[StBernard] [r6news] EPA awards $1.4 million to help Louisiana brownfields bloom into productivity

Westley Annis westley at da-parish.com
Tue May 15 00:22:11 EDT 2007


More than $70 million awarded to states nationwide for community
cleanups

(Dallas, Texas – May 14, 2007) Three cities in Louisiana will receive
$1.4 million in brownfields grants to help revitalize former industrial
sites, turning them from problem properties to productive community use.
The grants were announced by the Environmental Protection Agency today
for communities in Lake Charles, Marrero, and New Orleans and are part
of more than $70 million in brownfields funding to be awarded
nationwide.

“Brownfields grants help convert environmental eyesores into sources of
local pride,” said EPA Regional Administrator Richard E. Greene. “These
grants build on EPA’s commitment of working with communities to hand
down a healthier, more prosperous future to the next generation.”

Brownfields are vacant, abandoned, or under-used properties where
redevelopment may be complicated by the presence or potential presence
of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant.

The City of New Orleans will receive a brownfields revolving loan fund
grant of $1 million to cleanup sites with hazardous substances. More
than 200 hazardous properties have been identified by the city. Cleanup
of these brownfields will help renew greenspaces and support
redevelopment.

In Lake Charles, the city will use a $200,000 brownfields petroleum
assessment grant to revitalize portions of downtown, the Charpentier
District and the North Lake Charles area. Part of the city’s plans
include converting its riverfront into an accessible commercial area and
constructing new housing downtown.

The Progressive Church will be awarded a $200,000 brownfields cleanup
grant to remedy hazardous substances at an 18-acre site in Marrero.
Cleanup will allow redevelopment of the site into a Family Life Center,
school, day care facility, and affordable housing center for seniors.
The facilities are expected to create 150 new jobs.

Since the beginning of the program in 1995, EPA’s south central region
has leveraged $2.3 billion in brownfields cleanup and redevelopment,
helped create 10,700 jobs and resulted in the assessment of 750
properties.

This year, 202 applicants were selected to receive 294 assessment,
revolving loan fund, and cleanup grants nationwide. EPA’s brownfields
program encourages redevelopment of America's estimated 450,000
abandoned and contaminated waste sites. Nationally, brownfields
assistance has leveraged more than $9.6 billion in cleanup and
redevelopment, helped create more than 43,029 jobs and resulted in the
assessment of more than 10,504 properties and the cleanup of 180
properties.

Additional information on the brownfields recipients is available at
http://www.epa.gov/brownfields.

To learn more about activities in EPA Region 6, please visit
www.epa.gov/region6.

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