News Releases from Region 08

EPA provides $200K to Kiowa County to clean up and revitalize abandoned property in downtown Eads, Colorado

Funds part of $54 million to clean up and redevelop Brownfields sites across the country

(Denver, Colo. - May 28, 2015) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded Kiowa County $200K in Brownfields grant funding to clean up, demolish and redevelop a blighted former motel and residence at 1209 Maine Street in downtown Eads, Colo. Once cleanup is completed, the County will make the site, which sits on a prominent business location in town, available for commercial use.

Today's announcement is among 243 EPA grant investments totaling $54.3 million to 147 communities across the U.S. These grants will provide communities with funding necessary to assess, clean and redevelop contaminated properties, boost local economies and leverage jobs while protecting public health and the environment.

"EPA Brownfields grants open doors by helping communities like Eads transform blighted downtown properties into public and economic assets," said EPA regional administrator, Shaun McGrath. "These investments will address contamination and create new opportunities for people to live, play, and do business."

There are an estimated 450,000 abandoned and contaminated sites in the United States. EPA's Brownfields program empowers states, communities, and other stakeholders to work together to prevent, assess, safely clean up, and sustainably reuse these brownfields sites. Since the inception of the program in 1995, cumulative brownfield program investments have leveraged more than $22 billion from a variety of public and private sources for cleanup and redevelopment activities. This equates to an average of $17.79 leveraged per EPA brownfield dollar expended. These investments have resulted in approximately 105,942 jobs nationwide.

More information on Brownfields grants by state: http://cfpub.epa.gov/bf_factsheets/

More Brownfields information:
Program http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/
Success Stories http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/success/index.htm