EPA gives Pelzer Heritage Center $400,000 in Brownfields grants

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Wednesday will award South Carolina’s Pelzer Heritage Center with two Brownfields grants totalling $400,000, which will go toward revitalizing abandoned and contaminated sites in Pelzer.

One grant, of $200,000, will go toward the former mill parcel west of the railroad, while the remaining money will go toward the former mill parcel to the east. The funding will allow the Heritage Center to revitalize the area and create jobs throughout the process. 

The EPA’s Brownfields Program has been providing funds to similar projects throughout the country since 1995, creating 105,942 jobs and leveraging more than $17 in external funding for every dollar in grants. Going to local governments, tribes and non-profit organizations, these grants have sparked positive, environmentally friendly changes in the communities they are given to.

The Pelzer Heritage Center will be recognized by the EPA at a ceremony at Pelzer Community Building at noon on Wednesday. EPA Region 4 Brownfields Coordinator Barbara Alfano and Pelzer Heritage Commission Vice President Larry Coker will be in attendance.