EPA: East Central Intergovernmental Association of Iowa Receives $600,000 Grant for Brownfields Environmental Assessment and Cleanup Planning

LENEXA, Kansas, May 7 -- The Environmental Protection Agency issued the following news release on May 6:

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) selected the East Central Intergovernmental Association (ECIA) in Dubuque, Iowa, to receive a $600,000 Brownfields Assessment Coalition Grant. The agency works with eastern Iowa communities in Cedar, Clinton, Delaware, Dubuque and Jackson counties.

Under the Trump administration, EPA has delivered approximately $287 million in Brownfield grants directly to communities and nonprofits for cleanup and redevelopment, job creation, and economic development through the award of over 948 grants.

Nationwide, this year EPA is announcing the selection of 155 grants for communities and tribes totaling over $65.6 million in EPA Brownfields funding through the Agency's Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund, and Cleanup Grant programs. These funds will aid underserved and economically disadvantaged communities, including neighborhoods located in Opportunity Zones, in assessing and cleaning up abandoned industrial and commercial properties. An Opportunity Zone is an economically-distressed community where new investment, under certain conditions, may be eligible for preferential tax treatment.

"We are pleased to recognize the East Central Intergovernmental Association and look forward to the opportunities this EPA Brownfields Grant will provide to their communities," said EPA Region 7 Administrator Jim Gulliford. "By assessing, cleaning up, and revitalizing brownfield sites, communities can put underutilized properties back to good use. Reclaiming these sites benefits the community and its residents, our economy, and our environment."

Community-wide grant funds will be used to conduct up to 24 environmental site assessments to prioritize sites, while assembling a brownfield inventory. Funds will also be used to develop up to 15 cleanup plans and support community outreach activities. While assessment activities will focus on all of the five counties in east-central Iowa, the funding primarily focuses on areas in Clinton, Delaware and Jackson counties that lie in Qualified Opportunity Zones. Priority sites include the former Clinton Engines site in Maquoketa, Jackson County Regional Health Center, Walker's Salvage site in DeWitt, former U.S. Post Office in Clinton, former Tyco Electronics site in Sabula, and former Lincoln School building in Manchester.

"ECIA is thrilled to be able to partner with EPA to provide assistance to our rural communities in not only identifying and assessing potentially hazardous contaminated properties, but in aiding local members of the community in developing reuse plans for these sites," said ECIA Brownfields Project Manager Dawn Danielson. "Many of our communities deal with abandoned, dilapidated and underutilized properties and this funding is vital to encouraging public and private reinvestment in these properties, boosting local economies and leveraging jobs while protecting the most vulnerable groups within the community."

Nearly 30% of the communities announced nationwide today will receive Brownfields funding for the first time. Of the 151 communities selected, 118 can potentially assess or clean up brownfield sites in census tracts designated in Opportunity Zones.

Grants awarded by EPA's Brownfields Program provide communities across the country with an opportunity to transform contaminated sites into community assets that attract jobs and achieve broader economic development outcomes, while taking advantage of existing infrastructure. For example, Brownfields grants are shown to:

* Increase Local Tax Revenue: A study of 48 brownfield sites found that an estimated $29 million to $97 million in additional local tax revenue was generated in a single year after cleanup. This is two to seven times more than the $12.4 million EPA contributed to the cleanup of these sites.

* Increase Residential Property Values: Another study found that property values of homes near revitalized brownfield sites increased between 5 and 15% following cleanup.

List of the FY 2020 Applicants Selected for Funding is available online. (https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/applicants-selected-fy-2020-brownfields-assessment-revolving-loan-fund-and-cleanup-0)

Background

A brownfield is a property for which the expansion, redevelopment or reuse may be complicated by the presence, or potential presence, of a hazardous substance, pollutant or contaminant. There are estimated to be more than 450,000 brownfields in the United States. EPA's Brownfields Program began in 1995 and has provided nearly $1.6 billion in Brownfields grants to assess and clean up contaminated properties and return blighted properties to productive reuse. To date, brownfields investments have leveraged more than $31 billion in cleanup and redevelopment. Over the years, the relatively small investment of federal funding, from both public and private sources, leveraged more than 160,000 jobs.

The Brownfields Program has supported many successful projects in EPA Region 7's four states (Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska). The Steeple Square complex includes a community center, supportive housing, and child center developed after Brownfield assessments on the former historic St. Mary's Parish campus buildings through a grant to the city of Dubuque, Iowa. Brownfields funding for the Jordan Valley West Meadows Project is transforming what was once an abandoned railyard vulnerable to flooding into an urban greenway in the heart of Springfield, Missouri. The West Haymarket area of Lincoln, Nebraska, is a prime example of how a community can use EPA Brownfields assessment and cleanup grants to leverage multiple sources of additional funding, technical assistance, and community support to drive and expand growth. Leavenworth, Kansas, used Brownfield funds to cleanup lead paint, asbestos, and soil contamination to convert an industrial site into apartments as part of a downtown historic revitalization.

The next National Brownfields Training Conference will be held on April 26-30, 2021, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Offered every two years, this conference is the largest gathering of stakeholders focused on cleaning up and reusing former commercial and industrial properties. EPA co-sponsors this event with the International City/County Management Association (ICMA).

For more information on Brownfields grants, visit EPA's website. (https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/types-brownfields-grant-funding).