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EPA grant will help clean up former industrial area in Coatesville

Release Date: 04/07/2008
Contact Information: Roy Seneca (215) 814-5567 seneca.roy@epa.gov

PHILADELPHIA (April 7, 2008) -- Funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's brownfields program will be used to help clean up a former industrial area along
Route 82 in Coatsville, Pa. so it can be used for a public safety training center.

"Brownfields initiatives demonstrate how environmental protection and economic development work hand-in-hand. This grant will help bring productive use to a community eyesore that has been unused for years and turn it into an asset that benefits the community, the environment, and the economy," said Donald S. Welsh, administrator for EPA's mid-Atlantic region.

EPA announced today that the Chester County Public Safety Training Foundation will receive a $200,000 grant to clean up a 40-acre site along Route 82 in Coatesville. When the site is cleaned up, the foundation plans to build and operate a public safety training center at the location. Training activities and site operations are expected to create 35 to 50 new jobs. Cleanup of the site also is expected to reduce environmental contamination of the nearby Brandywine Creek.

Coatesville is one of 209 communities nationwide benefitting from more than
$74 million in brownfields-related funding. Brownfields are generally abandoned industrial properties where redevelopment is complicated by real or perceived contamination. EPA estimates there are more than 450,000 brownfields in the U.S. Cleaning up and reinvesting in these properties increases local tax bases, facilitates job growth, utilizes existing infrastructure, takes development pressures off of undeveloped, open land, and both improves the environment.

Brownfields grants continue to serve as the foundation of EPA's brownfields program. These grants support revitalization efforts by funding environmental assessment, cleanup, and job training activities. Brownfields assessment grants provide funding for brownfield inventories, planning, environmental assessments, and community outreach.

More information on the brownfields program and brownfields grants is available at: https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/index.html .
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