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EPA AWARDS MADERA COUNTY $1 MILLION FOR BROWNFIELDS REDEVELOPMENT

Release Date: 5/3/2002
Contact Information: Leo Kay, Press Office, 415/947-4306, Jill Nishi, Madera County, 559/675-7823

     SAN FRANCISCO   The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency awarded Madera County, Calif. a $1 million grant today that will allow local officials to clean up and revitalize underused, abandoned "brownfields."

     The Madera County Environmental Health Department plans on using the revolving loan fund to address blighted properties in North Fork and Ahwanee that have lost major industrial facilities.  Officials will focus primarily on properties located next to residential communities.

     "We are pleased to be able to bring some much-needed funding to clean up and redevelop parts of North Fork and Ahwanee," said EPA Regional Administrator Wayne Nastri.  "The revolving loan fund program offers a great opportunity for local agencies to spur economic development in areas that have high numbers of underused and abandoned properties."

     Madera County's grant is one of 23 being announced nationwide today that will allow state and local programs to provide no- interest or low- interest loans to businesses to carry out cleanup activities at Brownfields properties. Federal capitalization of these loan programs provides necessary resources that enable state and local governments to produce or leverage billions of dollars in other public and private sector funding to revitalize economically depressed communities.  

     To date, the EPA has awarded 143 Brownfields Revolving Loan Fund grants to 39 states and the District of Columbia totaling almost $91 million. For every dollar of federal money spent on Brownfields cleanup activities, cities and states  produce or leverage $2.48 in private investment.  The EPA=s Brownfields program has leveraged over $4 billion in public and private investments that have turned abandoned industrial properties into thriving economic centers, useful recreational areas and beneficial open spaces.  
                                                       
     For further information about the EPA=s Brownfields program go to
https://www.epa.gov/brownfields.