By U.S. EPA
Communities in California, Michigan, Oregon, Connecticut and Kentucky are among those receiving U.S. EPA grants for cleanup and redevelopment of contaminated properties.
California
In Mt. Shasta, the U.S. EPA announced approximately $3.8 million in new pilot grants to nine recipients across the country for cleanup and redevelopment of contaminated properties. One of the grants will go to the city of Mt. Shasta, Calif., for a brownfields multi-purpose pilot grant. Petroleum grant funds will be used to assess and clean up the Roseburg Commerce Park “New Mill” site located west of South Mt. Shasta Boulevard.
The pilot multi-purpose grants, funded by EPA’s Brownfields program, will help recipients to conduct assessments and cleanup activities, and secure funding to eliminate delays in moving from assessment to cleanup. The investments will continue to provide communities with necessary funding to help clean up America’s land, boost local economies and create jobs while protecting public health.
“Investment in the clean up and reuse of contaminated properties provides the catalyst to improving the lives of residents living in or near Brownfields communities. This funding will help foster local economic growth and leverage jobs in communities where they are needed most,” said EPA Assistant Administrator Mathy Stanislaus. “A revitalized Brownfields site reduces threats to human health and the environment, promotes community involvement, and attracts investment in local neighborhoods.”
The Mt. Shasta site is a former lumber mill contaminated with petroleum compounds. Assessment grant funds will be used to conduct an environmental site assessment and develop a cleanup plan. Cleanup grant funds will be used to clean up the site, prepare closeout reports, and certify that the site is ready for redevelopment. Both assessment and cleanup funds will be used to conduct community engagement activities. The site is expected to be redeveloped as a multi-use commerce park that will include a conference facility and space for offices, retail stores, restaurants, entertainment, and environmentally clean light-industrial uses.
Michigan
In Dearborn, when U.S. EPA wanted to publicly celebrate a $650,000 grant aimed at cleaning up areas to be used for brownfield redevelopment projects, Dearborn was the clear choice for the announcement.
The EPA 2012 brownfield grant will be awarded to the Downriver Community Conference to continue and expand its work to assess and clean up abandoned industrial and commercial properties.
The city of Dearborn boasts several successful brownfield projects, including the Dearborn Town Center, which opened in 2011 on Michigan Avenue and Schaefer; as well as the revamping of the Ford Rouge Plant. Those redevelopments and others brought jobs, traffic, environmental benefits, and positive attention to Dearborn–and this year, that success will be spread to other downriver Michigan communities.
Downriver will use the 2012 grant to assess:
•Former automotive facilities in Monroe and Ypsilanti.
•The former McLouth Steel Products site in Trenton.
•A former engine manufacturing plant in Tecumseh.
•A former paper mill in Monroe.
Oregon
In Astoria, EPA has awarded a Brownfields multi-purpose pilot grant. Hazardous substances grant funds will be used to assess and clean up the Heritage Square site located at 1153 Duane Street. Once the site of an auto repair shop, a dry cleaner and later a printer, the Duane Street location will be redeveloped as an outdoor community gathering place with an amphitheater, market plaza, boardwalk and covered pavilions.
EPA believes that by investing in local redevelopment, communities can help clean up America’s land, boost local economies and create jobs while protecting public health.
Kentucky
EPA has awarded three brownfield grants to Kentucky totaling $1.9 million to fund the assessment and cleanup of properties with environmental problems, the Kentucky Department for Environmental Protection (DEP) announced.
“The expansion of the Brownfield program to provide grants and loans to Kentucky communities exemplifies the mission of the department. We are now able to stimulate economic development, protect the environment and improve the lives of those people living in these communities,” said DEP Commissioner Bruce Scott.
One of the grants goes to the Kentucky Brownfield Redevelopment Program, which received an $850,000 Revolving Loan Fund Grant (RLF). As a result of this grant award, the Kentucky DEP will have funding available for the first time to establish a brownfield redevelopment revolving loan fund. The fund will provide low-interest loans and subgrants for cleanup activities on brownfield sites in communities across Kentucky. When loans are repaid, the loan amount will be returned to the fund and loaned to other borrowers, providing an ongoing source of capital for redevelopment within the state.
This is the second significant event this year for the brownfield program, the first being the passage of House Bill 465. The bill clarifies legislation passed in 2005 to provide environmental liability protection to bona fide prospective purchasers of brownfields and address liability concerns related to petroleum releases.
Connecticut
EPA is providing $3.45 million in Brownfields grants to help Connecticut communities to assess, cleanup and redevelop abandoned or contaminated properties. The funding is part of more than $69 million in EPA brownfields investments across the country announced by EPA last week to protect health and the environment, create jobs and promote economic re-development in American communities.
The grant money can assist work to reclaim sites including old textile mills, sites containing hazardous substances and petroleum products and other abandoned industrial and commercial properties. EPA’s Brownfields program encourages redevelopment of America’s estimated 450,000 abandoned and contaminated waste sites.
In Connecticut this year, EPA is providing Brownfields grants to the following municipalities and groups:
· City of Meriden, $200,000 (cleanup grant, 116 Cook Ave. parcel)
· City of Middletown, $200,000 (cleanup grant, Midstate Autobody Property)
· Town of Newtown, $200,000 (cleanup grant, Fairfield Hills Campus)
· Town of Preston, $800,000 (1 assessment and 3 cleanup grants, Norwich State Hospital Property)
· Regional Economic Xcelleration Development (REX), $350,000 (Community-wide Revolving Loan Fund Supplemental grant)
· Valley Council of Governments, $750,000 (2 Community-wide assessment and 1 Revolving Loan Fund Supplemental grant)
· Waterbury Development Corporation, $950,000 (2 Community-wide assessment and 1 multi-purpose grant for assessment & cleanup work at Waterbury Industrial Commons at 1875 Thomaston Avenue)
