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EPA Grant Will Help Revitalize Upstate New York Community

Release Date: 04/07/2008
Contact Information: Beth Totman (212) 637-3662, totman.elizabeth@epa.gov

(New York, N.Y.) An old cold storage facility in Youngstown will be cleaned up, thanks to a $110,000 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) brownfields grant. EPA brownfields cleanup grants provide financial assistance to communities and other stakeholders to redevelop, expand or reuse properties that are hindered by the presence or potential presence of pollution and contamination. This hazardous substances grant will be used to clean up buildings and soils that have been contaminated at the Youngstown Cold Storage site.

“EPA felt that, given Youngstown’s strong reputation throughout the western portion of New York for having a high quality of life, the village is an ideal candidate to receive this grant,” said Alan J. Steinberg, Region 2 Administrator. “Now a contaminated property can be addressed and transformed into one with limitless potential.”

The Youngstown Cold Storage site, located at 701 Nancy Price Drive, was once used to wash, store and pack locally grown apples. Buildings and soils on the site are contaminated with volatile organic compounds, PCBs, metals, and inorganic contaminants from machinery at the site. Grant funds will be used to clean up the site while involving the local community.

The brownfields program encourages redevelopment of America’s estimated 450,000 abandoned and contaminated sites. This year, 108 cleanup grants were provided nationally totaling $19.6 million. EPA provides grants for assessment and cleanup of hazardous substances, revolving loan fund grants and job training grants. In addition to industrial and commercial redevelopment, brownfields have helped convert industrial properties to parks, landfills to golf courses, rail corridors to recreational trails and gas stations to housing. As of January 31, 2008, EPA’s brownfields assistance has leveraged more than $10.4 billion in cleanup and redevelopment funding and 47,201 jobs in cleanup, construction, and redevelopment.

For more information on the grant recipients, go to: https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/08arc/alpha.htm or, for general information on the brownfields program, visit: https://www.epa.gov/region02/brownfields.

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