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EPA Gives Money to Revitalize New York Communities

Release Date: 05/14/2007
Contact Information: Pat Carr, 212-637-3652, [email protected]

(New York, N.Y.) Five communities in New York will receive brownfields grants totaling $1.5 million from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to help revitalize former industrial and commercial sites, turning them from problem properties into productive community sites.

“EPA’s brownfields program is proving to be one of the greatest environmental success stories of the past decade,” said Alan J. Steinberg, Regional Administrator. “These grants will enable communities in New York to hand down a healthier, more prosperous future to the next generation.”

Brownfields are sites where expansion, redevelopment, or reuse may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant. In addition to industrial and commercial redevelopment, brownfields approaches have included the conversion of industrial waterfronts to river-front parks, landfills to golf courses, rail corridors to recreational trails, and gas stations to housing.

EPA is making the following awards to these communities in New York:

• Geneva will receive $200,000 to cleanup contamination at 305 Main Street.
• New York City will receive two grants totaling $400,000 to assess local brownfields sites impacted by hazardous substances and petroleum contamination.
• Rensselaer will also receive two grants totaling $400,000 to assess local brownfields sites impacted by hazardous substances and petroleum contamination.
• Rochester will receive two grants totaling $400,000 to assess local brownfields sites impacted by hazardous substances contamination and to cleanup contamination at the former Phototech Imaging Systems site.
• Youngstown will receive $200,000 to cleanup contamination at the Youngstown Cold Storage site.