EPA Awards Austin $820,000 Grant To Clean Up Past Industrial Sites

AUSTIN, TX -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has awarded Austin officials an $820,000 grant to help assess and clean up contaminated sites, agency officials said.

The Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund and Cleanup (ARC) grant are awarded to communities that are under-served and economically disadvantaged, including neighborhoods where environmental cleanup and new jobs are most needed. The effort is aimed toward cleanup of brownfields sites, defined as former industrial or commercial sites where future use is affected by real or perceived environmental contamination.

“These grants will help Austin communities spark redevelopment of abandoned or contaminated properties,” said Regional Administrator Ron Curry in a prepared statement. “It’s an important first step to getting these sites back into productive use for the local economy.”

The city of Austin will receive $820,000 to its revolving loan fund, allowing the city to make low-interest loans to carry out cleanup activities at brownfields properties, officials said. This grant is part of 218 new grant investments, totaling $55.2 million to 131 communities across the U.S., they noted.

"EPA’s Brownfields program helps communities recycle vacant and abandoned properties for new, productive reuses," EPA officials said. "The investments provide communities with funding to assess, clean up and redevelop contaminated properties, boost local economies and leverage jobs while protecting public health and the environment. Brownfields ARC grants provide resources early on, which is critical for communities to leverage partnerships between neighborhoods, developers, and local governments."

About $14 million of the funding will go to applicants who are also EPA Brownfields Area-Wide Planning grant recipients and Department. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)/Department of Transportation (DOT)/EPA partnership communities.

Funding will help communities clean up and reuse brownfield sites to create community assets such as housing, recreation and open space, health facilities, employment, education, social services, transportation options, infrastructure and commerce opportunities.

The initiative aims to boost home property values in areas affected by brownfields sites. Studies have shown that residential property values near brownfields sites that are cleaned up increased between 5 and 15 percent.

Data also show that brownfields cleanups can increase overall property values within a one-mile radius, EPA officials said. Preliminary analysis of 48 brownfields sites shows that an estimated $29 million to $97 million in additional tax revenue was generated for local governments in a single year after cleanup, the EPA noted. This is two to seven times more than the $12.4 million the EPA contributed to the cleanup of these brownfields.

"This latest funding advances EPA’s broader commitment to making a visible difference in communities by focusing on coordinating federal investments to help environmentally overburdened, underserved, and economically distressed communities address local priorities," EPA officials said. "The Brownfields Program invests in communities where multiple federal agency partnerships are at work, aligning resources more efficiently."

As part of its announcement, the EPA released a list of specific sites targeted for clean-up in the cities awarded grants. But no specific site is listed for Austin, with a simple notation indicating the use of the grant would be community-wide.

EPA officials said that nationwide, there are about 450,000 abandoned and contaminated waste sites. Since the inception of EPA’s Brownfields Program in 1995, investments have leveraged more than $20 billion from public and private sources for cleanup and redevelopment activities, they added.

To see a list of the FY 2016 applicants selected for funding, click here.