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Community Corner

Downriver Communities to Receive $650K in EPA Grants

The grants, announced Thursday in Dearborn, will help to clean up contamination at four identified sites in southeast Michigan.

When the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency wanted to publicly celebrate a $650,000 grant aimed at cleaning up areas to be used for brownfield redevelopment projects, Dearborn was the clear choice for the announcement.

This EPA 2012 brownfield grant will be awarded to the Downriver Community Conference to continue and expand its work to assess and clean up abandoned industrial and commercial properties.

The city of Dearborn boasts several successful brownfield projects, including the Dearborn Town Center, which opened in 2011 on Michigan Avenue and Schaefer; as well as the revamping of the Ford Rouge Plant. Those redevelopments and others brought jobs, traffic, environmental benefits, and positive attention to Dearborn–and this year, that success will be spread to other downriver Michigan communities.

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"It's really made a dramatic difference throughout this region," Mayor Jack O'Reilly said at the announcement of the grants, held outside of Dearborn City Hall on Thursday. "That's why we're so happy to be hosting this. We know the value added ... and jobs created."

Since 1997, EPA has provided $2.6 million in grants to the Downriver Community Conference to assess brownfield sites throughout member cities–including Dearborn. This EPA funding led to 25 cleanups and 50 redevelopment projects, leveraging more than $300 million in private and public investment. So far, more than 3,300 jobs and 75 acres of green space have been created.

Find out what's happening in Dearbornwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“EPA’s 2012 grant to the Downriver Community Conference will continue to spur redevelopment in Southeast Michigan,” said EPA Region 5 Administrator Susan Hedman. “EPA’s brownfield grants throughout Michigan will help prepare contaminated properties for productive uses.”

Downriver will use the 2012 grant to assess:

  • Former automotive facilities in Monroe and Ypsilanti.
  • The former McLouth Steel Products site in Trenton.
  • A former engine manufacturing plant in Tecumseh.
  • A former paper mill in Monroe. 

Since 2005, Downriver also has used $10 million from EPA’s brownfield revolving loan fund program for at least 15 more projects, leveraging more than $160 million in redevelopment.

Nationwide, EPA will provide $69.3 million for brownfield grants and loans this year. Michigan will receive a total of $3.2 million to be distributed as follows:

  • Battle Creek will receive a $650,000 Revolving Loan Fund grant to clean up contaminated sites. 
  • The Lansing Brownfield Redevelopment Authority will receive a $400,000 award for up to 28 environmental assessments.
  • Mecosta County will receive a $400,000 assessment award for 20 environmental assessments cleanup plans.
  • Mt. Pleasant will receive a $200,000 cleanup grant for the former Mt. Pleasant Regional Center. 
  • Jackson will receive a $400,000 Revolving Loan Fund grant.
  • Wayne County will be receiving $500,000 RLF grant.

Hedman said the EPA was thrilled with the outcome of grants for development in Dearborn and the rest of southeast Michigan.

"I'm proud that the EPA has played some role in some of the projects that have transformed the city (of Dearborn)," she said. "We at the EPA are heavily invested in Michigan, and that's because we know the investments pay off."

See a list of all awarded brownfield grants by state: http://cfpub.epa.gov/bf_factsheets.

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