The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced $69.3 million in grants to communities in 39 states to redevelop contaminated or so-called brownfield properties including former American Motors, Chrysler and General Motors manufacturing sites.
As part of the grants, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources will also provide a loan from its Revolving Loan Fund to the city of Kenosha for the cleanup of the Kenosha Engine Plant Cleaning site, a former Chrysler and American Motors plant.
The site was once the source of thousands of middle class jobs in southeastern Wisconsin. EPA said the clean up will provide the community with the opportunity to market the site to private investors that could bring jobs and tax revenue back to the community.
DeKalb County in Georgia plans to clean up and redevelop major industrial in addition to expanding greenspace and community-based development. One revitalization effort is targeted for a former General Motors Assembly Plant that closed in 2008, which is located at the convergence of two major highway corridors and the Doraville MARTA Station. Upon redevelopment, the project will reduce blight and increase the local tax base it is said.
There are an estimated 450,000 abandoned and contaminated waste sites in the United States. In 2011, EPA’s brownfields program created 6,447 jobs and spent $2.14 billion in cleanup and redevelopment funds.
Since its inception, EPA’s brownfield investments have used more than $18.3 billion in cleanup and redevelopment funding from public and private sources. During an election year, the ‘no jobs’ Obama Administration claims this has resulted in approximately 75,500 jobs. More than 18,000 properties have been assessed, and more than 700 properties have been cleaned up.
Brownfields grants also target under-served and low-income neighborhoods – places where environmental cleanups and new jobs are most needed, according to EPA.
