Indiana Communities Score Brownfield Grants
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowEight cities and economic development organizations in Indiana have been selected to receive U.S. Environmental Protection Agency funds to clean up contaminated sites. Nearly $4.3 million in brownfield investment grants will go to projects involving brownfield improvements. Grant recipients from Indiana are:
Economic Development Coalition of Southwest Indiana
$400,000 for hazardous substances
$180,000 for petroleum
City of Jeffersonville
$200,000 for hazardous substances
$200,000 for petroleum
City of Kokomo
$700,000 for hazardous substances
City of Lebanon
$200,000 for hazardous substances
$200,000 for petroleum
Madison County Council of Governments
$200,000 for hazardous substances
$200,000 for petroleum
Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority
$400,000 for hazardous substances
$200,000 for petroleum
City of Plymouth
$450,000 for hazardous substances
$150,000 for petroleum
City of South Bend
$300,000 for hazardous substances
$300,000 for petroleum
May 28, 2014
News Release
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today that 171 communities will receive 264 grants totaling $67 million in brownfields funding to clean and redevelop contaminated properties, boost local economies and leverage jobs while protecting public health and the environment. The FY14 Brownfields Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund, and Cleanup (ARC) grants will give communities and businesses a chance to return economic stability to under-served and economically disadvantaged neighborhoods through the assessment and clean-up of abandoned industrial and commercial properties, places where environmental cleanups and new jobs are most needed.
“Not only are these funds protecting the environment and public health by helping communities clean up blighted toxic waste sites, there are new job growth opportunities for local economies to leverage through these investments,” said Gina McCarthy, EPA Administrator. “With cities looking at how to combat the impacts of climate change, it's more important than ever for communities to innovate new ways to retrofit formerly polluted sites into assets for the community.”
This year several projects were selected to address sites identified in their Brownfields Area Wide Planning projects, including Lowell, Mass., which will focus on revitalizing an Industrial Park and Toledo, OH, which will clean up an old transmission plant. Other selected projects include future uses such as, river walks, a sports park, manufacturing and light industrial use, an eagle sanctuary facility, and a technology corridor.
A total of approximately $23.5 million is going to communities that have been impacted by plant closures. Other selected recipients include tribes and communities in 44 states across the country; and over 50 of the grants are going to HUD-DOT-EPA grant recipient communities.
Since the inception of the EPA’s Brownfields Program in 1995, cumulative brownfield program investments have leveraged more than $21 billion from a variety of public and private sources for cleanup and redevelopment activities. This equates to an average of $17.79 leveraged per EPA brownfield dollar expended. These investments have resulted in approximately 93,000 jobs nationwide. These projects demonstrate the positive impact a small investment of federal brownfields funding can have on community revitalization through leveraging jobs, producing clean energy, and providing recreation opportunities for surrounding neighborhoods. EPA’s Brownfields Program empowers states, communities, and other stakeholders to work together to prevent, assess, safely clean up, and sustainably reuse brownfields sites.
More information on brownfields grants by state: http://cfpub.epa.gov/bf_factsheets/
More information on EPA’s brownfields:
Program http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/
Success Stories http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/success/index.htm
Program Accomplishments http://epa.gov/brownfields/overview/bf-monthly-report.html
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