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EPA Awards $400,000 in Brownfields Assessment Grants to the New Orleans Regional Planning Commission

Release Date: 05/24/2012
Contact Information: Dave Bary or Jennah Durant at 214-665-2200 or r6press@epa.gov


Building on its past successes, the RPC will reach out to underprivileged and economically distressed communities to address neighborhood Brownfields sites. These sites are ideal for redevelopment as locally-based commercial and retail sites, health care clinics, community meeting space, learning centers and neighborhood parks and gardens. The RPC plans to perform four Phase I environmental site assessments and two Phase II environmental site assessments at sites with potential hazardous contamination.

The Brownfields to Green Service Stations is a collaboration between the RPC’s Brownfield Redevelopment Program and the Clean Fuel Partnership (a Department of Energy Clean Cities Coalition) which focuses on transforming Brownfield sites into Green Service Stations. These grants will provide the funding needed to assess potential Green Service Station sites and start them on the road to redevelopment.

There are an estimated 450,000 abandoned and contaminated waste sites in America. In 2011, the EPA’s brownfields program leveraged 6,447 jobs and $2.14 billion in cleanup and redevelopment funds. Since its inception, the EPA’s brownfields investments have leveraged more than $18.3 billion in cleanup and redevelopment funding from a variety of public and private sources that have resulted in approximately 75,500 jobs. More than 18,000 properties have been assessed, and over 700 properties have been cleaned up. Brownfields grants also target under-served and low income neighborhoods – places where environmental cleanups and new jobs are most needed.

The EPA’s Brownfields Program empowers states, communities, and other stakeholders to work together to prevent, assess, safely clean up, and sustainably reuse brownfields. A brownfield site is real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant. In 2002, the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act was passed to help states and communities around the country clean up and revitalize brownfields sites. Under this law, EPA provides financial assistance to eligible applicants through four competitive grant programs: assessment grants, revolving loan fund grants, cleanup grants, and job training grants. Additionally, funding support is provided to state and tribal response programs through a separate mechanism.

See list of all awarded brownfields grants by state: https://cfpub.epa.gov/bf_factsheets/

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

More information on brownfields success stories: https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/success/index.htm

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