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EPA Awards $1 Million to Montgomery County Redevelopment Efforts

Release Date: 5/3/2002
Contact Information: David Sternberg, (215) 814-5548

David Sternberg, (215) 814-5548

PHILADELPHIA – U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Regional Administrator Donald S. Welsh announced today that EPA has awarded a $1 million grant to Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, as part of the agency’s Brownfield Economic Redevelopment Initiative.

The grant will enable the County to provide low-interest loans for the cleanup of brownfields. Brownfields are abandoned, idled or under-used industrial or commercial property where expansion or redevelopment is hindered by real or perceived environmental contamination. This grant is one of 17 Revolving Loan Fund grants totaling $21.5 million being awarded nationwide by EPA today.

“EPA’s revolving loan fund expands the Administration's efforts to transform underutilized sites across the country into thriving hubs of local prosperity,” said Welsh, administrator for EPA’s mid-Atlantic region. “Working with their federal, state and local partners, communities throughout Montgomery County can use this money to continue to leverage cleanup and redevelopment resources.”

Today’s grant will be used in cooperation with the County’s brownfields assessment demonstration pilot program, and brings EPA’s total brownfields funding in Pennsylvania to $10.1 million to assess, clean up and revitalize brownfields sites in 29 pilot communities.

Once loans are made against today’s award, the Montgomery County Redevelopment Authority will contribute in-kind services to maximize loan values. In addition, many of the targeted brownfields sites in Montgomery County are in state-designated Enterprise Zones, making them eligible for tax credits and other financing or grant programs.

In January 2001, President George W. Bush signed the groundbreaking Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act into law at the former Schuylkill Iron Works, now the Millenium Corporate Center, in Conshohocken.

The law will significantly expand the current program and double EPA brownfields funding by fiscal year 2003. It also provides liability protection for prospective purchasers and authorizes increased funding for state and local programs that assess and clean up brownfields.

According to an independent study conducted by the Council for Urban Economic Development, brownfields revitalization has created more than 22,000 permanent jobs and leveraged $2.48 in private investment for every $1 spent by federal, state, or local governments.