by Brianna Crandall — June 8, 2011—The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on June 6 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. EPA’s brownfields grants are used to assess and clean up the estimated 450,000 abandoned industrial and commercial properties across America like deserted gas stations or closed smelters.
EPA issued 214 grants through the Brownfields Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund, and Cleanup Grants programs that will go to 40 states and three tribes across the country. Highlights of the projects planned by grant recipients include:
- The Redevelopment Authority of the City of Milwaukee plans to transform a former contaminated property into a modern business park with residential and retail amenities, creating more than 800 jobs.
- Springfield, Missouri will transform a vacant, contaminated former rail yard into a natural wetland open space with greenway trails.
- Nassau County, New York will use funds to clean up waterfront property and pave the way for a new hotel complex, affordable housing units, a waterfront park, restaurant and retail space, and the county’s first commuter ferry, creating more than 7,700 new jobs.
- The United Neighborhood Organization (UNO), a Chicago Hispanic community-based organization that builds and operates charter schools in disadvantaged neighborhoods, plans to remediate a former industrial property and build an energy-efficient elementary school for 575 students.
- Springfield, Missouri will transform a vacant, contaminated former rail yard into a natural wetland open space with greenway trails.
