This story by Chase Woodruff appeared on Colorado Newsline on May 21, 2024.
Six Colorado communities will receive more than $8 million in funding from an Environmental Protection Agency program designed to help clean up polluted former industrial sites.
The agency’s Brownfields Program on Monday announced a total of more than $300 million in grants nationwide. Roughly half of that total comes from funding passed as part of the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law.
“EPA’s Brownfields grants are helping community leaders revitalize downtown areas through the transformation of blighted properties,” KC Becker, the EPA’s Region 8 administrator and a former Colorado House speaker, said in a press release. “Today’s funding will help reclaim contaminated buildings, soil, water and outdoor spaces and create new economic opportunities in Greeley and Kersey.”
The largest award announced for Colorado will help the city of Northglenn remediate and redevelop a 7-acre property that formerly housed a municipal recreation center. Soil testing conducted as part of the site’s redevelopment showed high levels of lead and arsenic that were the result of agricultural operations prior to the rec center’s construction.
Meanwhile, the city of Greeley will receive $500,000 to conduct assessments of environmental risks at various former business locations across town, and the town of Kersey was awarded $1.1 million to clean up inorganic contaminants on the site of an abandoned grain elevator, which town officials plan to redevelop into a restaurant and brewery.
U.S. Rep. Yadira Caraveo, a Democrat from Thornton who represents Colorado’s 8th District, said in a press release that the grants are a “significant step in the right direction” for northeast Colorado communities that often haven’t received their fair share of federal funds.
“The more than $4.3 million federal grant announced by the EPA this morning will go toward cleaning up toxic sites and laying the groundwork for economic renewal at sites that have been abandoned or left in disrepair, positioning our communities for future economic success,” Caraveo said.
The grants awarded Monday also include $1 million for the city of Pueblo for a variety of cleanup and assessment projects; $1 million to the city of Monte Vista to support redevelopment of its historic city center; and $500,000 to Metro West Housing Solutions in Lakewood to clean up contamination at an affordable housing project.
“In the wealthiest nation in the world, every family should be able to live in a clean environment,” said Democratic U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet in a statement. “This funding will rightfully support Colorado communities disproportionately affected by contamination.”
Earlier this month, the EPA also announced $32.8 million in funding for Colorado to identify and replace lead pipes in drinking water service lines.