EPA Awards $400,000 to Niagara County in Brownfields Assessment Grants (NY)
(New York, N.Y. ) U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) Regional Administrator Judith Enck today
announced that Niagara County, New York has been awarded $400,000
to promote Brownfields revitalization at various locations
throughout the County. She was joined in Niagara County by County
Legislators Wm. Keith McNall, Rick Updegrove, and Lockport Mayor
Mike Tucker at the former Dussault Foundry site in Lockport’s
Lowerton Historic District, at which there was a successful
County-led brownfields cleanup using in part EPA money. EPA also
previously conducted an emergency cleanup of drums and other items
at the site. Niagara County will use the new brownfields funds to
identify and assess more former industrial and potentially
contaminated sites so they can be cleaned up and put to productive
use for local communities.
“EPA is continuing to assist Lockport and
Niagara County turn contaminated sites into useful properties that
will help clean up the legacy of pollution, redevelop neighborhoods
and create jobs,” said Regional Administrator Judith Enck.
“With this grant, Niagara County will help revitalize areas
like downtown Lockport, leading to economic growth, and cleaner,
healthier communities.”
“Lockport’s long industrial history
also invites some environmental problems today, and we’re
glad to be addressing them with our colleagues in city government
and with the help of the EPA,” said Legislator Wm. Keith
McNall, whose legislative district includes the Dussault Foundry
site. “We’ve committed to a strategy of abating,
rehabilitating, and remarketing brownfields because it’s
right for our city economically, and it’s right for the
health of our neighborhoods. EPA has worked as a true partner here,
and we look forward to working with them
further.”
Dussault Foundry is a former iron foundry that
dates back to the early 1900’s. It has been abandoned since
the mid-1990’s. Beginning in 2000, EPA funds have been used
by Niagara County to assess contamination at the site and begin
cleaning it up. In 2003, EPA removed drums of flammable and
reactive materials, fuel tanks and more than 400 tons of foundry
sand and debris from inside the plant buildings. Niagara County is
currently using $200,000 in revolving loan funding from the
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) for an asbestos
abatement project at the site. When this is completed, the city and
the county will begin to market the property to potential
commercial tenants.
Brownfields are sites where expansion,
redevelopment, or reuse may be complicated by the presence or
potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or
contaminant. In 2002, the Small Business Liability Relief and
Brownfields Revitalization Act was adopted by Congress to help
states and communities around the country clean up and revitalize
brownfields sites. Under this law, EPA provides financial
assistance to eligible applicants through four competitive grant
programs: assessment grants, revolving loan fund grants, cleanup
grants, and job training grants. EPA’s Brownfields Program
encourages redevelopment of America’s estimated 450,000
abandoned and contaminated waste sites.
To date, Niagara County has received $3.25
million in Brownfields grant funding from EPA, including the
funding announced today. Over $700,000 in EPA funding has been
dedicated to remediating the Dussault Foundry site.
Of today’s grants, $200,000 will be used
to assess Brownfields contaminated with hazardous substances and
$200,000 will be used to assess sites contaminated by petroleum. In
total, the county will assess approximately 28 properties using
these funds, after which the County will be able to prioritize
further cleanup efforts at these locations.
For more information about EPA’s
Brownfields program, visit https://www.epa.gov/brownfields.
Follow EPA Region 2 on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/eparegion2 and visit our Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/eparegion2.
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