News Releases from Region 08

EPA provides $400K to the City of Sioux Falls to advance the cleanup and revitalization of properties

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

(Denver, Colo. - May 28, 2015) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded the City of Sioux Falls $400K in Brownfields grant funding to expand local efforts to assess, clean up and redevelop properties in the City's downtown area. 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 up and redevelop contaminated properties, boost local economies, and leverage jobs while protecting public health and the environment.

The City of Sioux Falls will use the EPA Brownfields grants to conduct environmental assessments at several sites in targeted areas identified as priorities for redevelopment in the City's 2015 Downtown Plan. Priority sites include current or former handlers of hazardous waste, known petroleum or hazardous substance spill sites, and sites which have used underground storage tanks. These properties include automotive and rail yard operations and vacant and underutilized buildings with potential asbestos concerns. Efforts to assess, clean up and redevelop these properties will build upon previous Brownfields redevelopment successes in the 'Phillips to the Falls' redevelopment area and Falls Park.

"EPA Brownfields grants open doors by helping communities like Sioux Falls transform blighted 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