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EPA Gives Cohoes a Boost With Brownfields Grants

Release Date: 05/15/2006
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(NEW YORK, NY) EPA today was joined by Congressman Michael McNulty to present a check for $400,000 to Mayor McDonald of Cohoes, New York as a part of $3 million dollars given to nine communities in New York to help them restore and revitalize potentially contaminated sites. Cohoes will use its EPA funds to conduct community outreach, perform up to four initial and three detailed environmental site assessments, and develop end-use and cleanup plans for sites in two targeted areas of the city – the downtown business district and the waterfronts along the city’s two rivers.

“EPA is continuing to build on decades of environmental growth and economic gains,” said Regional Administrator Alan J. Steinberg. “Brownfields grants help communities turn problem properties into community assets, putting both people and property back to work.”

The brownfields program enables EPA to provide communities the tools they need to address these sites, including sites impacted by petroleum, that present relatively low risk’s to people’s health. Four competitive grants programs provide funding to eligible applicants for borwnfields assessments, cleanups, revolving loan funds, and job training. In addition to industrial and commercial redevelopment, brownfields assistance has led to the conversion of industrial waterfronts to riverfront parks, landfills to golf courses, rail corridors to recreational trails, and gas stations to housing.
EPA is awarding assessment and cleanup grants to eight other communities in New York, including Albany, Clayton, Fort Edward, Glen Cove, Lackawanna, New York City, Niagara County and Rochester.

To date, EPA has awarded nationally 883 assessment grants totaling $225.4 million, 202 revolving loan fund grants totaling $186.7 million, and 238 cleanup grants totaling $42.7 million. EPA’s brownfields assistance has leveraged more than $8.2 billion in private investment, helped create 37,525 jobs and resulted in the assessment of 8,374 properties and the cleanup of 93 properties.

For more information about the Cohoes grants, visit:https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/cities/cohoes_ny.htm For more information about other sites in New York or EPA’s Brownfields program in general, visit: https://www.epa.gov/region02/brownfields

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