News Releases from Region 04

EPA to Recognize Five Communities in Georgia for Receiving $1.4 Million in Funding for Brownfield Site and Community Revitalization

ATLANTA – On Wednesday, June 7, 2017, U.S. Acting Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Regional Administrator Anne Heard will recognize five communities in Georgia as the recipients of Brownfields grant investments totaling $1,400,000 ($1,200,000 assessment grants and $200,000 cleanup grants).

The grants, funded by EPA’s Brownfields program, help recipients to conduct assessments and cleanups on Brownfields properties. The investments continue to provide communities with necessary funding to help revitalize America’s land, boost local economies and create jobs while protecting public health.
 

Who:                EPA Acting Regional Administrator Anne Heard

Director Shannon Goodman, Lifecycle Building Center

Shannon Ridley, Brownfields Coordinator, Georgia Environmental Protection Division 

Leadership from the City of Atlanta; City of College Park; City of Doraville; and the Columbus Consolidated Government

Brett Mitchell, President of the Georgia Brownfields Association

What:               EPA Brownfields Grant Recognition for Five Communities in the Atlanta area

When:             Wednesday, June 7, 2017, from 11:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m.

Where:             Lifecycle Building Center,

1116 Murphy Ave SW,

Atlanta, GA 30310

In addition to these five recipients, EPA selected two other communities in Georgia for award.  Mitchell County is receiving $200,000 to clean up the former Glausier Street Gas Station site at 334 Glausier Street in Pelham and the City of Sandersville is receiving $150,103 to clean up the Downtown Café site at 123 South Harris Street.

Studies have shown that residential property values near brownfields sites that are cleaned up increased between 5 and 15.2%. and can increase property values within 1.24 miles of that site. 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 two to seven times more than the $12.4 million EPA contributed to those brownfields.

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

About EPA’s brownfields program: https://epa.gov/brownfields

Successful Brownfields stories: https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/brownfields-success-stories

Connect with EPA Region 4 on Facebook: www.facebook.com/eparegion4

And on Twitter: @EPASoutheast