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EPA Awards $400,000 to Help Attleboro Cleanup and Revitalize Neighborhoods

Release Date: 08/3/2012
Contact Information: Paula Haschig, 617-918-1027

(Boston, Mass.--August 3, 2011) EPA is providing two Brownfields Cleanup Grants, totaling $400,000 to the Attleboro Redevelopment Authority (ARA): $200,000 in petroleum funding to cleanup the former Automatic Machine Product site, & $200,000 in hazardous substance funding for the former American Metalcraft Company site.  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.

The City of Attleboro & ARA are in the process of redeveloping & revitalizing the area surrounding the Attleboro MBTA Commuter Rail Station as part of the City’s Urban Renewal Plan.  The end result of this project will turn this former industrial/commercial area into one of mixed use including commercial, residential & recreational uses.  Also, substantial expansion and improvements of bus & rail transportation will be completed.  This initiative brings concentrated technical & financial assistance from State & Federal agencies to this project.

In Massachusetts this year, EPA is providing $6.75 million in 33 separate Brownfields grants to communities across the state. 

“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