Friday, March 29, 2024

EPA provides $10.7 million in supplemental funding for brownfields properties

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently supported cleanup and redevelopment projects addressing brownfields properties in more than 40 communities through approximately $10.7 million in supplemental funding.

The funding, which will go to 33 successful Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) grantees, will allow for the completion of projects or help maintain their momentum, promoting public and environmental health while also creating jobs. It will be disbursed to the projects in denominations between $200,000 and $500,000.

RLF funding helps these communities garner further financial support; the communities receiving supplemental funding have already leveraged approximately $600 million between them to support these projects.

"These funds — going to communities who have already achieved success in their work to clean up and redevelop brownfield sites — will help revitalize distressed communities, improve public health, encourage innovation, and boost local manufacturing opportunities," EPA Office of Land and Emergency Management Assistant Administrator Mathy Stanislaus said. “RLF funding is often the key to addressing critical financing gaps to leverage private sector resources to make cleanups and reuse of properties happen.”

This latest round of funding further supports the EPA’s efforts to help communities address the estimated 450,000 contaminated or abandoned sites across the country, with the beginning of its brownfields program in 1995.