City of Springfield, Mo., to Receive Brownfields Grant for Contaminated Land Cleanup and Local Job Creation

Release date: 08/04/2009
Contact Information: Belinda Young, (913) 551-7463, young.belinda@epa.gov
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Environmental News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Kansas City, Kan., Aug. 4, 2009) - EPA has announced that the City of Springfield, Mo., has been selected to receive $510,000 to provide loans and sub-grants to help carry out cleanup activities, redevelopment projects, and create jobs for local residents living near brownfields sites.

EPA selected Springfield to receive the grant based on the city's demonstrated ability to assist the community through effective brownfields redevelopment loans. Revolving loan funds are generally used to provide low- or no-interest loans for brownfields cleanups. This grant was funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Acting Regional Administrator William Rice said, "The Brownfields Revolving Loan Fund provides up to $1 million to capitalize a fund from which loans or sub-grants may be made to conduct cleanups of Brownfield properties."

Springfield will use its supplemental funding to replenish the revolving loan fund, from which it will provide loans and subgrants to support cleanup activities at several of 11 shovel-ready projects identified as being contaminated with hazardous substances and petroleum.

Brownfields are sites where expansion, redevelopment or reuse may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant or contaminant. In 2002, the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act (Brownfields Law) was passed. The Brownfields law expanded the definition of what is considered a brownfield, so communities now may also focus on mine-scarred lands or sites contaminated by petroleum or the manufacture and distribution of illegal drugs.

The Brownfields Program encourages redevelopment of America's estimated 450,000 abandoned and contaminated waste sites. Since the beginning of the Brownfields Program, revolving loan fund grant recipients have executed 146 loans and awarded 41 sub-grants to support brownfields cleanup totaling more than $76.8 million. The loan funds have leveraged more than $1.8 billion in public and private cleanup and redevelopment investment and enabled the leveraging of 3,285 jobs in cleanup, construction and redevelopment.

President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 on February 17, 2009, and has directed that the Recovery Act be implemented with unprecedented transparency and accountability. To that end, the American people can see how every dollar is being invested at
http://www.recovery.gov.