The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced the allocation of grants from President Biden’s Investing in America agenda to expedite the assessment and cleanup of brownfield sites in New Jersey. This move aims to advance environmental justice and transform once-polluted, vacant, and abandoned properties into community assets while creating jobs and spurring economic revitalization.
The EPA has selected four communities in New Jersey to receive grants totaling $3 million through the Brownfields Multipurpose, Assessment, and Cleanup (MAC) Grant programs. The announcement was made by EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan in Philadelphia alongside Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker and U.S. Representative Mary Gay Scanlon at a local brownfield site near Bartram’s Mile.
President Joe Biden said, “Far too many communities across America have suffered the harmful economic and health consequences of living near polluted brownfield sites.” He emphasized his belief that those who have borne the burden of pollution should be the first to benefit from new investments.
EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan echoed President Biden's sentiments stating that contaminated sites are an opportunity for healthier, revitalized communities. He further noted that historic funding under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will supercharge EPA’s Brownfields program to clean up contaminated properties in overburdened communities.
Various other government officials including Senator Bob Menendez, Senator Cory Booker, Representative Donald Norcross, Representative Frank Pallone, Governor Phil Murphy, and New Jersey Environmental Protection Commissioner Shawn M. LaTourette expressed their support for this initiative.
The EPA’s Brownfields Program is helping more communities than ever before address the economic, social, and environmental challenges caused by brownfields due to a historic $1.5 billion boost from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
Several organizations in New Jersey have been selected to receive EPA Brownfields funding through the MAC Grant Programs including Camden Lutheran Housing Inc., Camden Redevelopment Agency Camden, Monmouth Conservation Foundation, and Woodbine.
EPA’s Brownfields Program began in 1995 and has provided nearly $2.7 billion in Brownfield Grants to assess and clean up contaminated properties and return blighted properties to productive reuse. The program's yearly investment has increased nearly 400 percent due to the President’s historic investments in America through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
