![[logo] US EPA](http://www.epa.gov/epafiles/images/logo_epaseal.gif){kind=logo}
White House Press Release
FOR RELEASE: WEDNESDAY JULY 15, 1998VICE PRESIDENT GORE AWARDS BROWNFIELDS GRANTS TO 71 COMMUNITIES, EXPANDS EFFORTS TO REVITALIZE DISTRESSED AREASContact: 202-456-7035Washington, DC -- Vice President Gore awarded 71 new grants, for over $14 million, today to help communities clean up and redevelop Brownfields -- abandoned, contaminated properties, often found in distressed areas -- and return them to thriving centers of prosperity. "There is no greater example of the environment and the economy working hand in hand to benefit the American people than the Administration's efforts to clean up and revitalize Brownfields," said Vice President Gore, who announced the new round of Brownfields grants at the White House Community Empowerment Conference. "Across the nation, cities are coming back to life with new jobs, new opportunities, and new hope." To date, the federal government has awarded 228 Brownfields grants, for over $42 million, to states, cities, towns, counties, and tribes. These grants have leveraged nearly $1 billion for redevelopment and created over 2,000 jobs. Today's announcement builds on the Administration's efforts to breathe new life, new opportunity, and new hope into the nation's central cities and isolated rural areas. The Brownfields redevelopment efforts are an important part of the President's overall community empowerment agenda. Since 1993, the Administration has taken significant steps to clean up and redevelop Brownfields and return them to productive use, such as removing legal barriers to redevelopment; creating a national model to determine the best way to revitalize communities; providing a targeted tax incentive to businesses that purchase and cleanup these sites; and providing over $42 million in seed money to 228 communities for revitalization. The Vice President chairs the Community Empowerment Board, which oversees various initiatives to bring together distressed communities to develop plans for revitalization. The three-day, fourth annual White House Community Empowerment Conference brings together communities to discuss community empowerment strategies. The Brownfields grants awarded today total about $200,000 for each community. The states, communities and tribes selected to receive the new grants include: Mansfield, MA
| |||
| ### | |||