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EPA Awards City of Asheville and Land-of-Sky Regional Council with Grants to Revitalize Old Properties

Release Date: 04/10/2008
Contact Information: Laura Niles, 404-562-8353, [email protected]

(Atlanta, Ga. – April 10, 2008) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recognized the City of Asheville and the Land-of-Sky Regional Council today in Asheville, N.C. as recipients of $800,000 in EPA brownfields grants to help revitalize former industrial and commercial sites, turning them from problem properties to productive community use.

“EPA is proud to award the City of Asheville and the Land-of-Sky Regional Council with these brownfields grants,” said Jimmy Palmer, EPA Regional Administrator, “the City and Council will be making great strides in transforming community eyesores into productive, revitalized properties.”

Additionally, EPA awarded four other communities in North Carolina with $1.895 million in brownfields grants. Those include Greensboro, Hoke County, Isothermal Planning and Development Commission, and Alamance County. In the Southeast, 31 communities have been selected to receive brownfields grants to assess, cleanup and redevelop properties. Nationally, 43 states, two tribes and two U.S. Territories will share more than $74 million in brownfields grants.

Brownfields are sites where expansion, redevelopment, or reuse may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant. The brownfields program encourages redevelopment of America's estimated 450,000 abandoned and contaminated waste sites. Since the beginning of the program, EPA has awarded 1,255 assessment grants totaling more than $298 million, 230 revolving loan fund grants totaling about $217 million, and 426 cleanup grants totaling $78.7 million.

More information on the grant recipients: https://www.epa.gov/brownfields