Showing posts with label EPA BROWNFIELD GRANTS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label EPA BROWNFIELD GRANTS. Show all posts

Monday, June 11, 2012

EPA COMES TO TOWN TO CLEANUP DULUTH WITH $850,000


Photo:  Ore Ship Lake Superior Duluth, Minnesota.  Credit:  U.S. EPA
FROM:  U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
EPA Announces $850,000 in Grants to Clean Up Contaminated Sites in Duluth; State to Receive a Total of $2,650,000 in Grants and Loans

(CHICAGO – June 7, 2012) U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Regional Administrator Susan Hedman today joined Mayor Don Ness at the Duluth Heritage Sports Center to announce $850,000 in grants to redevelop contaminated properties, create jobs and protect public health in Duluth.  The city and the Duluth Economic Development Authority will use these “brownfield grants” to assess and clean up abandoned industrial and commercial properties.

Previous EPA brownfield grants helped to assess the Clyde Iron Works site so it could be cleaned up and redeveloped. The former brownfield site is now the Duluth Heritage Sports Center.

"EPA's brownfield grants will be used to clean up contaminated sites along the St. Louis River and Lake Superior shoreline in Duluth," said EPA Region 5 Administrator Susan Hedman.  "These grants will help to expand recreational opportunities and create jobs.”
The Duluth Economic Development Authority will receive a $200,000 brownfield grant to clean up hazardous substances at Bayfront Lot D on the 900 to 1000 block of Railroad Street. The site, which once housed freight depots, warehouses and manufacturing businesses, has been abandoned and is contaminated with polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons, heavy metals and petroleum waste. The Duluth Economic Development Authority wants to redevelop the site as part of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Safe Harbor system for recreational boaters, which would help stimulate redevelopment and investment in the area.

“Our partnership with the EPA has been critical to DEDA’s ability to prepare sites for productive development. This grant will serve as a catalyst to significant private sector investment,” said Nancy Norr, Vice President of DEDA.

The city will also receive a $650,000 Revolving Loan Fund grant for the cleanup of hazardous substances.  This grant will be used to clean up brownfield sites throughout the city, with special emphasis on the St. Louis River/Lake Superior Shoreline Corridor Project Area. More than half of Duluth’s industrial brownfields are in the corridor, which extends from downtown to the western end of the city and northwest to Skyline Parkway. The St. Louis River flows into Lake Superior in the corridor, forming the world’s largest freshwater estuary. Ten of the streams that flow into the estuary within the Corridor are designated trout streams.

“Properties along the St. Louis River Corridor hold some of the greatest potential in the City for redevelopment that will result in the growth of jobs, tax base and population. There is also potential for increased recreational access to the St. Louis River.  But assessment and cleanup of brownfield properties is complex and costly; we constantly strive to have as many ‘tools’ in the toolbox to address these challenges, and the two grants announced today will be effective tools,” said Heidi Timm-Bijold, Duluth’s Acting Director for Business and Economic Development.

The Duluth grants are part of the EPA’s $69.3 million 2012 nationwide brownfield grants to clean up and redevelop contaminated properties, boost local economies, create jobs and protect public health. Since 2002, EPA has awarded more than $2 million in brownfield grants to Duluth.

Friday, June 8, 2012

EPA ANNOUNCES GRANTS TO CLEAN UP CONTAMINATED SITES IN ST. PAUL


FROM:  US. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
EPA Announces $1.8 million in Grants to Clean Up Contaminated Sites in St. Paul; State to Receive a total of $2,650,000 in Grants and Loans
(CHICAGO – June 6, 2012) U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Regional Administrator Susan Hedman today joined Mayor Chris Coleman and Port President Louis Jambois at the new River of Goods and Terrybear building to announce $1.8 million in grants to redevelop contaminated properties, create jobs and protect public health in St. Paul. These EPA “brownfield grants” will be used by St. Paul and the St. Paul Port Authority to assess and clean up abandoned industrial and commercial properties.

"EPA's brownfield grants will help clean up contaminated sites in St. Paul so that they can be used again," said EPA Region 5 Administrator Susan Hedman. “The grants will help to revitalize neighborhoods and help businesses create jobs.”

St. Paul will receive a $200,000 brownfield grant to clean up the Trillium Central site at 179 E. Maryland Ave. The site was part of a rail yard from the late 1800s through the 1970s and included several storage structures and storage areas. It is contaminated with petroleum compounds from years of petroleum storage, handling and transfer operations. The Trillium Central site represents 8.7 acres of the city’s proposed 45-acre Trillium Nature Sanctuary.

"In St. Paul, we've seen how investing in revitalizing brownfields has paid off. By taking underutilized sites and transforming them into useful, productive spaces, formerly polluted and abandoned land can again be a prosperous part of our city," Mayor Chris Coleman said.

The St. Paul Port Authority will receive $1.6 million in brownfield grants. The Port Authority will use $400,000 for environmental assessments in areas that are targeted for redevelopment around the city. Two cleanup grants of $200,000 each will focus efforts to clean up hazardous substance in soil and soil gas at two former 3M Corp. parcels at or near 900 Bush Ave. Both sites were used for industrial and commercial purposes from the late 1800s through 2009. Soil and ground water at both sites are contaminated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, diesel range organics and volatile organic compounds. When 3M Corp relocated from its main campus to the neighboring suburb of Maplewood, the Port Authority took over redevelopment of the 46-acre site.

An $800,000 supplemental Brownfield Revolving Loan Fund grant will help the Port Authority continue to provide low-interest loans for the cleanup of brownfield sites. The Port Authority has been successfully preparing properties for redevelopment with Revolving Loan Fund grants since 2003, with an emphasis on creating and keeping jobs.

"Brownfield redevelopment is a partnership process. It requires participation of every level of government and the private sector to be successful," Jambois said. "We're very appreciative of the EPA's energy and commitment to redeveloping core cities.”

The St. Paul grants are part of the EPA’s $69.3 million 2012 nationwide brownfields grants. Since 2003, EPA has awarded $13 million to St. Paul.





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