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EPA awards brownfields grants to 5 Indiana 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-OPA076

(Chicago, Ill. - May 15, 2006) - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 5 has selected five Indiana communities to receive nine grants totaling $2.8 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 Indiana grants:

Anderson was awarded a $200,000 grant to inventory and assess brownfields possibly polluted with hazardous substances.

Elkhart County won a pair of $200,000 brownfields assessment grants.

Goshen was awarded two $200,000 grants.

La Porte won three brownfields grants totaling $600,000.

Town of Speedway which is wholly within the city limits of Indianapolis and is home to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, was selected for a $200,000 brownfields assessment grant that will be used to check out sites possibly contaminated with hazardous substances.

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