Gloucester to receive $400,000 in EPA funding to clean up brownfield sites

The city of Gloucester will receive $400,000 from EPA to help clean contaminated sites known as brownfields. This funding is part of more than $16 million for brownfields allotted nationally by the EPA. "This funding to the city of Gloucester will be a boon to the local economy and will continue to assist in job creation in the area. With this additional money the city will be able to fund more local cleanup projects," said Curt Spalding, regional administrator for EPA New England. "This $400,000 in federal funds will support efforts to clean up abandoned waste sites in Gloucester and is expected to help local businesses put residents back to work," said U.S. Rep. John Tierney. Mayor Carolyn Kirk said, "Old cities like Gloucester are faced with many redevelopment challenges. EPA funds which help with site clean up removes a big obstacle and make it easier to promote the job growth and expansion of the tax base that come with redevelopment." Gloucester received one of the 27 grants nationally, including eight in New England. This funding is targeted to help with cleanup activities and redevelopment projects, and to help create jobs for people living near brownfields sites. These grants will help revitalize former industrial and commercial sites, turning them from problem properties to productive community use. The seven other New England grants given included two in Conn. ($600,000), three in Mass. ($1.2 million), and two in Vermont ($800,000) and one in Maine ($400,000). This money was provided as supplemental funding for revolving loan fund grants already given to these communities. Brownfields are sites where expansion, redevelopment, or reuse may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant or contaminant. Since EPA's brownfields program began, EPA has provided 50 loans and 41 grants in New England totaling more than $24 million for brownfields cleanup. The loan funds have paved the way for more than $164 million in public and private cleanup and redevelopment investment and for 925 jobs in cleanup, construction and redevelopment. The national brownfields program encourages redevelopment of the country's estimated 450,000 abandoned and contaminated waste sites. More information: - FY 2010 Brownfields grant recipients (www.epa.gov/brownfields/pilot_grants.htm) - EPA New England EPA's brownfields program (www.epa.gov/region1/brownfields/success.html) - Brownfields success stories (www.epa.gov/brownfields/success/index.htm)