By U.S. EPA
Nine Maine organizations will receive $4.3 million in federal Environmental Protection Agency funding to help assess potentially toxic properties, clean up brownfields and redevelop formerly unusable lands. According to the EPA, the funds are a combination of assessment, cleanup and revolving loan fund grants.
“This is important federal funding that will help communities clean up contaminated sites so they can be redeveloped,” U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree said in a media release. “Without this funding, many of these pieces of property would go unused and remain a burden to the community.”
Curt Spalding, regional administrator of EPA New England’s office, said, “Cleaning and revitalizing contaminated sites helps create jobs, and can help a community to create new businesses and neighborhood centers, while making our environment cleaner and the community healthier.”
The funding is part of more than $17 million in EPA Brownfields investments across the six New England states announced by EPA in 2012.
Award recipients in Maine, according to the EPA release, are:
• Dover-Foxcroft Historical Society, a first-time grantee, will be receiving $200,000 to remediate a property known as Central Hall. The property is located within the downtown business district of Dover-Foxcroft. It will be redeveloped into a new community center, adult day services and senior center.
• Northern Maine Development Commission will be receiving $400,000 in assessment funds to provide critical funding for Aroostook County as they move forward with a federal Housing and Urban Development Sustainable Community Planning grant. This organization has had previous assessment grants and has a current revolving loan fund grant.
• Old Town, a first-time grantee, will be receiving three cleanup grants valued at $600,000 to remediate three parcels associated with the Old Town Canoe Factory site. It is the most visible site with the most redevelopment potential in the downtown area.
• The Piscataquis County Economic Development Council is being awarded $800,000 in funds to capitalize a revolving loan fund. The EDC, which is based in Dover-Foxcroft, serves 17 towns in central Maine. In the past, the council has been awarded an assessment grant.
Source: Bangor Daily News
Rhode Island
The Department of Environmental Management is soliciting applications from across Rhode Island to initiate allocation of $400,000 in Targeted Brownfields Assessment funding. This grant is being supported by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and will be spent over the next three years.
In May of this year, the DEM was awarded a grant from EPA for community-wide assessment of potentially contaminated sites, with $200,000 allocated for hazardous substances and $200,000 for petroleum. DEM will carry out the assessments for successful applicants. Many recognizable brownfields projects have begun or have been completed in communities throughout the state, and in many cases these projects have served as catalysts for further redevelopment planning, according to a news release.
This is the fifth year that the DEM has applied for and received funding through the competitive brownfields assessment grant program.
“These grants will enable DEM to further collaborate with Rhode Island communities to conduct environmental site assessments, plan for cleanups, and conduct community outreach activities for sites impacted by hazardous substances and petroleum,” said DEM Director Janet Coit. “Transforming brownfields sites—urban and rural, small and large—into productive properties provides long-term economic and environmental benefits for Rhode Islanders, and we look forward to partnering with successful applicants on this new grant opportunity.”
Representatives for the DEM plan to use the grant funds to carry out assessments at a total of four sites statewide. All municipalities, as well as tribes and nonprofit organizations, are eligible to apply for the DEM to conduct assessments on eligible sites. Selection of sites will be determined on a competitive basis. The deadline for submitting applications for this application round is Nov. 1. The Department always accepts targeted brownfield applications on a rolling basis for potential future funding.
Source: The Valley Breeze
