Press Release
On April 25, 2018, the United State Environment Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) announced the selection of 144 communities for brownfields environmental Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund, and Cleanup grants. A total of 221 grants worth a combined $54.3 million will distributed to local projects to provide communities with funding to assess, clean up and redevelop underutilized properties while protecting public health and the environment.
Carbon County, Utah was awarded a $600,000 grant.
“EPA’s Brownfields Program expands the ability of communities to recycle vacant and abandoned properties for new, productive reuses, using existing infrastructure,” said EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt. “These grants leverage other public and private investments, and improve local economies through property cleanup and redevelopment.”
EPA’s Brownfields Program targets communities that are economically disadvantaged and provides funding and assistance to transform blighted sites into assets that can generate jobs and spur economic growth. A study analyzing 48 brownfields sites found that an estimated $29 million to $97 million in additional tax revenue was generated for local governments in a single year after cleanup. This is two to seven times more than the $12.4 million EPA contributed to the cleanup of these brownfield sites. Furthermore, another study found that property values of homes located near brownfields sites that are cleaned up increased between 5 and 15 percent after cleanup.
In addition, communities can use Brownfields funding to leverage water infrastructure loans and other financial resources. For example, EPA’s Clean Water State Revolving Fund and Drinking Water State Revolving Fund can be used, under certain conditions, to address the water quality aspects of brownfield sites and the assessment and construction of drinking water infrastructure on brownfields, respectively. EPA’s Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act program may also serve as a potential source of long-term, low-cost supplemental financing to fund brownfields project development and implementation activities to address water quality aspects of brownfields.
Click here for the complete list of the FY 2018 Applicants selected for funding, or also see the list below.
For more information on the ARC grants visit : https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/types-brownfields-grant-funding
For more information on EPA’s Brownfields Program see: https://www.epa.gov/brownfields
For more information on how brownfields restoration has positively impacted local economies and the quality of life for neighboring communities, go to: https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/brownfields-success-stories