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EPA Awards Grant to Assess Contaminated Sites in Lorain County

Release Date: 09/04/2014
Contact Information: CONTACT: Joshua Singer, 312-353-5069, singer.joshua@epa.gov

For Immediate Release No. 14-OPA108

(LORAIN, OHIO – Sept. 4, 2014) U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Regional Administrator Susan Hedman today announced a $600,000 grant to Lorain County, Ohio, for environmental assessments of brownfield sites. Hedman was joined by U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur and Lorain County Commissioner Ted Kalo for the announcement at the Black River Landing in Lorain.

“EPA’s first brownfield grant to Lorain County is a solid investment in the county’s future that will help transform contaminated sites into redevelopment opportunities,” Hedman said. “EPA’s new grant will help remove uncertainty about the extent of contamination at brownfield sites which is often the biggest barrier to redevelopment.”

“Careful coordination by Lorain County officials, including those in Avon Lake, Lorain, North Ridgeville, Oberlin and Wellington, has produced this successful package of assessment projects,” said Congresswoman Kaptur. “Improvements on these selected sites promise both environmental and economic development rewards and are the best use of federal brownfield investment dollars.”

Lorain County will use EPA’s new grant to conduct 40 environmental assessments and devise four cleanup plans. Lorain County’s coalition partners are the cities of Avon Lake, Lorain, North Ridgeville and Oberlin, and the Village of Wellington.

“With this $600,000, the Lorain County Brownfield Coalition will be able to assess former industrial sites that developers may have looked past due to perceived environmental issues throughout all of our communities. This assessment is the first step to cleanup and reuse of the properties, which will leverage private investment, create jobs, make the best use of existing infrastructure our tax dollars have paid for, and protect our environment,” Commissioner Kalo said.

171 communities across the nation were awarded EPA brownfield grants this year. Information about those grants is available at https://cfpub.epa.gov/bf_factsheets/