EPA Mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator Adam Ortiz recently announced the award of brownfields funding to West Virginia to improve sites in Lewis County, Morgantown and other designated areas in the state.
According to a press release by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), $2.5 million in brownfields grants will go toward cleaning up and revitalizing abandoned industrial properties in the state.
“West Virginia has done so much for our country providing energy and manufacturing,” Ortiz said, according to the May 24 release. "However, in many places the polluters have skipped town, leaving hazardous sites in the laps of these communities."
U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-Charleston), a ranking member of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, said that West Virginia is known for its landscape, which makes preserving this feature even more vital.
“Securing resources needed to protect West Virginians’ health and clean up contaminated sites for future development was a top priority as we worked to negotiate and craft the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA),” Capito said, according to the release.
Capito said that she appreciates “EPA Mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator Ortiz for making the trip to West Virginia today and for joining in our efforts keep our state wild and wonderful.”
Ortiz visited several small towns and cities on May 18 to make the announcement, according to the release.
"In terms of quality of life and economic revitalization, small towns and cities are where it is at,” Ortiz said. “We love working with these officials and staff to bring sites back to life for local health and wealth. That is why we are here.”
According to the release, the funds are part of $254.5 million in brownfields grants to 265 communities across the United States. President Joe Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) provided for these grants with a total of $1.5 billion to “advance environmental justice, spur economic revitalization and create jobs by cleaning up contaminated, polluted or hazardous brownfield properties.”
