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EPA Celebrates 10 Years Of Brownfields Partnering With City Of Trenton

Release Date: 11/14/2005
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FOR RELEASE: Monday, November 14, 2005

(#05135) NEW YORK – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today joined state and city officials in Trenton, New Jersey to highlight a decade of successful partnerships under the Agency’s Brownfields program. Since 1995, EPA has awarded over $3.8 million to Trenton for its brownfields activities. Most recently, in September 2005 EPA awarded the city two grants, each in the amount of $200,000, to clean up Canal Plaza, a former commercial dairy, and the Pukala site, which is in the Assunpink Greenway.

“One of the first lessons we learned from the Brownfields program was the value of partnerships,” said EPA Regional Administrator Alan J. Steinberg. “Trenton has been one of EPA’s most productive partners, taking actions to improve life in communities surrounding brownfields sites throughout the city.”

The Brownfields program enables EPA to provide communities the tools they need to reclaim and restore thousands of brownfields sites that present relatively low risks to people’s health. Four competitive grant programs provide funding to eligible applicants for brownfields assessments, cleanups, revolving loan funds, and job training. Depending on the type of brownfields grant, local governments and nonprofit organizations can apply for funding, greatly expanding the pool eligible for assistance.

To date, EPA has awarded over $22.9 million to New Jersey grantees through the various brownfields grant programs. Nationwide, the Agency has leveraged more than $7 billion in public and private investment, helped create more than 31,000 jobs and addressed more than 5,100 properties.

For further information, please visit the EPA Brownfields web site at: www.epa.gov/brownfields.