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$1.2 Million in Grants for Contaminated Land Cleanup, Economic Development in Kansas

Release Date: 05/08/2009
Contact Information: Belinda Young, (913) 551-7463, [email protected]

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Environmental News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Kansas City, Kan., May 8, 2009) - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson announced today the availability of an estimated $1,200,000 in grants, bolstered by funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, to help communities in Kansas clean up sites known as “brownfields” which may be contaminated by hazardous chemicals or pollutants. The grants, which include $400,000 from the Recovery Act of 2009 and $800,000 from the EPA brownfields general program funding, will help revitalize former industrial and commercial sites, turning them from problem properties to productive community use.

“Cleaning and reusing contaminated properties provides the catalyst to improving the lives of residents living in or near brownfields communities,” said EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson. “A revitalized brownfields site reduces threats to human health and the environment, creates green jobs, promotes community involvement, and attracts investment in local neighborhoods.”

Acting Regional Administrator William Rice said, “The Brownfields Program provides opportunities to partner with local governments, communities and other stakeholders to redevelop abandoned and underutilized properties in Kansas.”

Successful applicants in Kansas include:

• Cherryvale, Kan., which will receive $400,000 in Recovery Act funds to conduct community-wide assessment of hazardous substances and petroleum.
• Coffeyville, Kan., which will receive $400,000 in brownfields general program funds to conduct community-wide assessment of hazardous waste and petroleum.
• The Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kan., which will receive $400,000 in brownfields general program funds to conduct community-wide assessment of hazardous substances and petroleum.

The grants will help to assess, clean up and redevelop abandoned, contaminated properties known as brownfields. Brownfields are sites where expansion, redevelopment, or reuse may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant. In addition, the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act of 2002 expanded the definition of brownfields to include mine-scarred lands or sites contaminated by petroleum or the manufacture of illegal drugs. Grant recipients are selected through a national competition. The Brownfields Program encourages development of America's estimated 450,000 abandoned and contaminated waste sites.

President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 on February 17, 2009, and has directed that the Recovery Act be implemented with unprecedented transparency and accountability. To that end, the American people can see how every dollar is being invested at http://www.recovery.gov.

For more information on brownfields cleanup revolving loan fund pilots and grants, and other brownfields activities under the Recovery Act, go to: https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/eparecovery/index.htm.

For more information on the EPA Region 7 brownfields recipients and their pilots, go to: https://www.epa.gov/brownfields.