PCEDC receives $1M in brownfields funding
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced $33,000,000 in grant awards from President Joe Biden’s Investing in America agenda to expedite the assessment and cleanup of brownfield sites in Maine while advancing environmental justice. These investments through EPA’s Brownfields Multipurpose, Assessment, and Cleanup Grant Programs and Revolving Loan Fund Grant Programs will help transform once-polluted, vacant, and abandoned properties into community assets, while helping to create good jobs and spur economic revitalization in overburdened communities.
A brownfield site is a property that contains a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant that can hinder the potential to reuse or redevelop the site. The EPA’s Brownfields Program assists states and local communities as they assess, safely clean up, and reuse brownfield sites for economic development projects.
EPA selected eight communities in Maine to receive nine grants totaling $22 million in competitive EPA Brownfields funding through the Multipurpose, Assessment, and Cleanup Grant programs. In addition, the agency is announcing $11 million in supplemental funding to four existing, high-performing Brownfields RLF Grant Programs to help expedite their continued work. RLF grants provide funding for recipients to offer loans and subgrants to carry out cleanup activities at brownfield sites. The funding will help communities continue to address the economic, social, and environmental challenges caused by brownfield sites.
Among these recipients is the Piscataquis County Economic Development Council which has been selected to receive $1 million through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, in addition to the $1,750,000 in EPA funds already awarded, because it has a high-performing RLF program with significantly depleted funds. The RLF program has successfully made loans or subgrants leading to six clean-up projects that are either completed or in progress.
Potential projects highlighted for use of the BIL funding include Erkkiworld Auto Site in Greenville Junction and the former Braeburn Hotel in Guilford. Both cleanups will lead to commercial redevelopment of underutilized properties and the creation of jobs and services for these small communities. The BIL funding will extend the capacity of the program to provide funding for more cleanups in the most underserved areas in Piscataquis County.
Eastern Maine Development Corporation has been selected to receive $3 million through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, in addition to the $1 million in EPA funds already awarded because it has a high-performing RLF program with significantly depleted funds. The RLF program has successfully made loans or subgrants leading to four cleanup projects that are either completed or in progress. Potential projects highlighted for use of the BIL funding include the Great Northern Paper Mill Complex in Millinocket and the Navel Building 85 Complex in Corea. The BIL funding will extend the capacity of the program to provide funding for more cleanups in the most underserved areas in Penobscot, Hancock, Piscataquis, and Waldo counties.
“Far too many communities across America have suffered the harmful economic and health consequences of living near polluted brownfield sites,” said Biden. “I’ve long believed that people who’ve borne the burden of pollution should be the first to see the benefits of new investment. Under my Administration, we are making that a reality by ensuring the historic resources from my Investing in America agenda reach communities that need it most. I am proud that my Administration is helping Philadelphia clean up and transform this area into an economic engine, while tackling a longstanding environmental injustice and creating good-paying jobs.”
“President Biden sees contaminated sites and blighted areas as an opportunity to invest in healthier, revitalized communities,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. “That’s why he secured historic funding under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, supercharging EPA’s Brownfields program to clean up contaminated properties in overburdened communities and bring them back into productive use.”
“Brownfields grants are game changers — they turn polluted, abandoned sites into thriving community spaces. This isn’t just about cleaning up the environment; it’s about revitalizing neighborhoods, creating good jobs, and ensuring healthier living for everyone — it’s a win-win-win-win-win-win,” said EPA Regional Administrator David W. Cash. “This additional funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is helping to transform contaminated properties into valuable community assets, making a real difference for Maine families, especially in the areas that need it most.”
“The Brownfields Program has proven to be a major benefit to the overall health of Maine communities,” said U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine. “In addition to cleaning up hazardous substances and improving our environment, these investments will help communities create new development opportunities to attract businesses, provide good housing, and create good jobs for Mainers.”
“The Brownfields Program has been critical to Maine, helping local communities promote redevelopment efforts and drive economic growth,” U.S. Sen Angus King, I-Maine said. “With the assistance of this program, we have seen communities throughout the state successfully convert previously unusable liabilities into productive assets – particularly in rural Maine. In addition to cleaning up hazardous substances and improving our environment, this investment will help Maine communities create new economic development opportunities to attract businesses that create good jobs for Maine people. This funding will build on past successes and help these communities move forward into the future.”
“Hazardous sites are not only a danger to the health of our communities, but they also limit important economic activity. With extreme climate events increasingly jeopardizing these vulnerable areas, investments in local infrastructure and the health of our citizens are paramount to helping towns mitigate further pollution and keeping our communities safe,” said U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Subcommittee. “Thanks to historic investments in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, $32 million in Brownfields grants funding will help cleanup and redevelop hazardous sites across our state — revitalizing communities, spurring economic development, and protecting the health of Mainers.”
“In too many communities, brownfields are constant reminders of how failed policies or faraway decisionmakers have left communities in the dust. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law isn’t just finding new uses for these sites: many of these investments are also helping revive the same heritage industries that supported rural Mainers for generations,” said U.S. Rep. Jared Golden.
Many communities that are under economic stress, particularly those located in areas that have experienced long periods of disinvestment, lack the resources needed to initiate brownfield cleanup and redevelopment projects. As brownfield sites are transformed into community assets, they attract jobs, promote economic revitalization and transform communities into sustainable and environmentally just places.
Thanks to the historic $1.5 billion boost from 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 Biden’s Justice40 Initiative, which set a goal that 40 percent of the overall benefits of certain Federal investments flow to disadvantaged communities that are 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. Approximately 86 percent of the MAC and RLF Supplemental program applications selected to receive funding proposed to work in areas that include disadvantaged communities.