Properties saddled with historic contamination will get a new shot at life, thanks to a $300 million investment divvied up among more than 200 communities.
EPA’s brownfields program provides grants to boost private-public partnerships aimed at cleaning up once dangerous and polluted areas, like abandoned industrial plants, gas stations or textile mills. Successful projects have turned brownfields into hiking trails, parks, gardens and more.
The agency’s Monday announcement uses approximately $160 million from the 2021 infrastructure law, which originally set aside $1.5 billion for the program to be allocated in waves.
“Far too many communities across America have suffered the harmful economic and health consequences of living near polluted brownfield sites,” President Joe Biden said in a news release. “I’ve long believed that people who’ve borne the burden of pollution should be the first to see the benefits of new investment.”
