U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials announced yesterday that $1.2 million in funding will help Rochester, Rome and Niagara County, N.Y., officials revitalize and reinvest in their neighborhoods. They will use the funding to cleanup abandoned industrial properties and assess other sites that may need to be overhauled.
The funding was awarded through the EPA’s Brownfields Program, which helps communities assess, cleanup, redevelop and reuse contaminated properties. The cleanup of contaminated properties and the ultimate investment in their redevelopment protects people’s health and the environment, reduces blight, revitalizes neighborhoods and creates jobs.
Congress created the program in 2002 to help states and communities around the country reuse properties that may be contaminated. It encourages redevelopment of America’s estimated 450,000 abandoned waste sites.
A total of more than $76 million in new investments across the country will redevelop contaminated properties, boost local economies and help create jobs while protecting public health. Since its inception, program investments have leveraged more than $16.3 billion in cleanup and redevelopment funding from a variety of public and private sources, and resulted in approximately 70,000 jobs.
EPA officials are selecting 214 grants through the Brownfields Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund and Cleanup Grants programs that will go to 40 states and three tribes across the country.
Source: EPA
