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EPA Provides Brownfields Grant and Assistance to Three Vermont Communities

Brownfield Funding and Work Leverages Jobs and Promotes Economic Redevelopment

05/31/2017
Contact Information: 
David Deegan (deegan.dave@epa.gov)
617-918-1017

BOSTON - Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced that three communities in Vermont would be given awards totaling $700,00 for brownfield site revitalization. These communities are among 172 across the country to receive EPA Brownfields funding.

The Bennington County Regional Commission is getting $300,000 and the Brattleboro Museum of Arts Center is getting $200,000, both for assessments. Island Holdings LLC will receive $200,000 for a cleanup in Bellows Falls.

Nationwide, a total of about $56.8 million has been awarded by EPA to fund selected recipients for brownfields site assessments and cleanup as initial steps towards redeveloping vacant and unused properties, transforming them to productive reuse that will benefit the community and the local economy.

EPA's brownfields grants and assistance to Vermont this year are among other significant annual investments by EPA to help New England communities to address brownfield properties.

Across the six New England states this year, EPA is awarding a total of $10.4 million for 32 communities to assess or clean brownfields, as well as $750,000 for technical assistance to six communities. A brownfield is a property for which the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant. There are estimated to be more than 450,000 brownfields in the U.S. Cleaning up and reinvesting in these properties increases local tax bases, facilitates job growth, utilizes existing infrastructure, takes development pressures off of undeveloped, open land, and both improves and protects the environment.

"EPA is committed to working with communities to redevelop Brownfields sites which have plagued their neighborhoods. EPA's Assessment and Cleanup grants target communities that are economically disadvantaged and include places where environmental cleanup and new jobs are most needed," said EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt. "These grants leverage considerable infrastructure and other investments, improving local economies and creating an environment where jobs can grow. I am very pleased the President's budget recognizes the importance of these grants by providing continued funding for this important program."

In New England, since the beginning of the Brownfields program, EPA has awarded 382 assessment grants totaling $103.9 million, 73 revolving loan fund grants and supplemental funding totaling $90 million and 290 cleanup grants totaling $69.9 million. These grant funds have paved the way for more than $2.4 billion in public and private cleanup and redevelopment investment and for nearly 15,499 jobs in assessment, cleanup, construction and redevelopment.

Nationwide, approximately $17.5 million of the assessment and cleanup funding announced today will benefit small and rural communities with populations less than 10,000.  Approximately $25 million will go to communities who are receiving assessment and cleanup funding for the first time.  Selected recipients will each receive approximately $200,000 - $600,000 in funding to work on individual sites or several sites within their community. These funds will provide communities with resources necessary to determine the extent of site contamination, remove environmental uncertainties and clean up contaminated properties where needed. Brownfields assessment and cleanup activities are strides closer to realizing a sites' full potential, while protecting public health and the environment.

Construction photos of the redevelopment effort to build City Market in Burlington, Vt.
Construction photo of the redevelopment effort to build City Market in Burlington, Vt.
Construction photos of the redevelopment effort to build City Market in Burlington, Vt.

For example, a groundbreaking for City Market, a community-owned food co-op in Burlington, Vermont, took place on February 2017 at a former brownfields site. A grand opening is anticipated for late fall 2017. City market will include 14,000 square feet of retail space, plus an additional 9,000 square feet of office, community, and public space. Approximately 100 permanent jobs are expected to be created. The project was supported by approximately $20,000 in EPA assessment funds and $200,000 in EPA cleanup funds from a state-wide revolving loan fund.

Addressing and cleaning up sites, like those in the Burlington neighborhood, across the nation will ultimately boost local economies and leverage redevelopment jobs while protecting public health and the environment. Brownfield sites are community assets because of their locations and associated infrastructure advantages. Studies have shown that residential property values near brownfields sites that are cleaned up increased between 5 and 15.2%. The study also determined that brownfield cleanup can increase overall property values within a one-mile radius. A study analyzing data near 48 brownfield sites shows that an estimated $29 to $97 million in additional tax revenue was generated for local governments in a single year after cleanup. This is 2 to 7 times more than the $12.4 million the EPA contributed to the cleanup of those brownfields.

There are an estimated 450,000 abandoned and contaminated waste sites in America.  As of May 2017, more than 124,759 jobs and $24 billion of public and private funding has been leveraged as a result of assessment grants and other EPA Brownfields grants. On average, $16.11 was leveraged for each EPA Brownfields dollar and 8.5 jobs leveraged per $100,000 of EPA brownfields funds expended on assessment, cleanup, and revolving loan fund cooperative agreements.

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