News Releases from Region 01

EPA Selects Six Projects in Massachusetts to Receive $3+ Million for Brownfields Cleanup and Assessment

EPA Brownfields Funding Helps Local Communities Build Back Better and Address Environmental Justice Concerns

BOSTON – Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing that six grantees in the state of Massachusetts have been selected to receive $3,011,510 to assess and clean up contaminated properties under the agency's Brownfields Program. These funds will support under-served and economically disadvantaged communities around the state in assessing and cleaning up abandoned industrial and commercial properties. The Mass. grant award announcements are among 151 communities across the nation to receive 154 grant awards totaling $66.5 million in Brownfields funding through its Multipurpose, Assessment, and Cleanup (MAC) Grants.

"Through our Brownfields Program, EPA is delivering on the Biden Administration's commitment to lifting up and protecting overburdened communities across America, especially communities that have experienced long periods of disinvestment and decay," said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. "These assessment and cleanup grants will not only support economic growth and job creation, but they will also empower communities to address the environmental, public health, and social issues associated with contaminated land."

"These new EPA Brownfields funds are more important than ever, because the ongoing pandemic has impacted the economy and redevelopment throughout New England," said EPA New England Acting Regional Administrator Deb Szaro. "Today's investment of EPA Brownfields assessment and cleanup funding provides a much-needed boost for economic development and job creation in many of New England's hardest hit and underserved communities."

EPA intends to award Brownfields grants to the following groups for projects in Massachusetts:

City of Brockton, Mass. – EPA has selected the City of Brockton for a $250,000 Brownfields Cleanup Grant. Grant funds will be used to clean up the Corcoran Building Site located at 308 Montello Street. The cleanup site was formerly a plumbing supplies warehouse, a residential structure, a lumber yard, and a grocery store. The site is contaminated with petroleum from leaking underground storage tanks. Grant funds also will be used to conduct community engagement activities and prepare a reuse plan.

"I am extremely pleased that the EPA has directed this $250,000 Brownfields Cleanup grant to the City of Brockton, where I am sure Mayor Bob Sullivan will put it to good use," said U.S. Representative Stephen Lynch.  "I fully support the decision to use this funding to help decontaminate the Corcoran site downtown.  These cleanup grants are vital to helping communities convert environmentally impacted sites into usable economic development opportunities and for Brockton it will lead to new workforce and affordable housing.  I thank Mayor Bob Sullivan for his continuous hard work and leadership on behalf of the City of Brockton and I look forward to seeing the positive impact these funds will have on the families of Brockton."

"We are extremely grateful to receive these grant funds from the Environmental Protection Agency," said City of Brockton Mayor Robert F. Sullivan. "The Corcoran Site on Montello Street is very important to the revitalization and continued residential development of the downtown area within the City."

City of Lawrence, Mass. – EPA has selected the City of Lawrence for a $500,000 Brownfields Cleanup Grant. Grant funds will be used to clean up the Merrimac Paper Site, which is located at 7 and 9 South Canal Street. The cleanup site operated as a paper processing and finishing plant from 1866 until 2005. The site is contaminated with polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons, petroleum, heavy metals, and other contaminants related to transformers, underground storage tanks, previous fires within the building, and industrial use. Grant funds also will be used to conduct community outreach activities and prepare a reuse plan.

"Brownfield investments from the Environmental Protection Agency are key to revitalizing communities here in Massachusetts and across our nation. I'm thrilled to partner with the EPA to announce this grant funding to clean up the Merrimack Paper Site. Thanks to our partners at the City of Lawrence, Groundwork Lawrence, Merrimack Planning Commission, and MassDevelopment, we'll be able refurbish this site into a valuable working space for our community," said Congresswoman Lori Trahan.

EPA's efforts to work the city and its partners at MassDevelopment and MADEP to realize the redevelopment potential of this important waterfront site in Lawrence's downtown," said City of Lawrence Mayor Kendrys Vasquez.

City of New Bedford, Mass. – EPA has selected the City of New Bedford for a $800,000 Brownfields Multipurpose Grant. Grant funds will be used to conduct Phase 1 and Phase 2 environmental site assessments prepare cleanup plans, and cleanup activities at sites in and around the area of the Morse Cutting Tool site. Grant funds also will be used to develop a market analysis and revitalization plan for the Morse Cutting Tool neighborhood. The project's target areas are the environmental justice census tracts 6512, 6513, 6518, and 6519, which are in a federally-designated flood plain on the working waterfront.

"This grant will open up opportunities for redevelopment at the long-vacant Morse Cutting Tool site that are consistent with the needs and aspirations of the neighborhood. The Department of Resilience and Environmental Stewardship, led by Michele Paul, with the support of the City Council and local advocates, has worked hard and skillfully for many years to get us to this point. I am grateful to EPA Acting Regional Administrator Deb Szaro and her team for their collaboration and recognition of this important initiative," said City of New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell.

Town of North Attleborough, Mass. – EPA has selected the Town of North Attleborough for a $500,000 Brownfields Cleanup Grant. Grant funds will be used to clean up the Boulter Farm Area site. Past uses of the site include a pig farm, a sand and gravel facility, junk car storage, open burning of building demolition waste, and waste burial. It is contaminated with PCBs, petroleum, and heavy metals. Grant funds also will be used to support reuse planning and community outreach activities.

"The Town of North Attleborough is thrilled to partner with the Environmental Protective Agency in cleaning up the former Courtois Property. The Brownfields Cleanup Grant awarded will be used to mitigate petroleum contamination that will then allow the Town to market the property, which has sat idle since 1988. Cleaning up this site will pave the way for redevelopment of the site into affordable housing with a commercial component. On behalf of the residents of the Town, our sincere thank you to the EPA for its diligence and assistance in cleaning up contaminated sites such as this across the country," said North Attleborough Town Manager Michael D. Borg.

Town of Seekonk, Mass. – EPA has selected the Town of Seekonk for a $500,000 Brownfields Cleanup Grant to clean up the Attleboro Dye Works site located at 36 Maple Avenue. The cleanup site was home to a textile dyeing and finishing facility from 1920 to the 1980s and was later used for various commercial and industrial operations until a 2012 fire destroyed over half of the buildings. It currently is unoccupied and contaminated with heavy metals, PCBs, petroleum, and volatile organic compounds. Grant funds also will be used to support community engagement activities.

honored to be amongst a handful of communities across New England selected for an award this year.  As anybody involved in the cleanup of these former industrial sites will tell you, it takes a determined and dedicated team effort with local, state, and federal partners to see these projects through each stage of the process.  Our team has given the former Attleboro Dye Works site a voice at every step along the way, telling the compelling story of its industrial past and how critical its redevelopment is to revitalizing the Baker's Corner neighborhood.  In that vein, we'd like to thank our team, especially the U.S. EPA and MassDevelopment Brownfields programs, for their continued investment and support in the former Attleboro Dye Works site," said Shawn E. Cadime, Seekonk Town Administrator.

Westmass Area Development Corporation, Ludlow, Mass. – EPA has selected the Westmass Area Development Corporation for a $461,510 Brownfields Cleanup Grant. Grant funds will be used to clean up Mill Building #44 and other storage buildings in the Ludlow Mills Complex in the Town of Ludlow.  Mill Building #44 site is in the south-central portion of the complex along the Chicopee River and was formerly used as a carpentry shop. The storage buildings formerly served as stockhouses for jute.   The sites are contaminated with PCBs, inorganic contaminants, and petroleum. Grant funds also will be used to support community outreach activities.

"The transformation of the Ludlow Mills site has been remarkable over the years," said Congressman Richard E. Neal. "The Westmass Area Development Corporation has continuously taken advantage of these important EPA grants to rid this old industrial site of harmful contaminants and breathe new life into its walls. The Ludlow Mills rehabilitation is a perfect example of what these funds are intended to do – revitalize hazardous spaces for the benefit of the entire community."

"The award of this significant EPA Brownfields Clean-up grant allows Westmass Area Development Corporation to continue our vital redevelopment of the Ludlow Mills which will ultimately create jobs, provide tax revenue for the town of Ludlow and support post-pandemic business advancement and growth," said Jeffrey Daley, President & CEO of Westmass Area Development Corp.

EPA's Brownfields grants and assistance to Massachusetts this year are among other significant annual investments by EPA to help New England communities to address brownfield properties. Across the six New England states this year, EPA is awarding a total of $ 8.1 million for 18 communities to assess or clean contaminated brownfields sites.

"Brownfield cleanups play a critical role in revitalizing our communities, making our environment healthier and safer for families, and opening up new opportunities for economic growth," said U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren. "These EPA grants will help spur important cleanup efforts across Massachusetts."

"The EPA's Brownfields program is again helping communities across Massachusetts create jobs and spur local economic activity by revitalizing underutilized lands impacted by environmental degradation," said U.S. Senator Edward Markey. "I am pleased that the EPA has selected the communities of Brockton, Lawrence, New Bedford, North Attleboro, Ludlow, and Seekonk as recipients of this year's Brownfields grant program. These awards will fund much needed clean-up efforts while putting people back to work transforming areas with legacy pollution into opportunities for all." 

"EPA Brownfields grants can be transformative for communities long affected by environmental and public health impacts, economic disinvestment and neglect, in particular for Environmental Justice communities," said Deputy Commissioner Stephanie Cooper of the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. "The grants will support significant progress in environmental restoration and act as an economic engine for redevelopment. This influx of new EPA funding to these Massachusetts communities will directly improve the quality of life for their residents, working to clean up abandoned, contaminated parcels and restore them to good use."

Background

In New England, since the beginning of the Brownfields program, EPA has awarded $123 million in assessment grant funding, $112 million in revolving loan fund grants and supplemental funding and $82 million in cleanup grant funding. These grant funds have paved the way for more than $3.78 billion in public and private cleanup and redevelopment investment and for over 22,846 jobs in assessment, cleanup, construction and redevelopment.

Since its inception in 1995, EPA's Brownfields Program has provided nearly $1.76 billion in grants to assess and clean up contaminated properties and return them to productive reuse. This has led to significant benefits for communities across the country. For example,

• To date, communities participating in the Brownfields Program have been able to attract more than $34.4 billion in cleanup and redevelopment funding after receiving Brownfields funds. This has led to over 175,500 jobs in cleanup, construction, and redevelopment.
• Based on grant recipient reporting, recipients leveraged on average $20.13 for each EPA Brownfields dollar and 10.3 jobs per $100,000 of EPA Brownfield Grant funds expended on assessment, cleanup, and revolving loan fund cooperative agreements.
• In addition, an academic peer-reviewed study has found that residential properties near brownfield sites increased in value by 5% to 15.2% as a result of cleanup activities.
• Finally, analyzing data near 48 brownfields, EPA found an estimated $29 million to $97 million in additional tax revenue for local governments in a single year after cleanup—2 to 7 times more than the $12.4 million EPA contributed to the cleanup of those brownfield sites.

A brownfield is a property for which the expansion, redevelopment or reuse may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant or contaminant. There are estimated to be more than 450,000 brownfields in the United States. EPAs Brownfields program has proven time and again that investing in properties like these unlocks their potential to improve the environmental, economic, and social fabric of communities.

More information:

Brownfields in New England: https://www.epa.govhttps://www.epa.gov/brownfields/brownfields-and-land-revitalization-region-1

The list of the fiscal year 2021 applicants selected for funding is available here: https://www.epa.govhttps://www.epa.gov/brownfields/applicants-selected-fy-2021-brownfields-multipurpose-assessment-and-cleanup-grants

EPA anticipates that it will award the grants once all legal and administrative requirements are satisfied by the selected recipients.

Basic Information on EPA's Brownfields Program: https://www.epa.govhttps://www.epa.gov/brownfields

Types of EPA Brownfields grants: https://www.epa.govhttps://www.epa.gov/brownfields/types-epa-brownfield-grant-funding