The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced over $2.7 Million from President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda to expedite the assessment and cleanup of brownfield sites in North Carolina while advancing environmental justice.

EPA selected four recipients in North Carolina to receive over $2.7 Million 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."

"The cleanup of brownfield sites across our state will help revive our communities and reuse this land in a sustainable manner," said North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper. "I'm grateful to the Biden-Harris administration for this historic investment."

“North Carolina has hundreds of Brownfield sites across the state that are valuable pieces of property but aren’t viable for use,” said U.S. Senator Thom Tillis. “I was proud to help negotiate and pass the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that included resources to help clean up these sites so these communities can rehabilitate properties and create jobs that contribute to the economy.”

“I am pleased that four Brownfield projects in North Carolina, including a site in the Fourth District, will receive federal funding to support critical remediation and environmental justice efforts,” said U.S. Representative Valerie Foushee (NC-04). “Thanks to the Biden Administration and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, these funds will not only aid in cleaning up areas impacted by industrial pollution, but will revitalize and bring economic opportunities to communities that have been historically underserved.”

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.

State Funding Breakdown:

Brownfields Multipurpose, Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund, and Cleanup (MARC) Grant Program Selection

The following organizations in North Carolina have been selected to receive EPA Brownfields funding through the Multipurpose, Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund, and Cleanup (MARC) Grant Programs.

• Alamance County, N.C. has been selected to receive $1,000,000 Assessment Grant. grant funds will be used to inventory sites and conduct 46 Phase I and 20 Phase II environmental site assessments. Grant funds also will be used to develop eight cleanup plans and one reuse plan, and support community outreach activities. Assessment activities will occur throughout the county with a focus on the City of Burlington. Priority sites include three former mill complexes ranging in size from four to ten acres. Non-lead coalition members include the Alamance County Economic Development Foundation and the City of Burlington.
• Fairmont, N.C. has been selected to receive $500,000 Assessment Grant. Community-wide grant funds will be used to conduct 16 Phase I and seven Phase II environmental site assessments. Grant funds also will be used to prepare three cleanup plans and to create a GIS-based brownfield site inventory. The target area for this grant is Fairmont’s downtown area, which has numerous vacant and underutilized sites. Priority sites include former tobacco warehouses, automobile service facilities, filling stations, textile warehouses, and a former manufacturing facility.
• Marion, N.C. has been selected to receive $500,000 Cleanup Grant. Grant funds will be used to clean up the Drexel Furniture Manufacturing site at 70 Blue Ridge Street. The cleanup site operated as a furniture manufacturing and finishing plant from 1902-2002. The six large industrial buildings that made up the manufacturing facility were demolished in 2004 and nearly 3,000 tons of commingled demolition material was left behind. The site is contaminated with petroleum and hazardous substances. Grant funds also will be used to conduct community engagement activities.
• Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools, N.C. has been selected to receive $744,700 Multipurpose Grant. Grant funds will be used to conduct Phase II environmental site assessments and clean up a brownfield site located at 1201 North Patterson Avenue in the City of Winston-Salem. The 12.83-acre cleanup site was formerly a Thomasville Furniture Industries manufacturing plant. The building is contaminated with PCBs, inorganic contaminants, and heavy metals. Grant funds also will be used to conduct community outreach activities.

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).

Original source can be found here.