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EPA Gives Rockingham, Vt., $75,000 Brownfields Grant for Site Assessments

Release Date: 08/14/2000
Contact Information: Amy Miller (617-918-1042)

BOSTON -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced it will spend $825,000 to perform site assessments at 11 New England contaminated sites in New England, including one in Vermont.

EPA New England has set aside $75,000 for the town of Rockingham, which wants to use the TLR Complex, a former paper mill on an acre on the banks of the Connecticut River, for an historical/cultural museum. The estimated cost of site assessment is $75,000.

"Site assessments are the first crucial step in helping communities clean up their abandoned and contaminated sites so they can be put back to productive reuse," said Mindy S. Lubber, Regional Administrator for EPA New England. "Revitalizing these Brownfield sites is one of the best ways to reduce sprawl and help cities grow."

"The TLR building in downtown Bellows Falls sits atop what is perhaps the oldest in tact canal wall in the western hemisphere," said Sen. James M. Jeffords. "I can't think of a better example of how EPA's Brownfields program should work to help communities transform an historic industrial property into a functional part of a reinvigorated downtown."

Under the agency's Brownfields program, environmental consultants contracted by the EPA will perform assessments worth about $75,000 each. The assessments will determine the nature and extent of contamination, and to estimate the costs of cleaning up the site for redevelopment. This brings to $8.08 million the amount EPA has spent to date on Brownfields in Vermont.