News Releases from Region 04

South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control Receives $500,000 in Supplemental Funds to Clean Up and Reuse Brownfield Sites

Nationally, $11.6 Million in funding to Cleanup and Redevelop Contaminated Brownfield Sites in Communities Across the U.S

COLUMBIA, SC. (June 16, 2021) – Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control received $500,000 to clean up contaminated brownfield sites. Nationally, $11.6 million in funding will be provided to 27 communities that have demonstrated success in using their previously awarded Brownfields Revolving Loan Funding (RLF) grants to clean up and redevelop brownfield sites. This investment is an important part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to address environmental justice issues in underserved communities.

“Many of the brownfields cleanups supported by EPA’s Revolving Loan Funding are in economically disadvantaged communities where environmental cleanup and jobs are needed most,” said Carlton Waterhouse, Deputy Assistant Administrator for the Office of Land and Emergency Management. “This supplemental funding will help sustain and increase the great progress these communities have made in cleaning up brownfields sites, while also helping them become stronger, healthier, and more economically competitive.”

“Brownfields funding provides an economic boost that will help the South Carolina Dept of Health and Environmental Control clean up contaminated lands and return them to productive use,” said Acting Region 4 Administrator John Blevins. “These funds will leverage additional resources to help advance the redevelopment and reuse needs of the community.”

The South Carolina Department of Health & Environmental Control operates the longest-running Brownfields Revolving Loan Fund in Region 4. Since 2005, cleanup activities were funded through 17 loans and six subgrants. The supplemental funding announced today will provide additional resources to address potential projects, such as a vapor mitigation system to support a townhome development with 20 percent workforce housing, and cleanup at a former mill to support redevelopment into loft apartments.

Brownfield RLF grants enable funding for communities to provide loans and sub-grants for cleanup activities at brownfield sites. When loans are repaid, the loan amount is returned into the fund and re-lent to other borrowers, providing an ongoing source of capital within a community.

To date, EPA’s RLF grantees across the country have completed 794 cleanups and attracted approximately 48,000 jobs and $16.2 billion in public and private funding. Today’s supplemental funds will help communities keep the cleanup momentum going so that more cleanups can be completed. Each grantee will receive from $200,000 to $500,000.

Background:

Since 1995, EPA’s Brownfields Program has provided nearly $1.6 billion in Brownfield Grants to assess and clean up contaminated properties and return blighted properties to productive reuse. To date, these brownfields investments have leveraged more than $34.5 billion in cleanup and redevelopment in communities across the country. Over the years, the relatively small investment of federal funding has leveraged, from both public and private sources, more than 176,800 jobs.

For more information on EPA’s Revolving Loan Fund program: https://www.epa.govhttps://www.epa.gov/brownfields/brownfields-revolving-loan-fund-rlf-grants

For more information on EPA’s Brownfields program:  http://www.epa.govhttps://www.epa.gov/brownfields