EPA Provides Brownfields Grant and Assistance to Maine Communities

BOSTON, May 31 -- The Environmental Protection Agency issued the following news release:

Communities in Maine will receive 9 grants totaling $1.795 million for brownfield site revitalization and technical assistance, the US Environmental Protection Agency announced today. These communities are among 172 across the country to receive funding.

Nationwide, a total of about $56.8 million has been awarded by EPA to fund selected recipients for brownfield site assessments and cleanup as initial steps towards redeveloping vacant and unused properties, transforming them to productive reuse that will benefit the community and the local economy.

EPA's Brownfields grants and assistance to Maine this year are among other significant annual investments by EPA to help New England communities to address brownfield properties.

The awards were given to:

* The Town of Berwick ($200,000 for cleanup)

* The Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments ($200,000 for site assessment)

* The City of Hallowell ($300,000 for site assessment)

* The Maine Department of Environmental Protection ($300,000 for site assessment)

* The City of Bangor ($200,000 for site assessment)

* The Eastern Maine Development Corp. for the Town of Bucksport ($160,000 for an area-wide planning grant; $125,000 for technical assistance)

* Our Katahdin LLC for the Town of Millinocket. ($200,000 for cleanup; $110,000 for technical assistance)

Across the six New England states this year, EPA is awarding a total of $10.4 million for 32 communities to assess or clean brownfields, as well as $750,000 for technical assistance to six communities. 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 U.S. Cleaning up and reinvesting in these properties increases local tax bases, facilitates job growth, utilizes existing infrastructure, takes development pressures off of undeveloped, open land, and both improves and protects the environment.

"EPA is committed to working with communities to redevelop Brownfields sites which have plagued their neighborhoods. EPA's Assessment and Cleanup grants target communities that are economically disadvantaged and include places where environmental cleanup and new jobs are most needed," said EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt. "These grants leverage considerable infrastructure and other investments, improving local economies and creating an environment where jobs can grow. I am very pleased the President's budget recognizes the importance of these grants by providing continued funding for this important program."

In New England, since the beginning of the Brownfields program, EPA has awarded 382 assessment grants totaling $103.9 million, 73 revolving loan fund grants and supplemental funding totaling $90 million and 290 cleanup grants totaling $69.9 million. These grant funds have paved the way for more than $2.4 billion in public and private cleanup and redevelopment investment and for nearly 15,499 jobs in assessment, cleanup, construction and redevelopment.

Nationwide, approximately $17.5 million of the assessment and cleanup funding announced today will benefit small and rural communities with populations less than 10,000. Approximately $25 million will go to communities who are receiving assessment and cleanup funding for the first time. Selected recipients will each receive approximately $200,000 - $600,000 in funding to work on individual sites or several sites within their community. These funds will provide communities with resources necessary to determine the extent of site contamination, remove environmental uncertainties and clean up contaminated properties where needed. Brownfields assessment and cleanup activities are strides closer to realizing a sites' full potential, while protecting public health and the environment.

For example, a brownfields redevelopment in Sanford, Maine transformed an abandoned woolen mill into a vibrant residential and commercial complex. This property used to be a blighted historic mill building that was built in 1867 and was left vacant for years. Now, it's an award-winning redevelopment that added 36 modern apartments and four businesses to the community. EPA's investment leveraged an investment of more than $10M in private funding and other public funding. The project was completed in the fall of 2013 and has since catalyzed additional investment in the surrounding area. For example, the former abandoned gas station across the street has now been transformed into a new public park and event space along the shore of Number One Pond.

Addressing and cleaning up sites, like those in the Sanford neighborhood, across the nation will ultimately boost local economies and leverage redevelopment jobs while protecting public health and the environment. Brownfield sites are community assets because of their locations and associated infrastructure advantages. Studies have shown that residential property values near brownfields sites that are cleaned up increased between 5 and 15.2%. The study also determined that brownfield cleanup can increase overall property values within a one-mile radius. A study analyzing data near 48 brownfield sites shows that an estimated $29 to $97 million in additional tax revenue was generated for local governments in a single year after cleanup. This is 2 to 7 times more than the $12.4 million the EPA contributed to the cleanup of those brownfields.

There are an estimated 450,000 abandoned and contaminated waste sites in America. As of May 2017, more than 124,759 jobs and $24 billion of public and private funding has been leveraged as a result of assessment grants and other EPA Brownfields grants. On average, $16.11 was leveraged for each EPA Brownfields dollar and 8.5 jobs leveraged per $100,000 of EPA brownfields funds expended on assessment, cleanup, and revolving loan fund cooperative agreements.

More information:

* List of the FY 2017 Applicants Selected for Funding (www.epa.gov/brownfields/brownfields-list-fy17-grants-selected-funding)

* EPA's brownfields program (www.epa.gov/brownfields)

* EPA's work on brownfields in New England (www.epa.gov/brownfields/brownfields-and-land-revitalization-connecticut-maine-massachusetts-new-hampshire-rhode)

* More on successful Brownfields stories (www.epa.gov/brownfields/brownfields-success-stories)

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