EPA's Brownfields Program empowers states, communities, and other stakeholders to work together to prevent, assess, safely clean up, and sustainably reuse brownfields. A brownfield site is real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant. The Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act of 2002, as amended by the Brownfields Utilization, Investment and Local Development Act of 2018, was passed to help states and communities around the country clean up and revitalize brownfield sites. Under this law, EPA provides financial assistance to eligible applicants through five competitive grant programs: Multipurpose Grants, Assessment Grants, Revolving Loan Fund Grants, Cleanup Grants, and Environmental Workforce Development and Job Training Grants. Additionally, funding support is provided to state and tribal response programs through a separate mechanism.
$600,000
EPA has selected the Jefferson Parish Economic Development Commission for a Brownfields Assessment Coalition Grant. Community-wide grant funds will be used to develop a web-based inventory of sites, conduct six to eight Phase I and five to seven Phase II environmental site assessments, and prepare five to seven cleanup plans. Grant funds also will be used to prepare a market study of priority and target area sites and convene quarterly public meetings. Assessment activities will focus on sites along the west bank of the Mississippi River in Jefferson Parish, which includes the City of Westwego. Priority sites include a 46-acre industrial tract and the Gulf State Asphalt Facility in Westwego, and the Johns Manville Plant, the former Lowery Brothers Rigging Center, and the former Ramrod Trucking Facility in other parts of Jefferson Parish. Coalition partners are Jefferson Parish and the City of Westwego.