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EPA awards brownfields grants to 4 Wisconsin communities

Release Date: 05/15/2006
Contact Information: Mick Hans, 312-353-5050, hans.mick@epa.gov; Anne Rowan, 312-353-9391, rowan.anne@epa.gov

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
No. 06-OPA075

(Chicago, Ill. - May 15, 2006) - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 5 has selected four Wisconsin communities and groups to receive nine grants totaling $2.6 million to help redevelop brownfields.

Brownfields are abandoned or underutilized properties where real or perceived environmental contamination has slowed redevelopment. Nationally, EPA announced $70 million in brownfields funding for 209 applicants.

"Brownfields redevelopment does much more than turn neighborhood eyesores into community assets," said EPA Region 5 Acting Administrator Bharat Mathur. "It also restores hope and creates opportunity."

Here is a summary of the Wisconsin brownfields grants:

Milwaukee Redevelopment Authority received four grants totaling $1.6 million. The authority will use a $1 million revolving loan grant to capitalize a fund providing loans and sub-grants to support cleanup activities, especially along the 30th Street Industrial Corridor and in the Menomonee Valley/Inner Harbor areas. The authority also received a pair of $200,000 brownfields assessment grants.

The Redevelopment Authority of Milwaukee also won a $200,000 cleanup grant to work on a 2-acre site on West Wisconsin Avenue contaminated with volatile organic compounds, metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. The site is currently a parking lot but over the years had been the location of two hotels, a drycleaner and auto and tire stores. The redevelopment authority says many of Milwaukee's traditional breweries, foundries and engine plants have left or closed, leaving nearly 500 acres of brownfields that officials hope to redevelop.

Kenosha, Wis., was awarded a $200,000 brownfields assessment grant to perform community outreach, inventory sites and conduct environmental assessments at locations possibly contaminated with petroleum products. The decline of Kenosha's traditional manufacturing base has led to the designation of numerous brownfields, many of which are located in low-income residential areas.

Marinette, Wis., was awarded $200,000 to perform hazardous substance assessments throughout the city as well as community involvement activities. One of the targeted areas is the shoreline and harbor along the Menominee River waterfront that contain polluted sediment from the city's long industrial history.

Oshkosh, Wis., received three brownfields grants totaling $600,000. One $200,000 grant will assess sites for possible hazardous substances and develop cleanup plans for areas throughout the city including downtown Oshkosh and the historic industrial corridor. Funds from that grant will also be used for community outreach. A pair of $200,000 brownfields cleanup grants will target sites polluted by hazardous substances and petroleum by-products. One of those grants will be used to help clean up the Mercury Marine property on Marion Road. A $200,000 petroleum cleanup grant will target a parcel of the Murphy Concrete and Construction property on Marion Road and Jackson Street. Officials said the central city and Fox River area contains about 200 brownfields.

More information about the EPA brownfields program: epa.gov/brownfields/.