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EPA Gives $250,000 Brownfields Grant to Westbrook, Maine

Release Date: 05/18/2000
Contact Information: Peyton Fleming, EPA Press Office (617-918-1008)

BOSTON - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced that Westbrook has been chosen to receive $200,000 of Brownfields assistance to evaluate cleanup and redevelopment options at three former mill sites in the city. The EPA also announced a $50,000 grant to help develop green space.

Westbrook will use the Assessment Demonstration Pilot funds to focus on redevelopment of the Foye Mill and Sacarrappa Island brownfields sites on the Presumpscot River and the Maine Rubber site down town. The Greenspace funds will help assess environmental conditions along the Presumpscot River, where officials hope to improve access, create new recreational activities and generally boost river revitalization efforts.

Westbrook is among 15 grant recipients in New England and 102 chosen nationally to receive a total of $35 million in Brownfields grants. The funds are being used across the country for site assessments, revolving loan cleanup programs and Brownfields job training programs.

"This $250,000 grant will help jump start Westbrook's efforts to clean up its abandoned and contaminated sites so they can be put back to productive reuse," said Mindy S. Lubber, regional administrator of EPA's New England Office. "As a result, residents of Westbrook can look forward to a cleaner environment, new jobs and more tax revenues for the community."

"This significant funding for the City of Westbrook is welcome news that will not only assist in the cleanup of three Brownfields manufacturing waste sites, but also with additional green space funding to revitalize Westbrook's river front property," said U.S. Sen. Olympia J. Snowe. "I am very supportive of the EPA's Brownfields initiative that has helped generate tremendous progress in cleaning up industrial sites throughout Maine and I am very pleased that Westbrook's plans have won the Administration's support."

"As a Brownfield Pilot community, Westbrook will have the opportunity to encourage the local economy through new commercial development, restore sites polluted by past use and create new open space for a variety of community uses," said U.S. Rep. Tom Allen. "This grant is a tribute to the initiative and hard work of Westbrook's civic and business leaders."

"The city of Westbrook has worked diligently in putting together a plan for increasing its tax base and its green space," said Sen. Susan M. Collins. "This grant by the PEA is not only a boost to that effort, it's a vote of confidence in the vision for a stronger, more vital community."

A total of $5.4 million in Brownfield grants were awarded today to 15 New England recipients. Other grants went to New Bedford, Brockton, North Adams and Gloucester in Massachusetts; Providence and the State of Rhode Island; Lewiston in Maine; the Windham Regional Commission in Vermont; and New London, Berlin, Danbury, Naugatuck Valley and Middlesex Community College in Connecticut.