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(AGENPARL) – lun 20 maggio 2024 Issued: May 20, 2024 (3:02pm EDT)
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EPA awards $1 million to the City of Pueblo for cleanup and redevelopment
projects
Brownfields grant funding to address property contamination, spur economic
revitalization, and redevelop historic buildings, including a National
Historic Landmark site
Contacts
PUEBLO, Colo. (May 20, 2024) – Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) announced the City of Pueblo will receive $1 million in
Brownfields grant funding to support the environmental assessments, cleanup
and redevelopment of critical properties in Pueblo, Colorado.
These investments are part the agency’s Brownfields Multipurpose,
Assessment, and Cleanup (MAC) Grant Programs.
“EPA’s Brownfields grants are supporting critical cleanup and
redevelopment projects in communities across Colorado,” said EPA Regional
Administrator KC Becker. “We look forward to seeing these funds transform
blighted sites in Pueblo’s Eastside, Bessemer and Downtown neighborhoods
into new assets.”
“In the wealthiest nation in the world, every family should be able to live
in a clean environment,” said Senator Michael Bennet. “This funding will
rightfully support Colorado communities disproportionately affected by
contamination. These grants will help Colorado communities safely clean up
polluted sites, protect their health, and rebuild in a way that creates jobs
and economic opportunity.”
The grant will focus on the geographical area of Pueblo called the Y-Zone,
which includes revitalization projects in the Eastside, Bessemer, and Downtown
neighborhoods. Funding will be used to conduct substantial asbestos cleanup at
El Centro Del Quinto Sol Community Center, which is the Eastside
neighborhood’s only community center.
“The City of Pueblo is excited to receive this EPA Multipurpose grant which
will help our city restore a community center, restore underutilized
significant historic spaces and assist the private sector in redeveloping
numerous vacant places,” said Mayor Heather Graham. “This multi-year
investment in Pueblo will help us clean up buildings and reinvest in our
historic Bessemer, Eastside and West Side neighborhoods and turn vacancy into
vibrancy.”
The City of Pueblo identified El Centro del Quinto Sol Community Center as the
project’s first priority cleanup site. Formerly built as the Fountain School
in 1904, the Community center now hosts a popular skate park and open-air
space with various monuments to the Chicano civil rights movement. The City
will use the grant funding to upgrade services and expand offerings at the
community center, which require substantial asbestos abatement throughout the
building.
Another priority site identified in this project is the Steel Works History
Museum, which was the former headquarters of the steel plant in the Bessemer
neighborhood and is not a National Historic Landmark site. The building
requires extensive asbestos abatement and mitigation of other hazardous
building materials before it can be redeveloped. Grant funding will be used to
complete clean-up planning for possible reuse and will retain the steel
heritage in the Bessemer neighborhood.
Additional priority sites include two sites identified from a 2020 Community
Wide Assessment grant, where over 60 Brownfields sites were identified. MAC
grant funding will be used to advance reuse of the former Black Hills Energy
Plant 5 & 6 Priority site and consolidate abandoned railroad properties at the
State Land Board Priority site. Reuse of the Plant 5 & 6 site, and
consolidation of the Land Board abandoned railroad properties will foster
redevelopment and retain a key historic structure.
This project will help support the City of Pueblo’s commitment to 100%
renewable energy in its operations by 2035. The revitalization work funded by
this grant will promote reuse of historic buildings, eliminating waste to
landfills. Reuse of the existing infrastructure will also help limit urban
sprawl and conserve water resources, as well as create new housing options to
keep residents in their chosen neighborhoods.
State Funding Breakdown
Brownfields Multipurpose, Assessment, and Cleanup (MAC) Grant Program
Selection
The City of Pueblo is among six organizations in Colorado have been selected
to receive EPA Brownfields funding through the Multipurpose, Assessment, and
Cleanup (MAC) Grant Programs. Additional grantees announced today include:
The City of Greeley, Colorado has been selected to receive $500,000.
The City of Northglenn, Colorado has been selected to receive $2,750,000.
The Town of Kersey, Colorado has been selected to receive $1,132,899.
Metro West Housing Solutions, (Lakewood) Colorado has been selected to receive
$500,000.
The City of Monte Vista, Colorado has been selected to receive $1,000,000.
Additional Background:
EPA’s Brownfields Program advances President Biden’s Justice40 Initiative
which set a goal that 40% of the overall benefits of certain Federal
investments flow to communities that are marginalized by underinvestment and
overburdened by pollution. Approximately 86% of the MAC and RLF Supplemental
program applications selected to receive funding proposed to work in areas
that include overburdened communities.”
EPA’s Brownfields Program began in 1995 and has provided nearly $2.7 billion
in Brownfield Grants to assess and clean up contaminated properties and return
blighted properties to productive reuse. Prior to the Bipartisan
Infrastructure Law, this program made approximately $60 million available each
year. Thanks to the President’s historic investments in America through the
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, EPA has now increased that yearly investment
nearly 400 percent.
To see the list of the FY 2024 Multipurpose, Assessment and Cleanup applicants
selected for funding visit EPA’s FY 2024 Multipurpose, Assessment and
Cleanup Applicants webpage.
For more information on EPA’s Brownfields Program visit EPA’s Brownfields
webpage.
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