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$600,000 for contaminated land cleanup, economic development in Utah

Release Date: 05/08/2009
Contact Information: Dan Heffernan 303 312-7074; Richard Mylott 303 312-6654

Ogden City, Utah DEQ receive resources for environmental site assessments

(Denver, Colo. – May 8, 2009) U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson announced today the availability of $600,000 in grants bolstered by funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to help communities in Utah clean up sites known as “brownfields” which may be contaminated by hazardous chemicals or pollutants. The grants, which include $200,000 from the Recovery Act of and $400,000 from the EPA Brownfields general program funding, help revitalize former industrial and commercial sites, turning them from problem properties to productive community use.

"Today’s announcement will help Utah communities reclaim underused and abandoned properties," said Carol Rushin, Acting Regional Administrator for EPA Region 8. "By removing uncertainty about environmental contamination, these brownfields assessments will pave the way for public and private investments that reinvigorate blighted areas."

Applicants selected to receive Recovery Act funds are:

Utah Department of Environmental Quality
Grant Award: $200,000 for community-wide petroleum assessment

EPA has selected the Utah Department of Environmental Quality for a brownfields grant to identify and complete environmental assessments at petroleum sites throughout the state. Abandoned or underused properties that are potentially contaminated with petroleum include gas stations, above-ground storage tank properties and bulk plants that can have a significant blighting influence on communities. These assessments will help communities identify threats to human health and the environment and jumpstart redevelopment efforts.
Contact: UDEQ, 801-536-4181

Applicants selected to receive brownfields general program funds are:

Ogden City
Grant Award: $400,000 community-wide assessment (petroleum and hazardous substances)

EPA has selected Ogden City for two brownfields assessment grants that will fund more than 90 site assessments for hazardous substances and petroleum contamination in a targeted corridor along 21st, 24th and 30th Streets. This area is burdened by deteriorating or vacant buildings and distressed neighborhoods. These site assessments will provide the City with information about that nature and extent of environmental contamination and encourage local partnerships to redevelop the area. Contact: Ogden City, 801-629-8947.

EPA brownfields grants help assess, cleanup and redevelop abandoned, contaminated properties known as brownfields. 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, the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act of 2002 expanded the definition of a brownfield to include mine-scarred lands or sites contaminated by petroleum or the manufacture of illegal drugs. Grant recipients are selected through a national competition. The Brownfields program encourages development of America's estimated 450,000 abandoned and contaminated waste sites.

President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 on February 17 and has directed that the Recovery Act be implemented with unprecedented transparency and accountability. To that end, the American people can see how every dollar is being invested at http://www.Recovery.gov.

More information on brownfields cleanup revolving loan fund pilots and grants and other brownfields activities under the Recovery Act: https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/eparecovery/index.htm.

For more information about EPA brownfields efforts in Region 8, visit: https://www.epa.gov/region8/land_waste/bfhome/bfhome.html