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.
$500,000
EPA has selected the Catawba Regional Council of Governments for a Brownfields Assessment Grant. Community-wide grant funds will be used to conduct up to 10 Phase I and six Phase II environmental site assessments and develop six cleanup plans. Grant funds also will be used to conduct four visioning sessions, develop a Community Involvement Plan, and conduct other community engagement activities. The target area for this grant is the Catawba Region with a focus on distressed mill communities in the Town of Great Falls, the City of Lancaster, and the census-designated place of Buffalo. Priority sites include three former textile mills in Great Falls, one of which was also used as a plastic recycling facility, a 30-acre site former cotton mill in Lancaster that closed in 2003 and has been vacant since then, and a former mill complex in Buffalo that consists of four parcels that once housed an office complex, a powerhouse, an ice factory, a warehouse, a store, and a bank.