The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced $4,179,495 from President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda to expedite the assessment and cleanup of brownfield sites in Alabama while advancing environmental justice.
EPA selected seven communities in Alabama to receive grants totaling more than $4,179,000 in competitive EPA Brownfields funding through the Multipurpose, Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund, and Cleanup (MARC) Grant programs. Thanks to the historic boost from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, this is the largest ever funding awarded in the history of the EPA’s Brownfields MARC Grant programs.
These investments are part of President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda to grow the American economy from the bottom up and middle-out – from rebuilding our nation’s infrastructure, to driving over $470 billion in private sector manufacturing and clean energy investments in the United States, to creating a manufacturing and innovation boom powered by good paying jobs that don’t require a four-year degree, to building a clean-energy economy that will combat climate change and make our communities more resilient.
“We’re working across the country to revitalize what were once dangerous and polluted sites in overburdened communities into more sustainable and environmentally just places that serve as community assets. Thanks to President Biden’s historic investments in America, we’re moving further and faster than ever before to clean up contaminated sites, spur economic redevelopment, and deliver relief that so many communities have been waiting for,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. “This critical wave of investments is the largest in Brownfields history and will accelerate our work to protect the people and the planet by transforming what was once blight into might.”
"This historic investment of more than $35 million for communities across the Southeast will help address suspected contamination of urban and suburban properties that dates back to the Industrial Revolution," said EPA Region 4 Administrator Daniel Blackman. "Brownfields and other contaminated properties often are located in environmental justice communities where residents are disproportionately impacted, thus making these awards especially critical."
“I am thrilled that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Biden Administration are making transformative investments in Alabama to address generations of environmental injustice!” said U.S. Representative Terri A. Sewell (AL-07). “I am proud that the EPA is investing in our underserved communities, and I look forward to continue working with our federal and state partners to ensure that the historic funding included in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act goes to the communities that need it most.”
Many communities that are under economic stress, particularly those located in areas that have experienced long periods of disinvestment, lack the resources needed to initiate brownfield cleanup and redevelopment projects. As brownfield sites are transformed into community assets, they attract jobs, promote economic revitalization and transform communities into sustainable and environmentally just places.
Thanks to the historic $1.5 billion boost from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, EPA’s Brownfields Program is helping more communities than ever before begin to address the economic, social, and environmental challenges caused by brownfields and stimulate economic opportunity, and environmental revitalization in historically overburdened communities.
EPA’s Brownfields Program also advances President Biden’s Justice40 Initiative to direct 40 percent of the overall benefits of certain Federal investments to disadvantaged communities. The Brownfields Program strives to meet this commitment and advance environmental justice and equity considerations into all aspects of its work. Approximately 84 percent of the MARC program applications selected to receive funding proposed to work in areas that include historically underserved communities.
Funding Breakdown:
The following organizations in Alabama have been selected to receive EPA Brownfields funding through the Multipurpose, Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund, and Cleanup (MARC) Grant Programs:
Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) has been selected to receive a $1,000,000 Revolving Loan Fund Grant. The grant will be used to capitalize a revolving loan fund from which ADEM will provide loans to support cleanup activities. Grant funds also will be used to support community engagement and outreach activities and market the fund. RLF activities will initially focus on the cities of Montgomery, Tuskegee, and Eutaw.
The City of Aliceville, Ala. has been selected to receive a $500,000 Brownfields Assessment Grant. Community-wide grant funds will be used to conduct 18 Phase I and ten Phase II environmental site assessments. Grant funds also will be used to prepare four cleanup plans and to conduct community engagement activities including developing a Community Engagement Plan. The target area for this grant is the City of Aliceville. Priority sites include the former Aliceville Cotton Mill, the former Aliceville Community Health Clinic, a former National Guard armory, and the former Branco Oil Station.
C3 of Northwest Alabama, Inc. has been selected to receive a $500,000 Brownfields Assessment Grant. Community-wide grant funds will be used to conduct 15 Phase I and seven Phase II environmental site assessments. Grant funds also will be used to prepare four cleanup plans and to conduct community engagement activities. The target areas for this grant are the City of Fayette and the Town of Brilliant. Priority sites include the 22-acre former Fayette Cotton Mill and the 19-acre former Brilliant Mine.
The Craig Field Airport and Industrial Authority has been selected to receive a $681,750 Brownfields Cleanup Grant. Grant funds will be used to clean up Buildings 206-248 at the Craig Field Flight Line site on Craig Industrial Parkway near the City of Selma. The cleanup site was part of the former 1,790-acre Craig Air Force Base, which operated from 1940 through 1977. During this time, the historical base operations included pilot training during World War II and the Korean War, as well as aircraft service and maintenance. Site contaminants include volatile organic compounds in soil vapors, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and heavy metals in soil, cis-1,2-dichloroethene and trichloroethene in groundwater, and heavy metals and inorganic contaminants in building structures. Grant funds also will be used to prepare a Community Involvement Plan and conduct community meetings.
REV Birmingham, Inc. has been selected to receive a $497,745 Brownfields Cleanup Grant. Grant funds will be used to clean up the Mays Properties at 5601 1st Avenue South in the City of Birmingham's Woodlawn Community. The cleanup site was formerly a dry cleaner and clothing dye operation, then operated as a gas station and transmission repair shop from 1961 to 2014. The 0.46-acre site is currently vacant and contains the remains of an asphalt parking lot and concrete slabs following a 2014 fire. It is contaminated with volatile organic hydrocarbons and petroleum. Grant funds also will be used to develop a Community Involvement Plan and implement institutional controls.
South Alabama Regional Planning Commission has been selected for a $500,000 Brownfields Assessment Grant. Community-wide grant funds will be used to conduct 15 Phase I and nine Phase II environmental site assessments. Grant funds also will be used to inventory sites, develop four cleanup plans and two site reuse plans, and support community outreach activities. The target areas for this grant are Mobile, Baldwin, and Escambia Counties with a focus on the Cities of Atmore and Creola. Priority sites include a 1.5-acre former auto dealership and auto repair shop, a former auto paint and body shop, an 8-acre property that previously housed an industrial shipping company, and a former truck maintenance and repair facility.
The West Alabama Regional Commission has been selected for a $500,000 Brownfields Assessment Grant. Community-wide grant funds will be used to conduct ten Phase I and six Phase II environmental site assessments. Grant funds also will be used to prepare six cleanup plans and to conduct community engagement activities including developing a Community Involvement Plan. The target areas for this grant are the Cities of Aliceville and Greensboro and the West Tuscaloosa neighborhood in the City of Tuscaloosa. Priority sites include a former cotton mill, a former catfish processing plant, a former ice cream plant, and a former junkyard.
You can read more about this year’s MARC selectees, here.
Additional Background:
EPA has selected these organizations to receive funding to address and support the reuse of brownfield sites. EPA anticipates making all the awards announced today once all legal and administrative requirements are satisfied.
EPA’s Brownfields Program began in 1995 and has provided nearly $2.37 billion in Brownfield Grants to assess and clean up contaminated properties and return blighted properties to productive reuse. EPA’s investments in addressing brownfield sites have leveraged more than $36 billion in cleanup and redevelopment. Over the years, the relatively small investment of federal funding has leveraged, from both public and private sources, nearly 260,000 jobs. Communities that previously received Brownfields Grants used these resources to fund assessments and cleanups of brownfields, and successfully leverage an average of 10.6 jobs per $100,000 of EPA Brownfield Grant funds spent and $19.78 for every dollar.
The next National Brownfields Training Conference will be held on August 8-11, 2023, in Detroit, Michigan. Offered every two years, this conference is the largest gathering of stakeholders focused on cleaning up and reusing former commercial and industrial properties. EPA co-sponsors this event with the International City/County Management Association (ICMA).
For more on Brownfields Grants: https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/types-brownfields-grant-funding
For more on EPA’s Brownfields Program: https://www.epa.gov/brownfields
Original source can be found here.