environmental assessments of properties along the Martin Pena Canal, making way for future cleanups that will protect people’s health and put these properties to productive use for the community.”

ENLACE will use a $200,000 hazardous substances assessment grant and an $188,000 petroleum assessment grant to determine public health and environmental impacts and to inventory sites in the Martin Pena Channel Special Planning District. Grant funds will also be used to conduct cleanup planning activities and develop a community engagement plan.

Since the inception of the EPA’s Brownfields program in 1995, cumulative brownfield program investments have leveraged more than $21 billion from a variety of public and private sources for cleanup and redevelopment activities. This equates to an average of $17.79 leveraged per EPA brownfield dollar expended. These investments have resulted in approximately 93,000 jobs nationwide. These projects demonstrate the positive impact a small investment of federal brownfields funding can have on community revitalization through leveraging jobs, producing clean energy, and providing recreation opportunities for surrounding neighborhoods. The EPA’s Brownfields Program empowers states, communities, and others to work together to prevent, assess, safely clean up, and sustainably reuse brownfields sites.

Additional information on EPA Brownfields activities is available at http://epa.gov/brownfields.

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