Biden-Harris Administration Announces $500,000 to Rehabilitate and Revitalize Maui Communities through the Investing in America Agenda
Funded by $1.5 billion national investment from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to address legacy pollution, advance environmental justice, and create healthier communities through Brownfields projects
SAN FRANCISCO – Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced $500,000 in grant awards from President Biden’s Investing in America agenda to expedite the assessment and cleanup of so-called brownfield sites – contaminated properties that often constitute blight on a community -- in Maui. This EPA Brownfields Multipurpose, Assessment, and Cleanup (MAC) Grant Program investment, funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, will help turn contaminated, vacant properties into vibrant community assets while supporting the creation of rewarding jobs and spurring economic revitalization in overburdened communities.
EPA selected United Way Maui to receive a $500,000 competitive EPA Brownfields community-wide grant, benefiting communities in Lahaina, Kahului, and Wailuku.
"With this historic Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding, the EPA is helping Maui transform polluted, abandoned sites into thriving community assets," said U.S. EPA Pacific Southwest Regional Administrator Martha Guzman, "These grants will not only provide resources to communities seeking to revitalize, but also provide stable, good-paying jobs in areas that have faced underinvestment for far too long."
“This grant will help rebuild facilities and restart much-needed community services that so many Maui residents greatly depend on while laying the foundation for future generations,” said U.S. Representative Jill Tokuda (HI-02). “This is a show of support from the federal government of Maui United Way’s efforts to renew and revive neighborhoods, including those lost in the fire. Although the road ahead for the community is long, this serves as a reminder that we are not alone and provides hope to all those who call the special place home.”
“We are grateful to be recipients of the US EPA Brownfields Community-wide Assessment Grant,” said Maui United Way Co-Director Lisa Grove. “It is so critical to the revitalization of our economy while also helping to create healthier communities on Maui. It supports our Lahaina ʻohana to inventory, assess, and plan for the cleanup of their properties necessary to create community. We know that actions taken in the next few years will determine our future for decades to come.”
Funding Breakdown for Hawai’i:
United Way Maui will use its $500,000 Brownfields Assessment Grant to assess potentially polluted environmental sites, identify and prioritize additional potentially contaminated sites, develop area-wide cleanup and reuse plans, and conduct engagement activities with the communities potentially impacted. The target area for this grant is the Lahaina, Kahului, and Wailuku. Priority sites include a former school, church, commercial district, brewery, temple, and homeless center destroyed by fires. In addition, the United Way Maui application prioritized work at two dilapidated residential properties, a former gas station, three vacant lots, and two vacant and dilapidated commercial buildings.
Additional Background:
EPA anticipates finalizing all brownfields awards once all legal and administrative requirements are satisfied.
Thanks to the historic $1.5 billion boost from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, EPA’s Brownfields Program is helping more communities than ever before begin to address the economic, social, and environmental challenges caused by brownfields and stimulate economic opportunity and environmental revitalization in historically overburdened communities.
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 marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution. The Brownfields Program strives to meet this commitment and advance environmental justice and equity considerations in all aspects of its work.
You can read more about this year’s MAC Grant selectees here.
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. Before the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, this program made approximately $60 million available yearly. Thanks to the President’s historic investments in America through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the EPA has increased that yearly investment by nearly 400%! More than half of the funding available for this grant cycle (approximately $160 million) comes from the historic $1.5 billion investment from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. This investment has also significantly increased the MAC grants’ maximum award amounts from $500,000 to a new maximum of $5 million per award.
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