EPA Announces Brownfield Grant Awards

05/24/12 - EPA has announced $69.3 million in new Brownfield grants to provide communities with funding necessary to assess, clean and redevelop contaminated properties, boost local economies and create jobs while protecting public health. The 245 grantees include tribes and communities in 39 states across the country, funded by EPA’s Brownfields Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund, and Cleanup (ARC) grants and RLF Supplemental Grants. The recipients in Mississippi are Columbus, Hernando, and McComb.

MDEQ Brownfield Program Acknowledged by EPA Region 4

On March 27, 2008, in a letter to the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ), Region 4 of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) acknowledged that MDEQ has demonstrated that the Mississippi Brownfield Program meets the requirements of CERCLA Section 128(a) for a State Response Program. Under the existing federal brownfield law, Congress expressly provided a federal enforcement bar under CERCLA §106(a) or §107(a) to all landowners/developers who have enrolled their brownfield site into the State Response Program and who are successfully completing (or have completed) the state prescribed remedial actions. This bar on federal enforcement was Congress’ method of streamlining the administrative process, reducing delay, and providing landowners/developers the prerequisite regulatory clarity needed to undertake brownfield redevelopment. Under the existing federal brownfield law, Congress recognized the primacy of state brownfield clean-up programs to both determine clean-up standards for brownfield sites and confirm when those clean-up standards have been successfully achieved. With the issuance of this acknowledgement letter, the partnership between EPA and MDEQ is further strengthened allowing for greater clarity and less uncertainty in the assessment, cleanup, and reuse of sites moving through the Mississippi Brownfield Program.

Record Number of New Proposals Sent to EPA for Brownfield Grants for 2012

Each year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency solicits proposals for communities interested in receiving grant funding for brownfield redevelopment activities. In 2011, communities in 40 states and 3 Tribes shared $76 million in EPA Brownfield grants to help clean up, revitalize, and sustainably reuse contaminated properties, turning them from problem properties to productive community use. The grants, awarded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, provide funding to eligible entities through brownfield assessment, revolving loan fund, and cleanup grants. A record number of new applicants have applied this year in hopes of receiving an EPA Brownfield Grant in 2012. Among the communities applying for a 2012 Brownfield Grant are:

Canton	Columbia	Columbus
Forest	Gautier	Greenville
Hattiesburg	Hernando	Lauderdale Co.
McComb	Moss Point	Natchez
Pascagoula/Jackson Co.	Philadelphia	Starkville
Vicksburg	West Point

EPA's Brownfield Program empowers states, communities, and other stakeholders to work together to prevent, assess, safely clean up, and sustainably reuse brownfield sites. 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 Brownfield Revitalization Act was passed to help states and communities around the country cleanup and revitalize brownfield 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. For further information, including specific grant contacts, additional grant information, brownfield news and events, and publications and links, visit the EPA Brownfield Web site (http://www.epa.gov/brownfields).

The EPA Brownfields Program Produces Widespread Environmental and Economic Benefits

EPA’s Brownfields Program empowers states, communities, and other stakeholders to work together to prevent, assess, safely cleanup, and sustainably reuse brownfields. Revitalizing brownfield sites creates benefits at the site and throughout the community.

Leveraging Money for Assessment, Cleanup and Revitalization of Brownfields
Based on data from grantee reporting and through the Program’s ACRES database, through fiscal year 2011, on average, $18.01 is leveraged for each EPA Brownfields dollar expended at a brownfield from Assessment, Cleanup, and Revolving Loan Fund cooperative agreements since Program inception.

Leveraging Jobs from EPA Brownfields Dollars Spent to Assess, Clean and Revitalize Brownfields
Based on data through fiscal year 2011, on average, 7.43 jobs are leveraged per $100,000 of EPA Brownfields funding expended on Assessment, Cleanup and Revolving Loan Fund cooperative agreements since program inception. As of April 2012, 75,590 jobs have been leveraged through the Brownfields Program including the State and Tribal 128(a) program since its inception.

Environmental (Air and Water) Benefits of Brownfields Redevelopment
The EPA Brownfields Program has conducted five pilot studies, which concluded that redeveloped brownfield sites tend to have greater location efficiency than alternative development scenarios at greenfield sites, resulting in a 32 to 57 percent reduction in vehicle miles traveled associated with these sites and a reduction in air pollution emissions, including greenhouse gases. These same site comparisons show an estimated 47 to 62 percent reduction in stormwater runoff. The studies suggest a range of impacts due to regional variation in development and travel patterns.

Additional Benefits of Brownfields Redevelopment
The EPA Brownfields Program has funded a study to assess the impact, or economic benefit, of  brownfields grants on residential property values. The study concluded that residential property values increased between 2 and 3 percent once a nearby brownfield was assessed or cleaned up. The study further concluded that cleaning up a brownfield can increase overall property values within a one mile radius by $0.5 to $1.5 million. Additionally, initial anecdotal surveys indicate a reduction in crime in recently revitalized brownfield areas.

Opportunity to Expand Assessment Program and Leverage from Benefits of Agency’s Removal Program
As is apparent from the numbers, there is a huge demand for site assessment work. The Program can expand upon recent policy clarifications to use site assessment dollars for environmental site assessments in conjunction with efforts to promote area-wide planning among areas and corridors of brownfield sites. The use of funds for these purposes is particularly important for economically distressed areas to enable the identification of infrastructure capacity along with potential end uses. Also, in certain instances when environmental site assessments reveal immediate threats to the environment or human health, a more programmatic use of EPA Removal funds to address these threats could be implemented.