EPA announces $400,000 grant for Shreveport

Representatives from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the city of Shreveport, including EPA Regional Administrator Ron Curry and Shreveport Mayor Ollie Tyler, met Tuesday to discuss the use of $400,000 in EPA cleanup grants.

“These grants will allow us to invest in our local economy, something that can yield big dividends in the way of mixed-use housing, residential, retail and entertainment,” Tyler said. “It is my vision to provide our citizens with opportunities for an improved quality of life that includes working and playing beside one of Shreveport’s natural resources, like Cross Bayou.”

Shreveport will use the bulk of its grant funding to assess and rehabilitate contamination at the Cross Bayou Corridor site, a brownfields redevelopment initiative. The award is part of $54.3 million in investment grants for brownfields properties that recently went to 145 communities across the U.S. These grants have in the past resulted in an average of $17.79 given by other investors for each dollar given by the EPA.

“These grants have helped cities around the country turn abandoned properties from eyesores to community assets,” Curry said. “EPA is proud to help Shreveport invest in the local economy while cleaning up the city’s environment.”