« DCYF director: Executive order creates climate of fear | Today | Kerry, Reed: Iraq war weakening other anti-terror efforts »

April 7, 2008

R.I. gets $1.8M from EPA for brownfield cleanup

Rhode Island is raking in $1.8 million in federal grants to help clean up contaminated former industrial and commercial locations, known as brownfields, that could then be redeveloped.

Nine grants, announced this afternoon, for assessment and cleanup are going to:

* Providence Community Health Centers: Two grants totaling $400,000
* Middletown: $200,000
* Woonsocket: Three grants totaling $600,000
* Richmond: $200,000
* State Department of Environmental Management: Two grants totaling $400,000

The five Rhode Island communities/agencies getting Brownfields moneys were picked from nearly 100 New England applicants.

The idea behind the EPA's brownfields program money is to transform "abandoned and blighted properties into community assets," an EPA news release says. Projects are selected in a competitive national competition. Of the $74 million of Brownfields grants nationwide announced today, nearly $10 million are in New England states. Brownfields are places where expansion, redevelopment or reuse may need to overcome the presence or potential presence of pollutants.

The EPA says Brownfields projects nationally have turned industrial waterfronts to riverfront parks, rail corridors to recreational trails, landfills to golf courses and gas stations into housing.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney

Posted by Mike McKinney  at 2:59 PM | Permalink

Comments

Post a comment

Please be civil. Vicious comments, personal attacks and profanity won't be published. Name and email are required; email address will not publish.

Name:

Email Address:

URL:
Remember Me? YesNo

Comments: (you may use HTML tags for style)