A work-in-progress gets a much-needed boost, thanks to a grant from the Environmental Protection Agency.
During a teleconference Wednesday, the EPA announced that eight Pennsylvania communities have been selected to receive a total of $3.7 million to assess and clean up contaminated properties under the agency’s Brownfields program.
Locally, $500,000 has been awarded to Clearly Ahead Development, (Clearfield County Economic Development Corp.). The grant will be used to clean up the former Howe’s Leather site in Curwensville.
The site operated as a tannery from the early 1900’s until 2004 and is currently vacant. The site is contaminated with heavy metals co-mingled with petroleum products from two underground storage tanks that were removed in 1993.
“Grants from the EPA’s Brownfields and Land Revitalization Program are a valuable tool to ensure land in many rural communities remains safe, habitable and cultivatable,” said Congressman Glenn ‘GT’ Thompson.
“I’m pleased to see that the EPA has invested in Pennsylvania’s 15th Congressional District, with grants in both Clearfield County as well as the historic Oil Region.
“These funds will help ready the land for economic and recreational opportunities in the future, and they are well deserved.”
According to information provided by the EPA, a “brownfield” is a property for which the expansion, redevelopment or reuse may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant or contaminant.
There are estimated to be more than 450,000 brownfields in the United States. EPA’s Brownfields Program began in 1995 and has provided nearly $1.6 billion in brownfield grants to assess and clean up contaminated properties and return blighted properties to productive reuse.
To date, brownfields investments have leveraged more than $31 billion in cleanup and redevelopment. Over the years, the relatively small investment of federal funding leveraged more than 160,000 jobs from both public and private sources.
Grants awarded by EPA’s Brownfields Program provide communities across the country with an opportunity to transform contaminated sites into community assets that attract jobs and achieve broader economic development outcomes, while taking advantage of existing infrastructure. For example, brownfields grants are shown to:
Increase Local Tax Revenue: A study of 48 brownfields sites found that an estimated $29 million to $97 million in additional local tax revenue was generated in a single year after cleanup. This is two to seven times more than the $12.4 million EPA contributed to the cleanup of these sites.
Increase Residential Property Values: Another study found that property values of homes near revitalized brownfields sites increased between 5 and 15 percent following cleanup.
Other grant recipients include:
Beaver County, PA, Assessment Grant – $600,000: Assessment activities will focus on the City of Beaver Falls, and the Boroughs of Midland, Monaca and Rochester.
Priority sites in these communities are largely former steel factory sites and other blighted and polluted industrial spaces. The target areas of Beaver Falls and Midland contain Qualified Opportunity Zones
Earth Conservancy, Hanover Township, PA, Cleanup Grant – $500,000: Grant funds will be used to clean up Segment F of the Espy Run in Hanover Township. The 2.4-mile Espy Run flows through land that had been used for anthracite mining.
Greenville, PA, Assessment Grant – $600,000: Community-wide grant funds will be used to inventory and prioritize sites and conduct environmental site assessments.
Grant funds also will be used to develop five cleanup plans and support reuse planning. Assessment activities will focus on the Greenville Borough and the adjacent Townships of Delaware, Hempfield and Pymatuning.
Johnstown, PA Assessment Grant – $600,000: Grant funds will be used to select priority sites and conduct 19 environmental site assessments.
Grant funds also will be used to develop three cleanup plans, develop an area-wide plan for the Cambria Iron/Center for Metal Arts site. Assessment activities will focus on 11 former steel and industrial sites within Johnstown and Cambria County, all of which are located in Qualified Opportunity Zones
Montgomery County Redevelopment Authority, Assessment Grant – $300,000: Assessment activities will focus on two areas — the Keystone Employment and Economic Plan (KEEP) Project Site and the Town Core Sites area — within the Borough of Pottstown, which has three Qualified Opportunity Zones.
The 255-acre KEEP Project Site consists of 13 abandoned and underutilized commercial and industrial properties. The Town Core Sites area also includes multiple abandoned, vacant or underutilized parcels located near the Schuylkill River.
Oil Region Alliance of Business, Industry and Tourism, Emlenton, Parker, and Foxburg, PA, Assessment Grant – $300,000: Assessment activities will target the Towns of Emlenton, Parker and Foxburg.
Priority sites include the Quaker State Refinery, the Former Fuchs Lubricants Facility, the Shoup Trucking Yard, and the Parkers Landing Outfitter Property.
Philadelphia Authority for Industrial Development, Assessment Grant – $300,000: Assessment activities will focus on the 3,700-acre Lower Schuykill district in south and southwest Philadelphia, which has experienced several manufacturing closures and comprises 68 percent of the city’s vacant and underutilized industrial land.