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EPA Awards Community Improvement Association $200,000 Brownfields Cleanup Grant

Release Date: 06/06/2011
Contact Information: Dave Bary or Joe Hubbard at 214-665-2200 or r6press@epa.gov

(DALLAS – June 6, 2011) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded the Community Improvement Association in Madison, Arkansas, a $200,000 brownfields cleanup grant.

“Brownfields grants help to revitalize these contaminated sites,” said EPA Regional Administrator Al Armendariz. “This grant builds on EPA’s commitment of working with communities to hand down a healthier, more prosperous future to the next generation.”

The funds from the grant will be used to clean up the former Butler Elementary School in Madison, which opened in the mid-1950s and closed in the mid-1990s. The school building is contaminated with metals and inorganic materials. Clean up of the site will reduce threats to public health and is expected to allow the city to move forward with plans to redevelop the site into a multi-purpose center and park for after-school programs, senior citizen activities and recreational use. The grant funds will also be used to conduct community outreach activities.

Brownfields are vacant, abandoned or under-used properties with redevelopment potential that suffer from known or perceived environmental contamination. Addressing the nation’s brownfields is an ongoing challenge for communities of every size. By focusing on redevelopment, properties are put back into productive use for communities while helping to keep undeveloped lands in their natural state.

More information on EPA’s brownfields program is available at https://www.epa.gov/brownfields

More about activities in EPA Region 6 is available at https://www.epa.gov/aboutepa/region6.html

EPA audio file is available at https://www.epa.gov/region6/6xa/podcast/jun2011.html