Lop Notes: EPA Provides Additional Funding for Brownfields Cleanups in New England

17 July 2013

EPA Provides Additional Funding for Brownfields Cleanups in New England

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently announced grants of $3.575 million in supplemental funding for eleven New England communities in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire to carry out cleanup and redevelopment projects at contaminated Brownfields properties. The projects are designed to help communities create jobs while protecting people’s health and the environment.

The supplemental funds will support an array of cleanup and redevelopment projects in the following New England locations:

Connecticut:

City of Bridgeport – $350,000,
City of New Haven – $350,000,
Regional Economic Xcelleration Development – $350,000, and
Town of Winchester – $200,000;

Maine:

Southern Maine Regional Planning Commission – $200,000 and
State of Maine Department of Economic and Community Development – $600,000;

Massachusetts:

City of Taunton – $300,000 and
City of Worcester – $350,000;

New Hampshire:

City of Nashua – $200,000,
Regional Economic Development Center of Southern New Hampshire – $325,000, and
State of New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services – $350,000.

The funding is through EPA’s Brownfields revolving loan fund, which specifically supplies 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 is then returned to the fund and subgranted or re-loaned to other borrowers, providing an ongoing source of capital within a community for additional cleanup of brownfield sites. The supplemental grants range in funding from about $200,000 to $400,000 with an average grant award of $300,000.

Nationally, 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 $20 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.

Background information:

EPA: Brownfields and Land Revitalization

EPA: Waste Site Cleanup & Reuse in New England: Brownfields

EPA: Brownfields and Land Revitalization: Revolving Loan Fund Grants

City of Bridgeport, CT

City of New Haven, CT

Town of Winchester, CT

City of Taunton, MA

City of Worcester, MA

City of Nashua, NH

Regional Economic Xcelleration Development, Greater New Haven, CT

South Central Regional Council of Governments, CT