Furthering its investments in Puerto Rico’s communities, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced five selectees to receive over $3.4 million to assess and clean up brownfield sites in Puerto Rico while advancing environmental justice. These investments through EPA’s Brownfields programs will help transform polluted, vacant, and abandoned properties into community assets, while creating good jobs and spurring economic revitalization in overburdened communities.
EPA Deputy Administrator Janet McCabe, Deputy Assistant Administrator Cliff Villa and Regional Administrator Lisa F. Garcia announced the selections at the Río Piedras Farmers Market with local community leaders.
“Today marks a pivotal moment for Puerto Rico as we channel historic investment from the President’s Investing in America agenda towards the swift assessment and cleanup of sites that have burdened communities for far too long,” said EPA Deputy Administrator Janet McCabe. “These funds, a significant portion of which stem from the historic Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, equip Puerto Rican communities with the resources to convert polluted lands into beacons of progress and optimism. It’s a commitment to not only revitalize these areas but to also foster a legacy of health, prosperity, and environmental stewardship for generations to come.”
“The Brownfields program is a powerful tool that helps communities in Puerto Rico address local inequities by providing a means to revitalize abandoned properties and promote environmental health, economic growth, and job creation,” said EPA Regional Administrator Lisa F. Garcia. “This new funding gives the program a huge shot in the arm – with a historic $1.5 billion dollars that will be leveraged to make a real and lasting on-the-ground difference for communities across the country.”
The following organizations in Puerto Rico have been selected to receive EPA Brownfields funding:
Asociación de Residentes de La Margarita, Salinas, PR has been selected to receive more than $401,000 to inventory, prioritize and assess sites in the La Margarita neighborhood of Salinas. The funding will support nine initial assessments and up to 10 detailed assessments that include sampling. Funds also will be used to develop six cleanup and reuse plans and to engage the community. The La Margarita neighborhood in Salinas includes a 7.9-acre former industrial site, a 6-acre former multifamily residential complex, a former supermarket, an abandoned residential property, and a former hospital.
Barceloneta, PR has been selected to receive $500,000 to inventory, prioritize and assess sites in Barceloneta’s Northern District. The funding will support up to 11 initial and second detailed assessments including sampling. Grant funds also will be used to develop up to 10 cleanup and reuse plans and to engage the community. Barceloneta’s Northern District includes an abandoned hardware store, a former hospital, a 10-acre vacant business incubator, a 4.7-acre former recreation center, and a 3.2-acre vacant clothing manufacturing building.
Fideicomiso Para el Desarrollo de Rio Piedras, San Juan, PR has been selected to receive $1,000,000 to inventory, prioritize, assess and clean up sites in the Rio Piedras Urban Center in the City of San Juan. Funds will support 13 initial assessments and one detailed assessment that includes sampling. Grant funds also will be used to develop six cleanup plans, clean up the 2.6-acre Colegio La Milagrosa site, and engage the community. The Colegio La Milagrosa site is a former school facility that includes 14 buildings and is known to be contaminated. Other priority sites include a vacant former theater that sustained hurricane damage and a vacant lot adjacent to a residential neighborhood.
Isabela, PR has been selected the to receive $500,000 to inventory, prioritize and assess sites in Isabela’s Central District. The funding will support 12 initial assessments and up to 11 detailed assessments that include sampling. Grant funds also will be used to develop up to 10 cleanup plans. Priority sites in Isabela’s Central District include a 5.7-acre former industrial site, a 7-acre former paper manufacturer, two former school buildings, and a 14-acre vacant commercial site adjacent to a residential neighborhood.
Naranjito, PR has selected to receive $1,000,000 to conduct 11 initial assessments and 11 detailed assessments that include sampling of sites in Naranjito’s Mountain District. The funding will also support six cleanup plans and six remediation plans. Grant funds also will be used to clean up five of the priority sites and engage the community. Priority sites include a 0.6-acre former hospital, a 0.3-acre closed gas station located on the banks of the La Plata River, a 27- acre community that lacks proper infrastructure, and two vacant and deteriorating school buildings.
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% 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% of the MAC and RLF Supplemental program applications selected to receive funding proposed to work in areas that include disadvantaged communities.
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 visit EPA’s FY 2024 Multipurpose, Assessment and Cleanup Applicants webpage.
To see the list of RLF Supplemental funding recipients visit EPA’s FY 2024 Multipurpose, Assessment and Cleanup Applicants webpage.
To learn more about RLF Technical Assistance grant recipient visit EPA’s Brownfields Grow America webpage.
For more information on EPA’s Brownfields Program visit EPA’s Brownfields webpage.
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