The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced over $300 million in grant awards from President Biden’s Investing in America agenda to help States, Tribal Nations, local governments and nonprofit organizations assess and clean up polluted brownfield sites across the country. These investments through EPA’s Brownfields Multipurpose, Assessment, and Cleanup (MAC) Grant Programs and Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) Grant Programs will help transform once-polluted, vacant and abandoned properties into community assets, while helping to create good jobs and spur economic revitalization in overburdened communities.
The Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency (NOACA) was awarded $1 million supplemental funds toward its current Brownfield Revolving Loan (RLF) Grant Program.
EPA selected six communities in Ohio to receive grants totaling $5.5 million in competitive EPA Brownfields funding through the multipurpose, assessment, and cleanup grant programs. NOACA was the only agency in Ohio to receive $1 million in supplemental funding, as an existing high-performing Brownfields revolving loan fund grant program to help expedite continued work at sites in Ohio.
Grace Gallucci, NOACA Executive Director & CEO, was delighted to be informed of the supplemental grant, adding “This additional infusion of money will enable NOACA to continue to contribute to the economic development of a 12-county region in Northeast Ohio. Our one-year-old Brownfields Revolving Loan Fund has made loans for two projects intended to remediate sites for future mixed residential and commercial use, and we have already identified an exciting third project where cleanup will enable future industrial reuse.”
A total of 178 communities will receive 181 grant awards totaling $231 million through EPA’s MAC Grant Programs. EPA is also announcing $68 million in supplemental funding for 31 existing, high-performing Brownfields RLF Grant Programs, as well as the selection of Grow America, an RLF Technical Assistance provider, for an estimated $3 million in grant funding.
“Far too many communities across America have suffered the harmful economic and health consequences of living near polluted brownfield sites,” said President Joe Biden. “I've long believed that people who’ve borne the burden of pollution should be the first to see the benefits of new investment. Under my Administration, we are making that a reality by ensuring the historic resources from my Investing in America agenda reach communities that need it most. I am proud that my Administration is helping to clean up and transform this area into an economic engine, while tackling a longstanding environmental injustice and creating good-paying jobs.”
“President Biden sees contaminated sites and blighted areas as an opportunity to invest in healthier, revitalized communities,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. “That’s why he secured historic funding under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, supercharging EPA’s Brownfields program to clean up contaminated properties in overburdened communities and bring them back into productive use.”
EPA’s Brownfields Program advances President Biden’s Justice40 Initiative which set a goal that 40% of the overall benefits of certain Federal investments flow to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution. The Brownfields Program strives to meet this commitment and advance environmental justice and equity considerations in all aspects of its work. Approximately 86% of the MAC and RLF Supplemental program applications selected to receive funding proposed to work in areas that include disadvantaged communities.
EPA’s Brownfields Program began in 1995 and has provided nearly $2.7 billion in Brownfield Grants to assess and clean up contaminated properties and return blighted properties to productive reuse. Prior to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, this program made approximately $60 million available each year. Thanks to the President’s historic investments in America through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, EPA has now increased that yearly investment nearly 400 percent. More than half of the funding available for this grant cycle (approximately $160 million) comes from the historic $1.5 billion investment from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. This investment has also allowed the MAC grants’ maximum award amounts to increase significantly from $500,000 to a new maximum of $5 million per award.
These grants can be awarded once all legal and administrative requirements are satisfied by selected recipients. Selected grants will be awarded to States, Tribal Nations, local governments and nonprofit organizations to address the health, economic, social, and environmental challenges caused by brownfields.
View the full list for FY2024 Brownfield Multipurpose, Assessment and Cleanup Grant Selections and Brownfield Revolving Loan Supplemental Selections here.
