EPA Region 7 to Present City of Mason City, Iowa, with $500K Check for Brownfields Grant

June 13, 2023

Contact Information

Shannan Beisser ([email protected])

816-520-1949

LENEXA, KAN. (JUNE 13, 2023) – On Wednesday, June 14, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 7 will present a $500,000 ceremonial check to the City of Mason City, Iowa. The city will host the ceremony at the River II Apartments located at 215 2nd Street SW.

EPA has selected the City of Mason City for a Brownfields Assessment Grant. Community-wide grant funds will be used to conduct 15 Phase I and eight Phase II environmental site assessments. Grant funds also will be used to prepare a brownfield site inventory, support reuse planning, and community outreach activities.

The target area for this grant is the City of Mason City with a focus on its urban core. Priority sites include a blighted strip mall, a 9-acre vacant site that formerly manufactured steel doors, and a half-acre vacant site that once housed a foundry.

These investments are part of President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda to grow the American economy from the bottom up and middle-out – from rebuilding our nation’s infrastructure, to driving over $470 billion in private-sector manufacturing and clean-energy investments in the United States, to creating a manufacturing and innovation boom powered by good-paying jobs that don’t require a four-year degree, to building a clean-energy economy that will combat climate change and make our communities more resilient.

“EPA is proud to partner with the City of Mason City for the first time through our Brownfields Program,” said EPA Region 7 Land, Chemical, and Redevelopment Division Director Jeff Robichaud. “This grant will add to the city’s ongoing efforts to provide a cleaner environment and spur economic growth in the region.”

“Mason City is no stranger to the benefits of brownfield redevelopment,” said City Administrator Aaron Burnett. “With the award of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Community-Wide Assessment funding, the city’s brownfield redevelopment objectives can proceed at a geographically broader, much more invigorated and expeditious level, providing nearer term benefits to both the city’s Opportunity Zone and Justice40 Disadvantaged Community areas.”

Please RSVP to: Shannan Beisser, [email protected], 816-520-1949.

WHO:

EPA Region 7 Land, Chemical, and Redevelopment Division Director Jeff Robichaud
Mason City Mayor Bill Schickel
Mason City Administrator Aaron Burnett

WHAT: Brownfields grant ceremonial check presentation to the City of Mason City, Iowa

WHEN: Wednesday, June 14, at 2:00 pm CDT

WHERE: River II Apartments, 215 2nd Street SW, Mason City, Iowa 50401

Background

EPA has selected these organizations to receive funding to address and support the reuse of brownfield sites. EPA anticipates making all the awards recently announced, once all legal and administrative requirements are satisfied.

EPA’s Brownfields Program began in 1995 and has provided nearly $2.37 billion in Brownfields Grants to assess and clean up contaminated properties and return blighted properties to productive reuse. EPA’s investments in addressing brownfield sites have leveraged over $36 billion in cleanup and redevelopment. Over the years, the relatively small investment of federal funding has leveraged nearly 260,000 jobs from both public and private sources. Communities that previously received Brownfields Grants used these resources to fund assessments and cleanups of brownfields, and successfully leveraged an average of 10.6 jobs per $100,000 of EPA Brownfield Grant funds spent and $19.78 for every dollar.

The next National Brownfields Training Conference will be held on Aug. 8-11, 2023, in Detroit. Offered every two years, this conference is the largest gathering of stakeholders focused on cleaning up and reusing former commercial and industrial properties. EPA co-sponsors this event with the International City/County Management Association (ICMA).

EPA Region 7 to Present City of Mason City, Iowa, with $500K Check for Brownfields Grant

Background

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