WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing approximately $15.7 million in supplemental funding to communities to assist them in cleaning up contaminated brownfield properties. EPA plans to provide supplemental funding to 33 successful, existing Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) grantees, helping communities carry out cleanup and redevelopment projects.

“These supplemental funds provide communities with the resources they need to continue to clean up contaminated lands, which will improve public health and generate economic growth,” said EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt. “These funds will ensure more cleanups are completed and more land can be returned to beneficial reuse.”

Communities selected for FY18 supplemental funding are:

Cooperative Agreement Recipient Name and State Amount
Berkshire Regional Planning Commission, MA $450,000.00
Capitol Region Council of Governments, CT $500,000.00
City of Portland, ME $500,000.00
Greater Portland Council of Governments, ME $500,000.00
Maine Department of Economic and Community Development, ME $500,000.00
Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments, CT $500,000.00
Piscataquis County Economic Development Council, ME $350,000.00
Southern Maine Planning and Development Commission, ME $500,000.00
Southern Windsor County Regional Planning Commission, VT $500,000.00
Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development, VT $500,000.00
Windham Regional Commission, VT $500,000.00
City of Rochester, NY $500,000.00
Niagara County Department of Economic Development, NY $500,000.00
Redevelopment Authority of the County of Montgomery, PA $500,000.00
City of Atlanta, GA $500,000.00
Decide DeKalb Development Authority, GA $500,000.00
Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet, KY $250,000.00
Louisville-Jefferson County Metro Government, KY $500,000.00
City of Rockford, IL $500,000.00
City of West Allis, WI $500,000.00
Detroit Wayne County Port Authority, MI $500,000.00
Indiana Finance Authority, IN $500,000.00
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, WI $500,000.00
New Mexico Environmental Department, NM $500,000.00
Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality, OK $500,000.00
City of Kansas City, MO $500,000.00
City of Missoula, MT $300,000.00
Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, CO $500,000.00
Great Falls Development Authority, MT $500,000.00
Snowy Mountain Development Corporation, MT $400,000.00
County of Humboldt, CA $500,000.00
Oregon Business Development Department, OR $500,000.00
Washington State Department of Commerce, WA $500,000.00

The Brownfields RLF program supports EPA’s commitment to assist communities in addressing environmentally challenged properties and meet their local revitalization priorities. The supplemental funds announced today will help communities reuse vacant and abandoned properties and turn them into community assets such as housing, recreation and open space, health facilities, social services, transportation options, infrastructure and commerce opportunities.

RLFs specifically supply funding for loans and sub-grants to carry out cleanup activities at brownfield sites. The supplemental funding to each grantee ranges from about $200,000 to $500,000. These funds are provided to communities who have shown achieved success in their work to clean up and redevelop brownfield sites.

A recent national study shows that cleaning up brownfields leads to residential property value increases of 5 – 15.2% within a 1.24-mile radius of the site. (Haninger et al. 2017). Another study analyzing data near 48 brownfields found that an estimated $29 to $97 million in additional tax revenue is 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 those brownfields.

More information on EPA’s Brownfields program is available at: https://www.epa.gov/brownfields or https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/announcing-fy18-supplemental-funding-brownfields-revolving-loan-fund-grants