News Releases from Region 07

Kansas City, Springfield and State of Missouri to Receive Revolving Loan Funding from EPA’s Brownfields Program

07/12/2016

Contact Information:

Chris Whitley (whitley.christopher@epa.gov)

913-551-7394

Environmental News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

RLF funds enabled first phase of redevelopment project at former Horace Mann School site in Kansas City, Mo., in summer 2015(Lenexa, Kan., July 12, 2016) - The communities of Kansas City and Springfield, Mo., and an agency that administers financing for environmental cleanup projects statewide in Missouri, are among 33 entities nationwide that will receive supplemental Revolving Loan Funding (RLF) from a $10.7 million package of grants announced today by EPA’s Brownfields Program.

“These funds – going to communities who have already achieved success in their work to clean up and redevelop brownfield sites – will help revitalize distressed communities, improve public health, encourage innovation, and boost local manufacturing opportunities," said Mathy Stanislaus, assistant administrator for EPA's Office of Land and Emergency Management. “RLF funding is often the key to addressing critical financing gaps to leverage private sector resources to make cleanups and reuse of properties happen.”

For EPA’s Region 7, all three successful grantees in this round of RLF funding are in Missouri:

The City of Springfield, Mo., will receive $500,000.
The City of Kansas City, Mo., will receive $300,000.
Missouri’s Environmental Improvement & Energy Resources Authority (EIERA), a quasi-governmental environmental finance agency administratively assigned to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, will receive $113,000.

RLF funds enable these and other grantees to issue subgrants or loans at low or no interest to accelerate and carry out cleanup activities at brownfields sites, transforming contaminated and idle properties and returning them to productive use. Redevelopment of brownfields properties helps communities create jobs while protecting people’s health and the environment.

There are an estimated 450,000 abandoned and contaminated sites in the U.S. Since the inception of EPA’s Brownfields Program in 1995, cumulative investments have leveraged nearly $21 billion from a variety of public and private sources for cleanup and redevelopment activities. These investments have resulted in nearly 109,000 jobs nationwide.