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EPA awards brownfields grants to 3 Minnesota communities

Release Date: 05/15/2006
Contact Information: Mick Hans, 312-353-5050, [email protected]; Anne Rowan, 312-353-9391, [email protected]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
No. 06-OPA079

(Chicago, Ill. - May 15, 2006) - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 5 has selected three Minnesota communities and groups to receive seven grants totaling $3 million to help redevelop brownfields.

Brownfields are abandoned or underutilized properties where real or perceived environmental contamination has slowed redevelopment. Nationally, EPA announced $70 million in brownfields funding for 209 applicants.

"Brownfields redevelopment does much more than turn neighborhood eyesores into community assets," said EPA Region 5 Acting Administrator Bharat Mathur. "It also restores hope and creates opportunity."

Here is a summary of the Minnesota brownfields grants:

Hennepin County, Minn., was selected for a $1 million revolving loan fund grant. The grant will be used to capitalize a revolving fund from which Hennepin County can provide loans and sub-grants to support cleanup efforts at sites contaminated with petroleum by-products.

Minneapolis was awarded a $400,000 brownfields cleanup grant for properties contaminated with petroleum by-products. The grant funds will be targeted at the Blanchard Warehouse and the Special School District #1 site, both on Second Avenue North.

Saint Paul Port Authority won four brownfields grants totaling $1.6 million. There are about 1,000 acres of brownfields in Saint Paul, mostly concentrated along the Mississippi River.

More information about the EPA brownfields program: epa.gov/brownfields/.