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City of Green River (Wyo.) receives $200K to clean up Union Pacific Depot site

Release Date: 06/11/2014
Contact Information: Danny Heffernan, U.S. EPA, 303-312-7074; Richard Mylott, U.S. EPA, 303-312-6654; Alan Wilson, City of Green River, 307-872-6147

Brownfields grant will pave the way for redevelopment as a restaurant and community space

(Denver, Colo. – May 28, 2014) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today that the City of Green River will receive a $200K EPA Brownfields grant to clean up and redevelop the Green River Union Pacific Depot at 200 East Railroad Avenue.

The City will use the EPA Brownfields funds to clean up known contamination at the depot site, which was built in 1910. The currently unoccupied building was used for passengers and freight until the 1970s, when it was converted into office space, freight storage, and crew quarters. The site is contaminated with inorganic contaminants, asbestos, lead-based paint, PCBs, and carbon tetrachloride.

The City intends to redevelop the depot and adjacent buildings as part of a larger plan to revitalize the downtown area. Once cleaned up and renovated, redevelopment plans for the three primary buildings on the site include restaurants, community gathering spaces, classrooms, and arts and humanities exhibits.

The City of Green River is among 171 communities nationwide receiving 264 grants totaling $67 million in brownfields funding to clean and redevelop contaminated properties, boost local economies and leverage jobs while protecting public health and the environment. The 2014 Brownfields Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund, and Cleanup (ARC) grants will give communities and businesses a chance to return economic stability to under-served and economically disadvantaged neighborhoods through the assessment and clean-up of abandoned industrial and commercial properties, places where environmental cleanups and new jobs are most needed.

“EPA Brownfields funds continue to help Wyoming communities get blighted and contaminated sites back into productive use," said Shaun McGrath, EPA’s regional administrator in Denver. “These projects will create new community assets and leverage investments that create jobs and opportunities.”

Since the inception of the EPA’s Brownfields program in 1995, cumulative brownfield program investments have leveraged more than $21 billion from a variety of public and private sources for cleanup and redevelopment activities. This equates to an average of $17.79 leveraged per EPA brownfield dollar expended. These investments have resulted in approximately 93,000 jobs nationwide. These projects demonstrate the positive impact a small investment of federal brownfields funding can have on community revitalization through leveraging jobs, producing clean energy, and providing recreation opportunities for surrounding neighborhoods. EPA’s Brownfields Program empowers states, communities, and other stakeholders to work together to prevent, assess, safely clean up, and sustainably reuse brownfields sites.

More information on brownfields grants by state: https://cfpub.epa.gov/bf_factsheets/

More information on EPA’s brownfields:

Program https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/
Success Stories https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/success/index.htm
Benefits https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/overview/Brownfields-Benefits-postcard.pdf