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EPA Awards City of Wilson, NC and the Upper Coastal Plain Council of Governments a total of $1.4 Million to Assess and Clean Up Contaminated Sites

Release Date: 06/03/2014
Contact Information: James Pinkney, (404) 562-9183 (Direct), (404) 562-8400 (Main) pinkney.james@epa.gov

ATLANTA - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Regional Administrator, Heather McTeer Toney, will recognize the City of Wilson, NC and the Upper Coastal Plain Council of Governments as recipients of a $1,000,000 Brownfields Revolving Loan Fund grant and a $400,000 Brownfields community-wide assessment grant, respectively, for cleanup and redevelopment of contaminated properties on Wednesday, June 4, 2014.

The grants, funded by EPA’s Brownfields program, will help recipients to conduct assessments and cleanup activities on Brownfields properties. The investments will continue to provide communities with necessary funding to help clean up America’s land, boost local economies and create jobs while protecting public health.

Who: EPA Regional Administrator, Heather McTeer Toney, Congressman G.K. Butterfield, NC DENR Assistant Secretary for Environment, Mitch Gillespie, City of Wilson Mayor, Bruce Rose, City of Wilson Director of Planning and Development Services, Rodger Lentz

What: EPA Brownfields Grant Recognition to City of Wilson, NC.

When: Wednesday, June 4, 2014 at 10:00 a.m.

Where: Vollis Simpson Whirligig Park, 112 Goldsboro Street East, Wilson, NC

EPA’s Brownfields Program empowers states, communities, and other stakeholders to work together to prevent, assess, safely clean up, and sustainably reuse brownfields. A brownfield site is real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant. In 2002, the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act was passed to help states and communities around the country clean up and revitalize brownfields sites. Under this law, EPA provides financial assistance to eligible applicants through four competitive grant programs: assessment grants, revolving loan fund grants, cleanup grants, and job training grants. Additionally, funding support is provided to state and tribal response programs through a separate mechanism.

Since the inception of the EPA’s Brownfields program in 1995, cumulative brownfield program investments have leveraged more than $21 billion from a variety of public and private sources for cleanup and redevelopment activities. This equates to an average of $17.79 leveraged per EPA brownfield dollar expended. These investments have resulted in approximately 93,000 jobs nationwide. These projects demonstrate the positive impact a small investment of federal brownfields funding can have on community revitalization through leveraging jobs, producing clean energy, and providing recreation opportunities for surrounding neighborhoods. EPA’s Brownfields Program empowers states, communities, and other stakeholders to work together to prevent, assess, safely clean up, and sustainably reuse brownfields sites.

More information on brownfields grants by state: https://cfpub.epa.gov/bf_factsheets/


More information on EPA’s brownfields:

Program https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/
Success Stories https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/success/index.htm
Benefits https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/overview/Brownfields-Benefits-postcard.pdf