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Assessment Funding Sources

Several sources of funding are available from the USEPA and from individual states to assist in the early phases of Brownfield site redevelopment. 

Pre-Development Planning and Site Assessment

EPA Brownfield Assessment Grants

What Are Assessment Grants?

Assessment Grants provide funding for a grant recipient to inventory, characterize, assess, conduct a range of planning activities, develop site-specific cleanup plans, and conduct community involvement related to brownfield sites. 

Eligible Activities

  • Inventory Sites: Compile a listing
  • Characterize Sites: Identify past uses
  • Assess Sites: Determine existing contamination
  • Conduct Planning Around One or More Brownfield:
  • Initiate site revitalization and prepare for site redevelopment
  • Conduct Site-specific Cleanup and Redevelopment Planning: Scope and plan process
  • Conduct Community Involvement: Inform and engage community

What Types Of Assessment Grants Are Available?

Community-Wide Grants:

  • Applicants may apply for a Community-wide
  • Assessment Grant if a specific site has not been
  • identified or if the assessment will address more than one site within the community.
  • Applicants may request up to $500,000 to address hazardous substances and/or petroleum contamination.

Site-Specific Grants:

  • A Site-specific Assessment Grant must be applied for if the assessment is limited to one, and only one, site.
  • Applicants may request up to $200,000, or up to $350,000 with a waiver request, to address hazardous substances and/or petroleum contamination.
  • Applicants will not be allowed to substitute another site
  • where the subject site is determined to be ineligible.

Assessment Coalition Grants (not offered in FY2022):

  • An Assessment Coalition is comprised of one lead member and two or more partners.
  • Coalition members are not eligible to apply for individual Community-wide or Site-specific Assessment Grants in the year they apply as part of a coalition.
  • The coalition may request up to $600,000 to work on a minimum of five hazardous substances and/or petroleum sites.

Assessment Grants for States and Tribes (new for FY2022):

This funding is only available to states, tribes, and eligible native corporations in Alaska to address brownfield sites throughout their entire jurisdiction.

An applicant may request up to $2,000,000 to assess sites contaminated by hazardous substances, pollutants, contaminants (including hazardous substances co-mingled with petroleum), and/or petroleum.

The performance period for this specific grant is five years.

Current EPA Brownfields Assessment Grant recipients DO NOT have to demonstrate that payment has been received from EPA for at least 70.00% of each Assessment cooperative agreement they have with EPA by October 1, 2021, in order to apply for this funding.

Who Is Eligible To Apply For An Assessment Grant?

Eligible entities include:

  • General Purpose Unit of Local Government.
  • Land Clearance Authority or another quasi-governmental entity that operates under the supervision and control of, or as an agent of, a general purpose unit of local government.
  • Government Entity Created by State Legislature.
  • Regional Council or group of General Purpose Units of Local Government.
  • Redevelopment Agency that is chartered or otherwise sanctioned by a state.
  • State.
  • Indian tribe other than in Alaska.
  • Nonprofit organization described in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
  • Limited liability corporation/partnership in which all managing members/general partners are 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations or limited liability corporations whose sole members are 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations.
  • Qualified community development entity as defined in section 45D(c)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.

How Long Is The Assessment Grant Period?

  • The performance period for an community wide and site specific assessment grants is three years, assessment grants for states and tribes is five years.  

For more details on Assessment Grants please follow this LINK.

EPA Multipurpose Grants

What Are Multipurpose (MP) Grants?

Multipurpose (MP) Grants provide funding to carry outrange of eligible assessment and cleanup activities with a proposed target area, such as a neighborhood, a number of neighboring towns, a district, a corridor, a shared planning area or a census tract. A MP Grant applicant should have a capacity to conduct a range of eligible activities, for example:

  • Developing inventories of brownfield sites;
  • Prioritizing sites;
  • Conducting community involvement activities;
  • Conducting environmental site assessments;
  • Developing cleanup plans and reuse plans related to brownfield sites;
  • Carry out cleanup activities on brownfield sites owned by the applicant; and
  • Developing an overall plan for revitalization.

How Much Funding Is Available?

Applicants can apply for up to $800,000 to address hazardous substances and/or petroleum contamination. An applicant may request grant funds to carry out at least one Phase II environmental site assessment; one brownfield site cleanup; and an overall plan for revitalization of one or more brownfield sites, if there is not already a plan in place. Multipurpose Grants require a $40,000 cost share, which may be in the form of a contribution of money, labor, material, or services, and must be for eligible and allowable costs. 

Who Is Eligible To Apply For An Multipurpose Grant?

Eligible entities include:

  • General Purpose Unit of Local Government.
  • Land Clearance Authority or another quasi-governmental entity that operates under the supervision and control of, or as an agent of, a general purpose unit of local government.
  • Government Entity Created by State Legislature.
  • Regional Council or group of General Purpose Units of Local Government.
  • Redevelopment Agency that is chartered or otherwise sanctioned by a state.
  • State.
  • Indian tribe other than in Alaska.
  • Nonprofit organization described in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
  • Limited liability corporation/partnership in which all managing members/general partners are 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations or limited liability corporations whose sole members are 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations.
  • Qualified community development entity as defined in section 45D(c)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.

How Long Is The MP Grant Period?

  • The performance period for an Multipurpose Grant is five years.

For more details on Multipurpose Grants please follow this LINK.

State Grants and Loans

For information on state and brownfield assistance programs that can be applied to brownfields assessment, please follow this LINK. We also recommend you reach out to the appropriate state or territory brownfield program representative. A list of contacts is provided HERE.

 
Next: Site Selection and Identification of Redevelopment Potential >

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