Brown Announces More Than $1.2 Million for Brownfield Revitalization in Cincinnati

WASHINGTON, May 26 -- Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, issued the following news release:

U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) announced that the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded two Brownfields Multipurpose, Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund, and Cleanup (MARC) grants totaling $1,297,437 for two organizations in Cincinnati.

"By investing in and redeveloping these brownfield sites, we create new opportunities for growth for communities across Ohio," said Brown. "This investment will support revitalization efforts critical to the safety and economic success of these communities."

Funding from the EPA includes:

* $500,000 to the City of Cincinnati to conduct 12 environmental site assessments, prepare four cleanup plans and maintain a GIS-based brownfield site inventory. Priority sites include a former valve foundry that contains a vacant 154,000-square-foot foundry and valve manufacturing building built in 1908, a 5-acre site used to dump foundry sand since the 1970s, and two former manufacturing facilities with multiple vacant buildings.

* $797,437 to the Port of Greater Cincinnati Development Authority to conduct 12 environmental site assessments, prepare a Community Involvement Plan, and conduct other community outreach activities. The target area for this project is the Mill Creek Corridor which was used as a wastewater discharge point resulting in the Mill Creek watershed being designated as the most endangered urban river in North America

The MARC grant program helps communities begin to address the economic, social, and environmental challenges caused by brownfields by stimulating economic opportunity and environmental revitalization in historically overburdened communities.