(AGENPARL) – ven 26 maggio 2023 Issued: May 26, 2023 (11:21am EDT)
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Biden-Harris Administration Announces $5.9M to West Virginia Through Investing
in America Agenda for Cleanup and Technical Assistance at Polluted Brownfield
Sites
Largest investment ever in brownfields communities
PHILADELPHIA (May 25, 2023) – Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) announced $5,966,135 to West Virginia from President Biden’s
Investing in America Agenda to expedite the assessment and cleanup of
brownfield sites in West Virginia while advancing environmental justice.
EPA made 9 selections in West Virginia for grants totaling more than $5
million in competitive EPA Brownfields funding through the Multipurpose,
Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund, and Cleanup (MARC) Grant programs. Another
$1million in non-competitive supplemental funding will go to West Virginia
Department of Environmental Protection for its existing Revolving Loan Fund
(RLF) Grant program.  Thanks to the historic boost from the Bipartisan
Infrastructure Law, this is the largest ever funding awarded in the history of
the EPA’s Brownfields MARC Grant programs.
These investments are  part of President Biden’s Investing in America
Agenda to grow the American economy from the bottom up and middle-out – from
rebuilding our nation’s infrastructure, to driving over $470 billion in
private sector manufacturing and clean energy investments in the United
States, to creating a manufacturing and innovation boom powered by good paying
jobs that don’t require a four-year degree, to building a clean-energy
economy that will combat climate change and make our communities more
resilient.
We’re working across the country to revitalize what were once dangerous and
polluted sites in overburdened communities into more sustainable and
environmentally just places that serve as community assets. Thanks to
President Biden’s historic investments in America, we’re moving further
and faster than ever before to clean up contaminated sites, spur economic
redevelopment, and deliver relief that so many communities have been waiting
for,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. “This critical wave of
investments is the largest in Brownfields history and will accelerate our work
to protect the people and the planet by transforming what was once blight into
might.”
“This unprecedented Brownfields funding going to West Virginia underscores
EPA’s commitment to addressing the immediate needs of coal mining and power
plant communities in Appalachia,” said EPA Regional Administrator Adam
Ortiz. “I’ve visited West Virginia plenty of times and have seen how past
brownfields funding has revitalized communities.  It’s clear to me that
this new funding will help more communities rebuild and become healthy,
economically-thriving places again.” 
“Addressing and restoring Brownfields sites across West Virginia is vital to
strengthening our communities and boosting economic development,” said
Senator Joe Manchin (D- WV).  “Our Bipartisan Infrastructure Law continues
to deliver critical investments for West Virginia, and I am pleased the EPA is
investing in these ten important programs. As a member of the Senate
Appropriations Committee, I will continue advocating for resources to protect
the health and wellbeing of West Virginians across the Mountain State.”
“In almost every corner of our state, brownfield sites present potential
opportunities for economic growth and expansion,” EPW Committee Ranking
Member Shelley Moore Capito said. “When crafting the Infrastructure
Investment and Jobs Act, I helped prioritize funding to deliver needed
resources to the EPA’s Brownfields Program that would benefit communities in
West Virginia, and I’m looking forward to seeing the funding announced today
create more success stories across our state.”
Many communities that are under economic stress, particularly those located in
areas that have experienced long periods of disinvestment, lack the resources
needed to initiate brownfield cleanup and redevelopment projects. As
brownfield sites are transformed into community assets, they attract jobs,
promote economic revitalization and transform communities into sustainable and
environmentally just places.
Thanks to the historic $1.5 billion boost from President Biden’s Bipartisan
Infrastructure Law, EPA’s Brownfields Program is helping more communities
than ever before begin to address the economic, social, and environmental
challenges caused by brownfields and stimulate economic opportunity, and
environmental revitalization in historically overburdened communities.
EPA’s Brownfields Program also advances President Biden’s Justice40
Initiative to direct 40 percent of the overall benefits of certain Federal
investments to disadvantaged communities. The Brownfields Program strives to
meet this commitment and advance environmental justice and equity
considerations into all aspects of its work. Approximately 84 percent of the
MARC program applications selected to receive funding proposed to work in
areas that include historically underserved communities.
Two of the nine organizations in West Virginia selected to receive EPA
Brownfields funding through the MARC Grant programs are:
Region 2 Planning and Development Council has been selected to receive
$500,000. Communitywide grant funds will be used to conduct 25 Phase I and 12
Phase II environmental site assessments. Grant funds also will be used to
prepare 10 cleanup plans and to conduct community engagement activities
including 12 steering committee meetings. The target areas for this grant are
Logan and Mingo Counties. Priority sites include former surface mines, a
former floor manufacturing plant that includes a main building, vacant
warehouse space, the former Gilbert High School, and the former Matewan High
School, which closed in 2012 and has been vacant since.
Marshall University Research Corporation has been selected to receive
$968,438. Grant funds will be used to clean up the 7.8-acre Former Flint
Pigments Site at 5th Avenue and 24th Street in the City of Huntington. The
cleanup site was historically used as part of a dyestuff and pigment
manufacturing facility. Beginning in the 1920s, parts of the site were used
for manufacturing, warehousing, and a parking lot. Soils at the site are
contaminated with PCBs. Grant funds also will be used to hold eight public
meetings and to attend four city council meetings.
You can read more about this year’s MARC selectees in West Virginia and
other states and Tribes  MARC selectees.
Through its RLF program, WVDEP has successfully made loans or subgrants
leading to three cleanup projects that are either completed or in progress.
The BIL funding announced today will extend the capacity of the program to
provide funding for more cleanups in the most underserved areas in the State
of West Virginia.
Read more about this year’s RLF recipients.
Brownfields Technical Assistance Providers and Research Grants
EPA is also announcing funding selection for two Brownfields technical
assistance opportunities. The Technical Assistance to Brownfields (TAB)
selectees provide specialized technical knowledge, research, and training to
help stakeholders understand brownfields-related subject matter, and guide
them through the brownfield assessment, clean-up, and revitalization process.
This assistance is a key part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s
commitment to advance economic opportunities and address environmental justice
issues in underserved communities. This technical assistance is available to
all stakeholders and comes at no cost to communities. The two funding
opportunities announced today include the following:
EPA selected West Virginia University Research Corporation to receive $5
million to provide training and technical assistance to communities across the
state under the Technical Assistance to Brownfields (TAB) Communities Program.
This funding comes entirely from the historic $1.5 billion investment from
President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
EPA is also expanding the scope of its technical assistance offerings under
the Brownfields and Land Revitalization Program to include three new
subject-specific grants totaling $2 million in three areas, including
providing technical assistance to nonprofits seeking to reuse brownfields;
provide research, outreach, and guidance on minimizing displacement resulting
from brownfields redevelopment; and providing outreach and guidance on land
banking tactics for brownfields revitalization.
For more information about Brownfields Technical Assistance and Research,
please visit 
http://url6130.epa.mediaroom.com/ls/click?upn=-2BroytcZInNRyuFbAvAoN5bH9-2BStNqkkSRiI8Hlt8a9Fh0Fg17PHOixYZN68bUoa-2BvT8mJ6Jg-2BuT97wWKIntVWYd5xAb97361et-2BtzNwBFWZpeLphDV36TpxQ0uFeV8-2BT8srZ_mLoYh0p4AWg4foFr5HgrZ1QioQ33bLwdnQ-2BsYGKFX9mApcfdQmv0-2Bvkdf9kq-2BlYjjrRD-2FDlXOt3gO234gou21vvQGlVuaGwCdsu6QkZKWoPImxQaaAWYYip3e0PUiDlc9QXZUlsNmXwnXrfXuwkVHEFjAkkBKOV-2FAdZQnNRR9qdPLQw4epo9GB1aSTG9KGuVX1XBhog3CtkErC5FQLlQioH1G1wN9U2vdLqnmfcwqZ0rmpS1YMjB4TkrBZ96x7PA
Additional Background:
EPA has selected these organizations to receive funding to address and support
the reuse of brownfield sites. EPA anticipates making all the awards announced
today once all legal and administrative requirements are satisfied.
For more on Brownfields
Grants: http://url6130.epa.mediaroom.com/ls/click?upn=-2BroytcZInNRyuFbAvAoN5bH9-2BStNqkkSRiI8Hlt8a9HwGcmMLUl8-2F0qNy7axy9UD0G1l4hTxhY-2FYJp00NPDyxF7psvRMB5A3NKCtXF7HWvk-3DfRia_mLoYh0p4AWg4foFr5HgrZ1QioQ33bLwdnQ-2BsYGKFX9mApcfdQmv0-2Bvkdf9kq-2BlYjjrRD-2FDlXOt3gO234gou21vvQGlVuaGwCdsu6QkZKWoMZJcaMYG-2BzsLT5Tzx4lwnM1yfMwXMtW8WMiep89rGqwzPg4CwWuW3RKQNKcRLG1lvTvWmhs32HMXjumV-2Fntfie28ZZM7xYF85gzc-2Bt7ObMSol21CUIvHm6UW-2B9UQWkM-2FPqAxirYfnAkeKyNZmpYOYW
For more on EPA’s Brownfields Program: http://url6130.epa.mediaroom.com/ls/click?upn=-2BroytcZInNRyuFbAvAoN5bH9-2BStNqkkSRiI8Hlt8a9Gk-2FwHiUFhhJaTazfwSVv0Uf4_-_mLoYh0p4AWg4foFr5HgrZ1QioQ33bLwdnQ-2BsYGKFX9mApcfdQmv0-2Bvkdf9kq-2BlYjjrRD-2FDlXOt3gO234gou21vvQGlVuaGwCdsu6QkZKWoNGoE6MoN-2F-2F31aDkVdDqVkr1HGgwkZmgH41pkGhZ4ZSQwiTS1zNGL7uAvl0c9VzOz3-2BCGJUTdWbdeOEJmuRH1Pw5ftDiQIdafcJ44P-2B90N5SveBtC4EfvomoE5hEUrr1mn-2B1CBWJeaFn4awmPLKA7nA
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