EPA puts $12.3M in program to help cities cleanup contaminated sites

The Environmental Protection Agency is putting another $13.2 million towards a program to help communities clean up contaminated development sites, known as brownfields.

The agency said the supplemental funding will go to 31 successful Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) grantees to help 44 communities carry out cleanup and redevelopment projects. The money, EPA said is often the last key piece of funding needed to make the cleanup and reuse of the property happen. 

When the loans are repaid, the agency said the loan amount is returned to the fund and re-loaned to other borrowers, providing an ongoing sustainable source of capital within a community for additional cleanup of brownfield sites.

The Grantees, which include city planning commissions and public health and environment departments get anywhere from $250,000 to $700,000 for their cleanups.

“These funds – granted to communities who have already achieved success in their work to clean up and redevelop brownfields – will help boost local economies, create local jobs and protect people from harmful pollution by expediting Brownfield projects,” Mathy Stanislaus, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response, said in a news release. “The RLF supplemental recipients are some of the nation’s top performers.”

EPA estimates there are 450,000 abandoned and contaminated sites in the U.S.