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EPA Awards Brownfields Grants to Programs in Tennessee

Release Date: 05/10/2005
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( Atlanta - May 10, 2005) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today that it has awarded $279,500 in Brownfields Grants to help communities in Tennessee revitalize former industrial and commercial sites, transforming them from problem properties into community assets. The Brownfields Program empowers states, communities, and other stakeholders in economic development to work together to prevent, assess, safely clean up, and sustainably reuse brownfields. Participants in the brownfields program gain access to expertise and other resources from more than 20 federal agencies.

A brownfield site is real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of harmful contaminants. The Brownfields Program promotes redevelopment of America's estimated 450,000 abandoned and contaminated waste sites. Since its inception in 1995, the program has awarded 709 assessment grants totaling more than $190 million, 189 revolving loan fund grants worth more than $165 million, and $26.8 million for 150 cleanup grants.  

In addition to facilitating industrial and commercial redevelopment, brownfields projects have converted industrial waterfronts to river-front parks, landfills to golf courses, rail corridors to recreational trails, and gas station sites to housing. EPA's brownfields assistance has led to more than $7 billion in public and private investment in cleanup and redevelopment, helped create more than 31,000 jobs, and resulted in the assessment of more than 5,100 properties.

Grants announced today include:

Newport , Tenn. , Brownfields Assessment Grant $79,500 for hazardous substances

The city of Newport will use grant funds to perform a site assessment on the former 2.5-acre Mohawk Mills site, perform a natural resources evaluation of the site, develop remediation and reuse plans, and conduct community outreach activities.

Clarksville , Tenn. , Brownfields Assessment Grant $200,000 for petroleum

The city of Newport will use grant funds to develop an inventory of sites in a 130-acre area in the industrial district of the central city, conduct site assessments, and develop cleanup plans. Funds also will be used to conduct community outreach activities.

For more information on the grant recipients, go to: https://www.epa.gov/swerosps/bf/archive/pilot_arch.htm

More information on brownfields in general is at https://www.epa.gov/brownfields

CONTACT: Dawn Harris-Young, EPA Media Relations, 404-562-8421