MONTGOMERY, Ala. – On May 20, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced $7,830,500 in grant awards from President Biden’s Investing in America agenda to expedite the assessment and cleanup of brownfield sites in Alabama while advancing environmental justice. These investments through EPA’s Brownfields Multipurpose, Assessment, and Cleanup (MAC) Grant Programs and Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) Grant Programs will help transform once-polluted, vacant, and abandoned properties into community assets, while helping to create good jobs and spur economic revitalization in overburdened communities.
EPA selected seven communities in Alabama to receive seven grants totaling more than $7,830,500 in competitive EPA Brownfields funding through the Multipurpose, Assessment, and Cleanup (MAC) Grant programs.
EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan will announce the awards in Philadelphia today alongside Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker and U.S. Representative Mary Gay Scanlon (PA-05) at a local brownfield side near Bartram’s Mile.
For over 60 years, the site was used as an oil terminal, filled with storage tanks full of petroleum and other semi-volatile organic compounds. The City of Philadelphia has been working to reclaim brownfield sites along Bartram’s Mile, turning them into a community hub where residents can access trails for hiking and biking, as well as areas for fishing, gardening, farming and more.
“Far too many communities across America have suffered the harmful economic and health consequences of living near polluted brownfield sites,” said President Joe Biden. “I've long believed that people who’ve borne the burden of pollution should be the first to see the benefits of new investment. Under my Administration, we are making that a reality by ensuring the historic resources from my Investing in America agenda reach communities that need it most. I am proud that my Administration is helping Philadelphia clean up and transform this area into an economic engine, while tackling a longstanding environmental injustice and creating good-paying jobs.”
“President Biden sees contaminated sites and blighted areas as an opportunity to invest in healthier, revitalized communities,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. “That why he secured historic funding under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, supercharging EPA’s Brownfields program to clean up contaminated properties in overburdened communities and bring them back into productive use.”
“The announcement made by President Biden and Administrator Regan reflect this administration’s commitment to ensure that benefits of certain Federal climate, clean energy, affordable and sustainable housing, and other investments flow to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution,” said Acting Regional Administrator Jeaneanne Gettle. “We are excited about the potential of these brownfields grants to provide jobs while cleaning up blighted areas of these communities and promoting public health and a cleaner environment.”
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 advances President Biden’s Justice40 Initiative which set a goal that 40 percent of the overall benefits of certain Federal investments flow to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution. The Brownfields Program strives to meet this commitment and advance environmental justice and equity considerations in all aspects of its work. Approximately 86 percent of the MAC and RLF Supplemental program applications selected to receive funding proposed to work in areas that include disadvantaged communities.
State Funding Breakdown:
Brownfields Multipurpose, Assessment, and Cleanup (MAC) Grant Program Selection
The following organizations in Alabama have been selected to receive EPA Brownfields funding through the Multipurpose, Assessment, and Cleanup (MAC) Grant Programs. Alabama Department of Environmental Management has been selected to receive a $2,000,000 assessment grant from EPA. Grant funds will be used to develop a strategic Redevelopment Plan and conduct community engagement activities. The target areas for this grant are the City of York and the Towns of Union Springs and Autaugaville, which have been impacted by an economic shift in the State of Alabama from agriculture to industrial manufacturing.
- East Alabama Regional Planning and Development Commission (EARPDC) has been selected to receive a $1,500,000 assessment grant from EPA. Grant funds also will be used to prepare a Community Involvement Plan and seven reuse/area-wide plans, create a brownfields site inventory and a prioritization process, and conduct community engagement activities. Assessment activities will occur throughout EARPDC’s 10-county area with a focus on the Talladega Education Gateway, Avondale Mills Village, and Alabama City/Downtown Corridor in Gadsden.
- The City of Montgomery has been selected to receive a $500,000 assessment grant from EPA. Grant funds will be used to inventory and prioritize sites, prepare four cleanup and three reuse plans, develop a Community Involvement Plan, and support community engagement activities. Assessment activities will occur in the West Montgomery and Centennial Hill communities. Priority sites include the historic Ben Moore Hotel, two abandoned dry cleaners, and a 3-acre former gas station and auto repair shop.
To see the list of the FY 2024 Multipurpose, Assessment and Cleanup applicants selected for funding visit EPA’s FY 2024 Multipurpose, Assessment and Cleanup Applicants webpage.
Additional Background:
EPA has selected these organizations to receive funding to address and support the reuse of brownfield sites to address the health, economic, social, and environmental challenges caused by brownfields. 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 $2.7 billion in Brownfield Grants to assess and clean up contaminated properties and return blighted properties to productive reuse. Prior to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, this program made approximately $60 million available each year. Thanks to the President’s historic investments in America through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, EPA has now increased that yearly investment nearly 400 percent. More than half of the funding available for this grant cycle (approximately $160 million) comes from the historic $1.5 billion investment from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. This investment has also allowed the MAC grants’ maximum award amounts to increase significantly from $500,000 to a new maximum of $5 million per award.
- To see the list of the FY 2024 Multipurpose, Assessment and Cleanup Applicants Selected for Funding: [link to webpage]
- To see the list of RLF Supplemental funding recipients: [link to webpage]
- To learn more about RLF Technical Assistance grant recipient: [Grow America, in partnership with International City/County Management Association (ICMA).]
- For more information on EPA’s Brownfields Program: https://www.epa.gov/brownfields
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