Indiana Finance Authority Receives $300K from EPA
(photo courtesy of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency)
The Indiana Finance Authority has received $300,000 from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA says the supplemental funding is being awarded to previous grant recipients of its Brownfields Revolving Loan Fund to continue cleaning up and redeveloping brownfield sites.
The funding is part of an overall $6.9 million being awarded to 25 RLF grant recipients.
The agency says the RLF supplemental funds are being provided to communities that have demonstrated success in using the Revolving Loan program to clean up and redevelop brownfield sites.
“Every community receiving additional funding today from the EPA has Opportunity Zones within their jurisdiction, meaning these cleanup activities at local brownfield sites will not only address legacy contamination, but also spur new economic opportunities where it is needed most,” said Wheeler.
The funds will be used to continue progress in reusing vacant and abandoned properties and converting them into community assets such as housing, recreation and open space, health facilities, social services, and commerce opportunities.
The EPA’s Regional Administrator Kurt Thiede was joined Thursday by representatives from the IFA and the Indiana Department of Environmental Management at an Indianapolis brownfield site to discuss the state’s revolving loan fund and brownfields cleanup program, as well as to highlight the issuance of EPA’s Annual Superfund National Accomplishments Report.
“The Finance Authority has demonstrated an outstanding ability to leverage funds to clean up and redevelop brownfield sites throughout Indiana. Brownfield cleanups can help stimulate economic redevelopment and community revitalization. During the past three years, one of EPA’s highest priorities has been picking up the pace to clean up brownfield sites and more highly-contaminated Superfund sites so they can be returned to productive reuse,” said Thiede.
All communities receiving supplemental funds have census tracks designated as federal Opportunity Zones within their jurisdiction.
In 2018, IIB reported the EPA’s selection of seven Indiana communities to receive a total of more than $2.7 million to assess and clean up contaminated properties under the Brownfields program. The following communities and organizations received these brownfield grants: Crawfordsville, Greenfield, Henry County, Logansport, Terre Haute, the River Hills Economic Development District and Regional Planning Commission for projects in Corydon, Charlestown and New Albany, and the Southern Indiana Development Commission for projects in Washington, Vincennes, and Bedford.