EPA distributes brownfields grants to Pacific Southwest region

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that the Pacific Southwest region will receive $7,246,516 in federal grant funds distributed across 19 entities for brownfield site revitalization efforts. These grants are part of the $56.8 million awarded nationally to 172 recipients to assess and clean up historically contaminated properties to help local governments redevelop vacant and unused properties.

“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," says 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 Arizona, the city of South Tucson received a $300,000 assessment grant and White Mountain Apache Tribe Housing Authority received  $600,000 cleanup grants.

In California:

city of Yreka assessment grant: $600,000;
city of Arcata assessment grant: $300,000:
Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District cleanup grants: $200,000;
city of Grass Valley assessment grant: $598,312;
Plumas County Community Development Commission assessment grant: $200,000;
city of Pittsburg assessment grant: $300,000;
Association of Bay Area Governments assessment gran: $600,000;
San Francisco Recreation and Park Department cleanup grants: $348,204;
city of Sacramento assessment grant: $300,000;
city of Bakersfield assessment grant: $300,000;
city of Los Angeles assessment grant: $300,000;
city of Brea assessment grant: $200,000;
California High Speed Rail Authority assessment grant: $600,000; and
Imperial County Transportation Commission assessment grant: $300,000

In Nevada, the Northern Nevada Development Authority and Nye County both received $600,000 assessment grants and in Hawaii, the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation received a $300,000 assessment grant and cleanup grants $600,000.

Twenty-five million dollars is being given  to communities who are receiving assessment and cleanup funding for the first time. Seventeen million dollars of the assessment and cleanup funding will benefit small and rural communities with populations less than 10,000.

Recipients will each receive approximately $200,000 to $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.

Studies have shown that residential property values near brownfields sites that are cleaned up increased between 5 and 15.2 percent within a 1.24-mile radius of that site. A study analyzing data near 48 brownfield sites shows that an estimated $29 million to $97 million in additional tax revenue was generated for local governments in a single year after cleanup. This is two to seven times more than the $12.4 million EPA contributed to those brownfields.

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.