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EPA Awards $1.2 Million to Three New York Communities to Clean up and Revitalize Contaminated Properties

Release Date: 06/06/2011
Contact Information: John Martin, (212) 637-3662, martin.johnj@epa.gov

(New York, N.Y.) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced a total of $1.2 million in funding to Rochester, Rome and Niagara County, New York to help them revitalize and reinvest in their neighborhoods. They will use the funding to clean up abandoned industrial properties and to assess other sites that may need to be cleaned up. The funding was awarded through EPA’s Brownfields Program, which helps communities assess, clean up, redevelop, and reuse contaminated properties, ranging from former industrial parcels to old gas stations. The cleanup of contaminated properties and the ultimate investment in their redevelopment protects people’s health and the environment, reduces blight, revitalizes neighborhoods and creates jobs.

“EPA brownfields grants help transform abandoned and contaminated sites to allow for the construction of new housing, businesses, parks and other redevelopment that creates jobs and helps revitalize our cities,” said Judith A. Enck, EPA Regional Administrator. “Not only will these cleanups produce jobs, they will protect the health of area residents and improve the quality of people’s lives.”

The Brownfields Program was created by Congress in 2002. It helps states and communities around the country clean up and revitalize properties that may be contaminated and are not currently being put to use. EPA’s Brownfields Program encourages redevelopment of America’s estimated 450,000 abandoned and contaminated waste sites.

EPA today announced a total of more than $76 million in new investments across the country that will redevelop contaminated properties, boost local economies and help create jobs while protecting public health. Since its inception, EPA’s brownfields investments have leveraged more than $16.3 billion in cleanup and redevelopment funding from a variety of public and private sources, and resulted in approximately 70,000 jobs. EPA is selecting 214 grants through the Brownfields Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund, and Cleanup Grants programs that will go to 40 states and three tribes across the country.

The recipients of brownfields grants in New York State are:

Rochester
The city of Rochester will receive a $200,000 to clean up four parcels of land located at 300-320 Andrews Street and 25 Evans Street. These parcels, covering 1.5 acres, have been used for various commercial and industrial purposes since the early 1920s, They have hosted a commercial printer, a dry cleaning equipment distributor, a bus depot and other businesses throughout their history. A 2006 assessment of the properties documented the presence of volatile organic compounds, including tetrachloroethylene (PCE), in the soil and ground water. Once the properties are cleaned up, Rochester plans to use the site for a mixed-use residential/commercial development.

Rochester will additionally receive $400,000 to assess hazardous substances and petroleum contamination at various brownfields properties throughout the city.

Rome
The city of Rome will receive $200,000 to clean up the former Nolan Manufacturing Building at 1313-1333 East Dominick Street. The two-story building on this property is contaminated by polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). The PCBs will be remediated and the city will also remove asbestos and lead-based paint. The city plans to use the cleaned up property for clean-technology or arts manufacturing, or will convert the building into a mixed commercial-residential live-work space.

Niagara County
Niagara County was selected to receive $400,000 for a community-wide assessment of some of the county’s 355 brownfields, which are contaminated by hazardous substances and petroleum.

Information on grant recipients can be found at: https://www.epa.gov/brownfields.

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