EPA Announces $11 Million in Supplemental Funds for Contaminated Brownfields Sites

WASHINGTON (Aug. 14, 2014) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced $11 million in supplemental funding to help clean up contaminated brownfields properties. The Revolving Loan Funds (RLF) will help 31 grantees carry out cleanup and redevelopment projects. These projects are expected to create more than 700 jobs and leverage over $57 million in cleanup and redevelopment while using unique financing mechanisms and partnerships to protect people’s health and the environment. “These funds—awarded to grantees who have already achieved success in their work to clean up and redevelop brownfields—will help spur economic development, create local jobs and encourage public, private and non-profit collaboration in expediting Brownfield projects in distressed communities,” said Mathy Stanislaus, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response. “The RLF supplemental recipients are some of the nation’s top performers. Collectively, these grantees have already leveraged more than 1,700 jobs and $340 million in cleanup and redevelopment investment. The RLF funding today will help sustain that incredible progress.” Revolving loan funds specifically supply funding for grant recipients to provide loans and sub-grants to carry out cleanup activities at brownfield sites. When these loans are repaid, the loan amount and any interest is then returned to the fund and subgranted or re-loaned to other borrowers, providing an ongoing source of capital for brownfields cleanup. The supplemental grants range in funding from about $200,000 to $500,000 with an average grant award of $350,000. This year’s supplemental funds will support an array of cleanup and redevelopment projects across the country. For example:

• In New York, New York., funds will be used to carry-out two projects in partnership with a local non-profit that will build more than 500 affordable housing units and create 320 temporary jobs and 46 permanent jobs.
• The state of Vermont will make a loan to complete cleanup of a site in St. Albans that is targeted for manufacturing redevelopment. The site is the focus of a state Brownfields Economic Revitalization Alliance that brings a wide-array of concentrated state resources to cleanup and redevelopment.
• In Kansas City, Missouri, a loan will be used to clean-up the Westport Middle School and redevelop the site into residential housing and substantial greenspace with urban garden and urban farming components. The local developer plans to leverage New Market Tax Credits to finance other parts of the project.
• The state of Illinois’ EPA will use funds to partner with a nonprofit to bring urban agriculture to an Environmental Justice community in Chicago.

There are an estimated 450,000 abandoned and contaminated sites in the United States. EPA’s brownfields program targets these sites to encourage redevelopment, and help to provide the opportunity for productive community use of contaminated properties. EPA’s brownfields investments overall have leveraged more than $21 billion in cleanup and redevelopment funding from public and private sources and on average, $17.79 is leveraged for every EPA brownfields grant dollar spent. The funds have enabled the support of 97,500 jobs in cleanup, construction and redevelopment. The EPA’s mission is to protect human health and the environment.