BDC To Receive $400,000 In EPA Funding To Assess Brownfield Sites In Baltimore

Baltimore, MD (May 26, 2009) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced that the Baltimore Development Corporation (BDC) will be the recipient (selected through a national competition) of two EPA brownfields assessment grants, totaling $400,000, to help evaluate contaminated properties in Baltimore City.

These grants will help assess some of the more than 1,000 potential brownfield sites that occupy more than 2,400 acres in the City.  Through the assessments, BDC will identify contaminated areas and assist in the development of plans to address related environmental and human health concerns.

“BDC administers the City of Baltimore’s Brownfields Initiative EPA funding has always been a cornerstone of our brownfields program,” said BDC President M.J. “Jay” Brodie.  “These new assessment grants will ensure the program’s continued progress and success.”

“Brownfields initiatives demonstrate how environmental protection and economic development work hand-in-hand,” said William C. Early, Acting Regional Administrator for EPA’s Mid-Atlantic Region.  “Along with generating jobs, this grant will help the City of Baltimore reclaim property that has been unused for years and turn those sites into assets for the community, the environment, and the economy.”

Brownfield grants help to assess, clean and redevelop abandoned, contaminated properties known as brownfields.  Brownfields are sites where expansion, redevelopment, or reuse may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant. 

EPA’s Brownfields Program encourages cleanup and redevelopment of America’s estimated 450,000 brownfields sites. Since the beginning of the Brownfields Program, EPA has awarded 1,449 assessment grants totaling over $337.3 million, 242 revolving loan fund grants totaling over $233.4 million, and 534 cleanup grants totaling $93.3 million.

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