[StBernard] News Release (Region 6): EPA awards Lake Charles $200, 000 for community cleanup projects

[Westley Annis]

EPA awards Lake Charles $200,000 for community cleanup projects 
State to receive total of $1.4 million in brownfields grants to support
revitalization efforts 

(Dallas, Texas - September 27, 2007)  Efforts to revitalize areas within the
City of Lake Charles are getting a lift from the Environmental Protection
Agency and $200,000 in brownfields funding. 

The city has been awarded a brownfields petroleum assessment grant to
redevelop 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. 

"Transforming challenged properties into sources of local pride and
productivity is what the brownfields program is all about," 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
environmental contamination.  In addition to the Lake Charles grant, EPA
awarded a total of $1.2 million in brownfields funding to the City of New
Orleans and Progressive Church in Marrero.  EPA Region 6 has provided more
than $11 million for Louisiana brownfields projects since the beginning of
the program in 1995. 

"The awarding of this brownfields funding will encourage redevelopment of
properties and, in turn, help build opportunities for future growth and new
prosperity," said Lake Charles Mayor Randy Roach.  "We are extremely pleased
to be receiving this grant." 

The EPA brownfields program encourages redevelopment of America's estimated
450,000 abandoned and contaminated waste sites.  Nationally, brownfields
assistance has leveraged more than $9.8 billion in cleanup and
redevelopment, helped create more than 43,900 jobs and resulted in the
assessment of more than 11,500 properties and the cleanup of 180 properties.
EPA Region 6 accounts for 25 percent, or $2 billion, of the funding
leveraged across the nation.   

Additional information on the brownfields program is available at
http://www.epa.gov/brownfields <http://www.epa.gov/brownfields> . 

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

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