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Four EPA Region 7 Communities Selected to Receive $1,835,000 to Clean Up Abandoned and Underutilized Properties

Release Date: 06/08/2011
Contact Information: Kris Lancaster, 913-551-7557, lancaster.kris@epa.gov; or Belinda Young, 913-551-7463, young.belinda@epa.gov

Environmental News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Kansas City, Kan., June 8, 2011) - Four EPA Region 7 communities will receive a total of $1,835,000 in Brownfields funding to clean up hazardous substances at abandoned and underutilized properties. The funding is part of more than $76 million in cleanup and revolving loan funds that EPA is issuing to clean up and revitalize properties across the country.

“These new EPA brownfields investments will redevelop contaminated properties, boost local economies and help create jobs while protecting public health,” said Karl Brooks, regional administrator. “Since its inception, the brownfields investments have leveraged more than $16.3 billion in cleanup and redevelopment funding from a variety of public and private sources, and have resulted in approximately 70,000 jobs.”

The four EPA Region 7 communities selected to receive Brownfields funding are:

• Arlington, Iowa, which will receive $200,000 to clean up hazardous inorganic materials at the former Arlington School.
• Council Bluffs, Iowa, which will receive $200,000 to clean up the former Katelman Foundry.
• Springfield, Mo., which will receive $600,000 to clean up sites 5, 6 and 7 at the Jordan Valley West Meadows.
• An Omaha, Neb., coalition, which will receive $835,000 in assessment funds to address hazardous substances and petroleum.