WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday awarded $254 million to 265 communities around the country to help them clean up contaminated areas to spur economic revitalization, part of a broader plan to lift up polluted, underserved areas.
The grants were disbursed from funds created by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which allocated $1.5 billion to advance environmental justice efforts in chronically polluted and underinvested communities.
The funding helps advance the Biden administration’s so-called Justice40 program, which aims to direct 40% of the benefits of government programs to disadvantaged communities.
Of the proposed projects selected, 86% are in historically underserved areas.
“EPA’s Brownfields Program breathes new life into communities by helping to turn contaminated and potentially dangerous sites into productive economic contributors,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said.
The types of projects eligible for grants include building asbestos clean up and cleaning up abandoned properties polluted with chemicals and remediating them for new economic activity in both urban and rural areas.
One project that will receive funding will convert an old coal mine in western Pennsylvania into a 10 megawatt solar farm.
The funding will invigorate the federal brownfields program, which has been in existence for years and remediated 9,500 properties around the country.
“We have a truly historic opportunity ahead of us to finally confront the challenges that have held back many vulnerable communities across this country from reaching their full potential,” said Janet McCabe, Deputy EPA Administrator.
(Reporting by Valerie Volcovici; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
