$10 million in grants to clean up and revitalize California brownfields

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced the availability of an estimated $10 million in grants bolstered by funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to help communities in California clean up brownfield sites which may be contaminated by hazardous chemicals or pollutants.

The grants, which include $3.3 million from the Recovery Act and $6.8 million from the EPA brownfields general program funding, help revitalize former industrial and commercial sites, turning them from problem properties to productive community use.

The grants will help to assess, clean up and redevelop abandoned, contaminated properties known as brownfields.

Grant recipients are selected through a national competition. The program encourages development of America’s estimated 450,000 abandoned and contaminated waste sites.