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$800,000 in Grants for Contaminated Land Cleanup, Economic Development in Iowa

Release Date: 05/08/2009
Contact Information: Belinda Young, (913) 551-7463, young.belinda@epa.gov

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Environmental News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Kansas City, Kan., May 8, 2009) - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson announced today the availability of an estimated $800,000 in grants, bolstered by funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, to help communities in Iowa clean up sites known as “brownfields” which may be contaminated by hazardous chemicals or pollutants. The grants, which include $400,000 from the Recovery Act of 2009 and $400,000 from the EPA brownfields general program funding, will help revitalize former industrial and commercial sites, turning them from problem properties to productive community use.

“Cleaning and reusing contaminated properties provides the catalyst to improving the lives of residents living in or near brownfields communities,” said EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson. “A revitalized brownfields site reduces threats to human health and the environment, creates green jobs, promotes community involvement, and attracts investment in local neighborhoods.”

Acting Regional Administrator William Rice said, “The Brownfields Program provides seed money to local communities, states, tribes and other organizations in Iowa to revitalize abandoned and contaminated properties, bringing them to productive reuse.”

Successful applicants in Iowa include:

• Maquoketa, Iowa, which will receive $200,000 in Recovery Act funds in the form of a Cleanup Grant, to clean up the South Main Street Redevelopment Site.
• The Upper Explorerland Regional Planning Commission, which will receive $200,000 in Recovery Act funds for community-wide petroleum assessment.
• Adel, Iowa, which will receive $200,000 in brownfields general program funds for community-wide assessment of hazardous waste.
• Council Bluffs, Iowa, which will receive $200,000 in brownfields general program funds to clean up the Former International Harvester Building-West Site.

The grants will help to assess, clean up and redevelop abandoned, contaminated properties known as brownfields. Brownfields are sites where expansion, redevelopment, or reuse may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant. In addition, the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act of 2002 expanded the definition of brownfields to include mine-scarred lands or sites contaminated by petroleum or the manufacture of illegal drugs. Grant recipients are selected through a national competition. The Brownfields Program encourages development of America's estimated 450,000 abandoned and contaminated waste sites.

President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 on February 17, 2009, and has directed that the Recovery Act be implemented with unprecedented transparency and accountability. To that end, the American people can see how every dollar is being invested at http://www.recovery.gov.

For more information on brownfields cleanup revolving loan fund pilots and grants, and other brownfields activities under the Recovery Act, go to: https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/eparecovery/index.htm.

For more information on the EPA Region 7 brownfields recipients and their pilots, go to: https://www.epa.gov/brownfields.