LENEXA, KAN. (JUNE 26, 2024) – Today, at a brownfield site in Clinton, Iowa, EPA Region 7 Brownfields and Land Revitalization Branch Supervisor Stanley Walker presented a $3 million ceremonial check to the East Central Intergovernmental Association (ECIA) in Iowa to supplement their Brownfields Revolving Loan Fund (RLF).
In addition to the $1.8 million in EPA funds already awarded to the organization, ECIA has been selected to receive this additional $3 million in funding through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law due to its high-performing RLF program.
Walker was joined by ECIA Brownfield Development Coordinator Dawn Danielson and Director of Special Programs Jennifer Walker, who accepted the award on behalf of ECIA. Clinton's Mayor Scott Maddasion and City Administrator Matt Brooke, and Iowa Department of Natural Resources' Solid Waste and Contaminated Sites Supervisor Mike Sullivan, also joined the event.
Funding from the ECIA Brownfields RLF has successfully led to three cleanup projects in Iowa that are either completed or in progress, including the cleanup at today’s event site. With this additional funding, ECIA will continue its momentum of providing loan assistance throughout eastern Iowa communities to assist in the cleanup of brownfield sites to make ready for reuse. Funds will be made available in Cedar, Clinton, Delaware, Dubuque, and Jackson counties.
"EPA Region 7 is proud to deliver these Brownfields funding resources to our partners at ECIA," Walker said. "The Brownfields program is truly a win-win for everyone involved, and we are proud of our partners’ efforts to provide a cleaner and healthier environment for all, while at the same time spurring local economic development."
“East Central Intergovernmental Association is excited to continue its partnership with EPA,” Danielson said. “The EPA Brownfields Revolving Loan Fund provides ECIA with critical funding for remediation of brownfield sites in rural and disadvantaged communities throughout eastern Iowa. This new EPA Brownfields supplemental funding will replenish ECIA’s revolving loan fund, enabling ECIA to disburse and revolve funds for numerous brownfield cleanup projects throughout the ECIA five-county region. Thank you, President Biden and EPA, for their commitment and investment in eastern Iowa and for selecting ECIA as a 2024 Brownfields funding recipient.”
In June 2023, EPA Region 7 Administrator Meg McCollister stopped on the Brownfields Investing in America Tour to present a $2 million ceremonial check to ECIA. The organization was selected to receive two Brownfields grants last year: a $1 million Assessment Coalition Grant, and $1 million in RLF supplemental funding.
Brownfields RLF Grants
EPA’s Brownfields Revolving Loan Fund Grants program provides non-competitive, supplemental funding to successful and existing RLF Grant programs. RLF Grants provide funding for recipients to offer loans and subgrants to carry out cleanup activities at brownfield sites, allowing communities to address the economic, social, and environmental challenges caused by those sites.
Background
EPA’s Brownfields program began in 1995 and has provided nearly $2.7 billion in Brownfields 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 this law, EPA has increased that yearly investment by nearly 400%.
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 Brownfields Multipurpose, Assessment, and Cleanup (MAC) Grants’ maximum award amounts to increase significantly from $500,000 to a new maximum of $5 million per award.
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.
Learn more about EPA’s Brownfields program.
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