The Double Wide Grill in Pittsburgh, PA was built in a former gas station building with help from the EPA Brownfields Program. Photo by EPA Smart Growth, via Flickr.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced three grant programs for 2015 to help clean up land contaminated by petroleum and hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants.
Brownfields Assessment Grants provide funding for developing inventories of brownfields, prioritizing sites, conducting community involvement activities, and conducting site assessments and cleanup planning related to brownfield sites. Individual grants go up to $200,000; Assessment Coalitions, where a partnership of three or more eligible applicants combines forces, may receive up to $600,000.
Brownfields Cleanup Grants provide funding to carry out cleanup activities and address hazardous substances and/or petroleum contamination at specific brownfield sites. Individual grants go up to $200,000, but applicants may apply for up to three sites.
Several details of the application process have changed since last year. Letters of Commitment are now required from community organizations that affirm their role in the proposed project, applicants who were awarded an assessment grant in fiscal year 2014 are now eligible to apply for FY 2015 assessment funding, there is additional guidance on how community engagement plans will be evaluated, and communities in need will now be given higher point distribution during application evaluation.
Get all the details on EPA’s brownfields grant webinar
EPA will hold a webinar to review these opportunities on November 5, 2014 at 2:00 PM EST. Join the webinar online or by phone at 1-866-299-3188, access code: 202-566-1817.
The deadline for all three grant opportunities is December 19, 2014. Learn more at EPA.gov.