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EPA Awards $6.75 Million in Brownfields funding to Cleanup and Revitalize Massachusetts Communities

Release Date: 06/05/2012
Contact Information: EPA Public Affairs, (617) 918-1010

(Boston, Mass. – June 5, 2012) – EPA is providing $6.75 million in Brownfields grants to help Massachusetts communities to assess, cleanup and redevelop abandoned or contaminated properties. The funding is part of more than $17 million in EPA brownfields investments across the six New England states announced by EPA to protect health and the environment, create jobs and promote economic re-development in American communities.

The grant money can assist work to reclaim sites including old textile mills, sites containing hazardous substances and petroleum products and other abandoned industrial and commercial properties. EPA’s Brownfields program encourages redevelopment of America’s estimated 450,000 abandoned and contaminated waste sites.

In Massachusetts this year, EPA is providing 33 separate Brownfields grants to the following municipalities and groups:

· Attleboro Redevelopment Authority, $400,000 (2 cleanup grants, Automatic Machine Products property and American Metalcraft Property)
· City of Fall River, $400,000 (1 Community-wide assessment grant, 1 Community-wide cleanup grant)
· City of New Bedford, $200,000 (cleanup grant, 478 - 480 Union St.)
· City of Boston, $400,000 (2 cleanup grants, Jackson Commons - 1542 and 1540 Columbus Ave.)
· United Neighbors of Lower Roxbury, $200,000 (cleanup grant, UNLR Community Cultural Center)
· Berkshire Regional Planning Commission, $250,000 (1 Community-wide Revolving Loan Fund Supplemental grant)
· Westmass Area Development Corporation (Chicopee), $200,000 (cleanup grant, Ludlow Mills)
· City of Chicopee, $800,000 (1 Community-wide assessment grant, 3 cleanup grants for Uniroyal Property Parcels)
· City of Holyoke, $200,000 (cleanup grant, Mountain Road Firing Range)
· Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, $400,000 (2 Community-wide assessment grants)
· Town of Lee, $100,000 (cleanup grant, 25 School Street)
· Town of Framingham, $400,000 (2 Community-wide assessment grants)
· New Garden Park, Inc. (Worcester), $200,000 (cleanup grant, Worcester Telegram & Gazette Bldg., 18-20 Franklin St.)
· City of Worcester, $300,000 (1 Community-wide Revolving Loan Fund Supplemental grant)
· Town of North Brookfield, $200,000 (cleanup grant, 57 School St.)
· City of Gloucester, $400,000 (2 Community-wide assessment grants)
· Ocean Alliance (Gloucester), $200,000 (cleanup grant, Tarr & Wonson Paint Factory)
· Merrimack Valley Planning Commission, $200,000 (Community-wide assessment grant)
· City of Lawrence, $400,000 (2 Community-wide assessment grants)
· City of Somerville, $900,000 (3 cleanup grants for Kiley Barrel parcels [8 Bennett St., 10 Milk St., 264-266 Somerville Ave.], 1 Community-wide Revolving Loan Fund Supplemental grant)

“EPA Brownfields funding helps strengthen the economic foundation and is a catalyst for further growth in our communities,” said Curt Spalding, regional administrator of EPA New England’s office. “Cleaning and revitalizing contaminated sites helps create jobs, and can help a community to create new businesses and neighborhood centers, while making our environment cleaner and the community healthier.”

Since the beginning of EPA’s Brownfields Program, in New England alone EPA has awarded 296 assessment grants totaling $72.7 million, 62 revolving loan fund grants and supplemental funding totaling $68.4 million and 213 cleanup grants totaling $47 million. These grant funds have paved the way for more than $1.45 billion in public and private cleanup and redevelopment investment and for 9,756 jobs in assessment, cleanup, construction and redevelopment on over 2200 sites across New England.

Nationally, the figures are impressive: As of May 2012, EPA’s brownfields assistance has leveraged more than $18.3 billion in cleanup and redevelopment funding from a variety of public and private sources and helped create approximately 75,500 jobs. More than 18,000 properties have been assessed, and over 700 properties have been cleaned up. These investments and jobs target local, under-served and economically disadvantaged neighborhoods – places where environmental cleanups and new jobs are most needed.

More Information:

EPA Brownfields program in New England: http://epa.gov/region1/brownfields/index.html

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