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Massachusetts Cities Receive $6.7 Million of "Brownfield" Grants from EPA; Largest Grant is $2 Million for Pioneer Valley Planning Commission

Release Date: 05/25/1999
Contact Information: Peyton Fleming, EPA Press Office (617-918-1008)

BOSTON - Vice-President Al Gore today announced the selection of 13 Brownfield revolving-loan fund grants from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for cleanup of contaminated sites in New England.

Nine of the EPA-funded grants are to cities and planning agencies in Massachusetts. Among those is a $2 million revolving-loan grant to the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission which serves 43 western Massachusetts communities, including Springfield, Chicopee and Westfield.

The grant to Pioneer Valley is the largest of the total of $9.8 million of grants awarded today to New England, including more than $6 million to Massachusetts alone. Recipients will use the money to make low- and no-interest loans available to property owners and developers for the cleanup of contaminated properties.

The $9.8 million includes $400,000 of Brownfields job-training grants that were awarded today to the region - $200,000 each to Strive/Boston, a Roxbury-based nonprofit group and the City of Stamford, Conn. The money will be used to provide training to community members in Boston, Chelsea and Stamford, Conn. on hazardous waste cleanup skills.

"These funds will help fuel the economies of New England's cities. This is a critical piece in getting sites cleaned up so that they can be put back to reuse, creating jobs and tax revenues," said EPA's New England Administrator John P. DeVillars, who announced the grants today while touring two Brownfields sites in Springfield, MA - the Crane property on Goodwin Street and Memorial Industrial Park on Roosevelt Avenue. "This kind of money has been pivotal in cleaning up dozens of Brownfields sites in New England already and we look forward to seeing more of these success stories in the future. EPA is proud to be a partner in New England's urban renaissance. These investments strengthen what is already a very strong partnership with New England's mayors and urban investors."

The grants announced today bring EPA's total investment in Brownfields efforts in New England to more than $22 million in the past four years.

The other award winners in Massachusetts are as follows:

• $1 million to the Franklin Regional Council of Governments, a coalition serving Greenfield and Colrain
• $500,000 to the City of Lowell
• $500,000 to the City of Brockton
• $500,000 to the City of Lynn
• $500,000 to the Mystic Valley Development Commission which serves Malden, Medford and Everett
• $500,000 to the City of Somerville
• $500,000 to the City of Lawrence
• $500,000 to the Central Massachusetts Economic Development Authority which serves Worcester and surrounding communities

• $1.45 million to the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services and the New Hampshire State Planning Office
• $500,000 to the City of Portland, Maine
• $500,000 to the City of Stamford, Conn.
• $500,000 to the City of Hartford, Conn.