Late last week EPA Administrator Christie Whitman announced $73.1 million in Brownfields funds for a variety of different grants made available from the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act.
EPA announced that 176 applicants were selected to receive awards. Applications came from communities located in 37 states and seven tribes.
Last January President Bush signed into law the Brownfields Revitalization Act, which authorizes up to $250 million in funds annually for Brownfields grants, including up to $50 million for the assessment and cleanup of low-risk petroleum contaminated sites.
The $73.1 million will provide 117 assessment grants totaling $30.7 million, 69 cleanup grants totaling $12 million, and 28 revolving loan fund grants totaling $30.4 million.
The assessment grants are used to inventory, characterize and conduct planning relating to one or more Brownfield sites or as part of a community-wide effort. The 2002 law expanded the definition of what’s considered a Brownfield, so communities may focus on sites contaminated with petroleum, as well as lands scarred by mining. Since the beginning of the Brownfields program, EPA has awarded 436 assessment grants totaling over $120 million.
The revolving loan fund grants allow communities to give funds to public and private organizations to clean-up Brownfields. The new Brownfields law also allows loan fund officials to make subgrants to state and local governments or tribes and non-profit organizations to clean up sites they own.
Since the beginning of the Brownfields program, EPA has announced 143 revolving loan fund grants totaling over $115 million.
The Brownfields program provides funding incentives, feasibility tools, and individual grants up to $1 million to help states, tribes, communities and other organizations prevent, assess, safely clean up, and reuse Brownfields. EPA's Brownfields assistance has leveraged more than $4.6 billion in private investment, helped create more than 20,000 jobs, and resulted in the assessment of more than 4,000 properties.
For more information, go to : http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/.