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EPA Awards $400,000 for Brownfields Cleanup Work in New Hampshire - Towns to cleanup two former automotive shop locations

Release Date: 08/13/2012
Contact Information: David Deegan, (617) 918-1017

(Boston, Mass. – August 13, 2012) – EPA is providing two Brownfields grants, totaling $400,000, to cleanup and redevelop two former contaminated automotive shop locations in Franklin and Tilton, New Hampshire.  The funding is part of more than $17 million in EPA brownfields investments across the six New England states announced by EPA to protect health and the environment, create jobs and promote economic re-development in American communities.

The grant money can assist work to reclaim sites including old textile mills, sites containing hazardous substances and petroleum products and other abandoned industrial and commercial properties.  EPA’s Brownfields program encourages redevelopment of America’s estimated 450,000 abandoned and contaminated waste sites.

EPA has selected the City of Franklin for a brownfields cleanup grant. Hazardous substances grant funds will be used to clean up the former Guay's Garage property located at 599-601 South Main Street. The site was an automobile repair facility and gasoline retailer from the early 1930s until the beginning of the 1990s. Contamination at the site includes arsenic, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and co-mingled petroleum hydrocarbons. Grant funds also will be used to conduct community outreach activities.

EPA has also selected the Town of Tilton for a brownfields cleanup grant. Hazardous substances grant funds will be used to clean up the former Ernie's Auto Sales property located at 180 East Main Street. The nearly one-acre site is a former gasoline station, auto repair garage, and used car dealership. It is contaminated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, arsenic, metals, and inorganic contaminants. Grant funds also will be used to conduct community involvement activities.

 “EPA Brownfields funding helps strengthen the economic foundation of our communities, and is a proven catalyst for further growth of local economies,” said Ira Leighton, deputy regional administrator of EPA New England’s office. “Cleaning and revitalizing contaminated sites helps create jobs, and can help a community to create new businesses and neighborhood centers, while making our environment cleaner and the community healthier.”

Since the beginning of EPA’s Brownfields Program, in New England alone EPA has awarded 296 assessment grants totaling $72.7 million, 62 revolving loan fund grants and supplemental funding totaling $68.4 million and 213 cleanup grants totaling $47 million.  These grant funds have paved the way for more than $1.45 billion in public and private cleanup and redevelopment investment and for 9,756 jobs in assessment, cleanup, construction and redevelopment on over 2200 sites across New England.

Nationally, the figures are impressive: As of August 2012, EPA’s brownfields assistance has leveraged more than $18.3 billion in cleanup and redevelopment funding from a variety of public and private sources and helped create approximately 76,500 jobs. More than 18,500 properties have been assessed, and over 750 properties have been cleaned up. These investments and jobs target local, under-served and economically disadvantaged neighborhoods – places where environmental cleanups and new jobs are most needed.

More Information:

EPA Brownfields program in New England: http://epa.gov/region1/brownfields/index.html

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