Contaminated Brownfields properties in the Missouri communities of Boonville, Kansas City and Lebanon will receive a combined total of more than $1 million to help fund their cleanups through a pair of Brownfields Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) Supplemental Funding grants announced today by EPA.
EPA’s grants in Missouri – including $615,760 to the City of Kansas City and $400,000 to the state’s Environmental Improvement and Energy Resources Authority (EIERA) – are part of an $11 million package of supplemental RLF assistance announced today for 31 grantees nationwide.
“These funds – awarded to grantees who have already achieved success in their work to clean up and redevelop Brownfields – will help spur economic development, create local jobs and encourage public, private and non-profit collaboration in expediting Brownfield projects in distressed communities,” said Mathy Stanislaus, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response.
In Kansas City, the $615,760 supplemental RLF funds will provide cleanup assistance for separate projects at the former Westport Middle School and Joe’s Data Center, as well as for a project undertaken by the city’s Land Bank-Homesteading Authority. The grant to Kansas City includes $415,760 to clean up hazardous substances, and $200,000 to clean up petroleum.
Missouri’s Environmental Improvement and Energy Resources Authority will use all of its $400,000 grant to address hazardous substance cleanups. A $300,000 loan will go to Lebanon, Mo., to assist with the cleanup and redevelopment of a vacant building in a prime commercial area, and a combined $100,000 loan and sub-grant will help Boonville clean up buildings at the former Kemper Military Academy.
Revolving loan funds specifically supply funding for grant recipients to provide loans and sub-grants to carry out cleanup activities at Brownfield sites. When the loans are repaid, the loan amount and any interest is then returned to the fund and is subgranted or re-loaned to other borrowers, providing an ongoing source of capital for Brownfields cleanup.
There are an estimated 450,000 abandoned and contaminated sites in the United States. EPA’s Brownfields program targets these sites to encourage redevelopment, and help to provide the opportunity for productive community use of contaminated properties. EPA’s Brownfields investments overall have leveraged more than $21 billion in cleanup and redevelopment funding from public and private sources. On average, $17.79 is leveraged for every EPA Brownfields grant dollar spent.
