Orleans denied EPA grant to identify brownfields

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 22 June 2015 at 12:00 am

ALBION – The federal Environmental Protection Agency has denied a grant application to identify brownfields, sites in Orleans County that may be contaminated and need environmental remediation.

The EPA sent a letter on May 28, notifying the Orleans Economic Development Agency of the news.

The EPA had 730 grant requests, but only had enough money to approve 253 projects, David R. Lloyd, director of the Office of Brownfields and Land Revitalization, wrote in a letter to Jim Whipple, Orleans EDA chief executive officer.

The EDA sought the funds through the EPA’s National Brownfields Program Grant competition.

Lloyd urged the EDA to try for a brownfields grant next year.

“I commend your efforts and appreciate the time and energy you put into preparing your grant proposal,” Lloyd said in the letter to the EDA. “Although your proposal was not selected, we thank you for your continued efforts to return brownfields to productive reuse.”