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Huntington wins EPA grant for potential redevelopment

Release Date: 04/07/2008
Contact Information: Roy Seneca (215) 814-5567 [email protected]

PHILADELPHIA (April 7 , 2008) -- Funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's brownfields program will help the city of Huntington, W. Va. assess abandoned industrial properties for potential redevelopment.

"Brownfields initiatives demonstrate how environmental protection and economic development work hand-in-hand. This funding will help the community assess, and if needed, clean up an abandoned eyesore, provide employment and turn problem properties into productive reuse," said Donald S. Welsh, administrator for EPA's mid-Atlantic region.

EPA announced today that Huntington will receive a $200,000 brownfields grant. The city is one of 209 communities nationwide receiving more than $74 million in brownfields-related funding. Brownfields are generally abandoned industrial properties where redevelopment is complicated by real or perceived contamination. EPA estimates there are 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 selected Huntington for the grant to help address the abundance of vacant and unused industrial properties. The city lost much of its industrial base with the decline of the coal industry. Assessment of the brownfields is expected to provide the city with information to help expedite the redevelopment of these sites.

Brownfields grants continue to serve as the foundation of EPA's brownfields program. These grants support revitalization efforts by funding environmental assessment, cleanup, and job training activities. Brownfields assessment grants provide funding for brownfield inventories, planning, environmental assessments, and community outreach.
More information on the brownfields program and brownfields grants is available at: https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/index.html .