News Releases from Region 07

EPA Announces $300,000 in Brownfields Grants to Springfield, Mo., to Help Return Properties to Productive Reuse, Promote Economic Redevelopment

Environmental News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Lenexa, Kan., April 25, 2018) - EPA has selected 144 communities for Brownfields environmental Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund, and Cleanup (ARC) grants. The 221 grants totaling $54.3 million will provide communities with funding to assess, clean up, and redevelop underutilized properties while protecting public health and the environment.

As part of today’s announcement, the city of Springfield, Missouri, will receive $300,000 in Brownfields assessment grants. The grant funds will be used to conduct 30 environmental site assessments, and develop 10 cleanup plans. The funds will also be used to conduct community meetings to engage the surrounding community about the project. The assessment activities will focus on Historic Route 66 along the College Street and Kearney Street corridors.

“EPA’s Brownfields Program expands the ability of communities to recycle vacant and abandoned properties for new, productive reuses, using existing infrastructure," said EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt. "These grants leverage other public and private investments, and improve local economies through property cleanup and redevelopment.”

“This EPA Brownfields Assessment Grant will be the key to revitalizing Springfield’s most complicated properties,” said Springfield Brownfields Coordinator Olivia Hough. “Assessments will focus on priority sites along Kearney Street/Historic Route 66, in northwest Springfield, and the center city. Often times, these projects would not proceed but for the first Brownfields dollars used to assess environmental conditions. Assessments will help us identify and remove lead contamination and other hazards in structures and soils to protect our most vulnerable populations, create jobs for job training graduates, and lead to leveraged investment like the $400 million achieved with our last Brownfields Assessment Grant. Here is looking forward to our continued partnership!”

“We congratulate the city of Springfield and applaud their continued commitment to the cleanup and redevelopment of brownfield properties throughout their community,” said EPA Region 7 Administrator Jim Gulliford. “We’re proud to support this cleanup effort and look forward to positive environmental and economic impacts to come.”

The Brownfields Program targets communities that are economically disadvantaged and provides funding and assistance to transform blighted sites into assets that can generate jobs and spur economic growth. A study analyzing 48 brownfields sites found that an estimated $29 million to $97 million in additional tax revenue was generated for local governments in a single year after cleanup. This is two to seven times more than the $12.4 million EPA contributed to the cleanup of these brownfield sites. Furthermore, another study found that property values of homes located near brownfields sites that are cleaned up increased between 5 and 15 percent after cleanup.

In addition, communities can use Brownfields funding to leverage water infrastructure loans and other financial resources. For example, EPA’s Clean Water State Revolving Fund and Drinking Water State Revolving Fund can be used, under certain conditions, to address the water quality aspects of brownfield sites and the assessment and construction of drinking water infrastructure on brownfields, respectively. EPA’s Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act program may also serve as a potential source of long-term, low-cost supplemental financing to fund brownfields project development and implementation activities to address water quality aspects of brownfields.

See the list of the fiscal year 2018 applicants selected for funding

Learn more about the ARC grants

Learn more about EPA’s Brownfields Program

Learn more about how Brownfields restoration has positively impacted local economies and the quality of life for neighboring communities

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