News Releases from Region 09

U.S. EPA awards $1.4 million in Brownfields funding to Nevada, helping revitalize blighted properties and promote economic redevelopment

$54.3 million awarded to 221 projects nationally

SAN FRANCISCO – Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) selected 144 communities nationwide for Brownfields environmental assessment, revolving loan fund and cleanup grants. Nye County and the Northern Nevada Development Authority will receive $800,000 and $600,000, respectively. 

“EPA’s Brownfields Program expands the ability of communities to recycle vacant and abandoned properties for new, productive reuses, using existing infrastructure,” said EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt. "These grants leverage other public and private investments, and improve local economies through property cleanup and redevelopment.”

The 221 grants totaling $54.3 million will provide communities with funding to assess, clean up and redevelop underutilized properties while protecting public health and the environment. In Nye County, the Rural Desert Southwest Brownfields Coalition (RDSBC) will use $800,000 to prioritize cleanup efforts on distressed tribal properties, mine-scarred lands, abandoned automotive stations and aged buildings with hazardous structural materials. The work will spur socio-economic redevelopment and support renewable energy and local food security. The RDSBC region is characterized by rural and underserved communities who face inherited brownfield challenges.  They have overcome these barriers through effective partnership building, collaboration, coordinated grant management, and resource sharing. 

“Brownfields projects expertly combine community needs, redevelopment and environmental protection,” said Alexis Strauss, Acting Regional Administrator for the EPA’s Pacific Southwest office. “In communities throughout the Pacific Southwest, these funds are a welcome catalyst to address underutilized properties and ensure public health is protected.”

The Northern Nevada Development Authority (NNDA) will use the $600,000 to partner with Lyon and Churchill Counties to focus on assessing properties within redevelopment areas in the cities of Fernley, Yerington, Fallon, Silver Springs and Dayton. The five target areas are potential “inland ports” that could connect East Coast and West Coast markets. The project also will enroll qualified sites into the Nevada Certified Site Program, which creates a marketing advantage by reducing developer risks and encouraging investment through the certification of sites that are “shovel ready” for development.

“Nevada’s Sierra Region was hit hard by the great recession,” said Andrew Haskin, Business Development Director for the Northern Nevada Development Authority. “The EPA Brownfields Program has been instrumental in enhancing economic development by increasing the inventory of much needed developable industrial land.”

“The Nevada Division of Environmental Protection congratulates Nye County and the Northern Nevada Development Authority,” said Greg Lovato, Administrator of the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection. “Their area-wide planning and assessment efforts deliver much-needed resources to priority sites in Nevada for cleanup.  We support their efforts to develop and grow the nexus between Brownfields investment and redevelopment and the objectives of these environmental and economic programs.”

The Brownfields program targets economically disadvantaged communities and provides funding and assistance to transform contaminated sites into assets that can generate jobs and spur economic growth. A study of 48 Brownfields sites found that an estimated $29 million 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 the cleanup of these sites. Another study found that property values of homes near revitalized Brownfields sites increased between 5 and 15 percent following cleanup.

Communities can use Brownfields funding to leverage considerable infrastructure and other financial resources. For example, EPA’s Clean Water State Revolving Fund (SRF) and Drinking Water State Revolving Fund can be used to address the water quality aspects of brownfield sites and the assessment and construction of drinking water infrastructure on Brownfields, respectively. EPA’s Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) program may also serve as a potential source of long-term, low-cost supplemental financing to fund Brownfields project development and implementation activities to address water quality aspects of Brownfields.

List of the FY 2018 Applicants Selected for Funding: https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/applicants-selected-fy18-brownfields-assessment-revolving-loan-fund-and-cleanup-grants

For more information on the ARC grants: https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/types-brownfields-grant-funding

For more information on the Northern Nevada Development Authority, please visit: https://www.nnda.org Exit

View a video clip Exit from the Rural Desert Southwest Brownfields Coalition’s interview on Community Viewpoint

For more information on EPA’s Brownfields Program: https://www.epa.gov/brownfields

For more information on how Brownfields restoration has positively impacted local economies and the quality of life for neighboring communities: https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/brownfields-success-stories

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