EPA Announces Brownfields Assessment, Redevelopment Grants, Including 2 In PA

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency this week announced more than $76 million in new investments across the country that will redevelop contaminated properties, boost local economies and help create jobs while protecting public health. 
            Two grants were awarded in Pennsylvania: North Side Industrial Development Company, Inc. $1,000,000 to do brownfields assessment and Washington County Redevelopment Authority, $400,000 for brownfields assessment.
            “Brownfields initiatives demonstrate how environmental protection and economic development work hand-in-hand,” said Shawn M. Garvin, regional administrator for EPA’s mid-Atlantic region. “Along with generating jobs, these grants will help southwestern Pennsylvania communities convert vacant industrial properties into assets for the community, the environment, and the economy.”
            The North Side Industrial Development Company, which serves Allegheny and Westmoreland Counties, will receive two grants totaling $1 million that will be used to assess abandoned industrial sites in multiple communities along the Ohio and Allegheny Rivers in and around Pittsburgh. The assessments are expected to facilitate the redevelopment of brownfields into advanced manufacturing facilities for new technologies such as robotics, medical devices, and precision instruments.
            The Washington County Redevelopment Authority will receive two grants totaling $400,000 to assess Washington County properties that once thrived as an industrial and coal mining center. Plant closings have resulted in significant job losses that left behind hundreds of acres of vacant and underused contaminated lands. There are 136 brownfields sites in the county, the majority of which are former industrial facilities and mine-scarred lands. The brownfields assessments are expected to facilitate the county’s comprehensive cleanup and sustainable redevelopment plan to transform sites into community parks, reuse existing buildings, and incorporate green building techniques.
            EPA’s brownfields grants are used to assess and clean up abandoned industrial and commercial properties like deserted gas stations or closed smelters. There are an estimated 450,000 abandoned and contaminated waste sites in America. 
            In 2002, the brownfields law expanded the definition of what is considered a brownfield, so communities may now focus on mine-scarred lands, sites contaminated by petroleum, or sites contaminated as a result of manufacturing and distribution of illegal drugs (e.g. meth labs). 
            For more information, visit the EPA Brownfields and the EPA Brownfields Success Stories webpages.


6/13/2011

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