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San Antonio to Receive $200,000 EPA Brownfield Grant

Release Date: 6/15/2004
Contact Information: For more information contact the Office of External Affairs at (214) 665-2200.

      The city of San Antonio will receive a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to facilitate redevelopment of former abandoned properties, EPA announced today.   The grant is part of a nationwide selection of 219 applicants sharing more than $75 million in EPA Brownfields grants.  The Brownfields program helps support revitalization efforts by funding environmental assessment, cleanup activities, and job training.

      "These federal grants are awarded under the Brownfields Act signed by President Bush in January 2002.  The landmark legislation continues to help local and state leaders throughout the country in their efforts to revitalize abandoned properties," EPA Regional Administrator Richard E. Greene said.  "The importance of making these properties available to the community, providing jobs, needed tax revenues and recreational benefits that were not there before is a priority for us as we work towards our goal to recycle and renew polluted land."

      San Antonio will use its grant to assess petroleum contaminated sites within inner city commercial districts targeted for revitalization by the city=s Neighborhood Commercial Revitalization program.  The program's goals are to encourage economic reinvestment, create employment opportunities, and improve the appearance of eight target areas.  Five of the eight target areas are designated Empowerment Zones.

      The 2004 grant builds on the city's successful Brownfields program and EPA's 1999 $200,000 Brownfields assessment grant to San Antonio.  Assessment grants are used to provide funding for property inventories, planning, environmental assessments, and community outreach.

      EPA's Brownfields program also provides funding to assist states and tribes in developing area-wide Voluntary Cleanup Programs.  These programs provide states, tribes, municipalities and communities useful information and strategies to promote a unified approach to site assessment, environmental cleanup and redevelopment of contaminated properties.

      In March 2004, 16 communities received job training grants totaling $2.47 million to teach environmental cleanup job skills to 1,080 individuals living near Brownfields sites.  

      More information about EPA's Brownfields program and grants awarded nationwide is available at www.epa.gov/brownfields.  More information about EPA's goals is available at http://epa.gov/adminweb/leavitt/500dayplan.htm.

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