EPA Region 7 Presents City of KCMO and KC Regional Brownfields Coalition with Checks Totaling $4.5M for Brownfields Grants

September 30, 2024

LENEXA, KAN. (SEPT. 30, 2024) - Today, at Ilus W. Davis Park in Kansas City, Missouri,EPA Region 7 Administrator Meg McCollister presented ceremonial checks totaling $4.5 million to the City of Kansas City, Missouri, and the Kansas City Regional Brownfields Coalition for their selection to receive additional funding for their Brownfields Revolving Loan Funds (RLFs).

McCollister was joined by Kansas City Mayor Pro Tem Ryana Parks-Shaw; Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, Mayor/CEO Tyrone Garner; U.S. Representative Emanuel Cleaver II (MO-5); and U.S. Representative Sharice Davids (KS-3).

"When it comes to clean land, water, and air, our environment transcends state boundaries," McCollister said. "Today's celebration is yet another example of how we can work together, across borders, for a better environment for all of our communities."

In addition to the nearly $11.5 million in EPA funds already awarded, the City of Kansas City, Missouri's Brownfield RLF was selected to receive an additional $3.5 million through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), because it has a high-performing RLF program with significantly depleted funds. This program has successfully made loans or subgrants leading to 11 cleanup projects that are either completed or in progress. The BIL funding will extend the capacity of the RLF program to provide funding for more cleanups in the most underserved areas of the city.

"I am proud Kansas City received another EPA award of $4.5 million in Supplemental Brownfields Revolving Loan Funds to continue cleaning up our community's contaminated properties," Lucassaid. "Past EPA awards have helped save and repurpose landmarks, including the Paseo YMCA and the Zhou B Art Center, build new community gems like the Mattie Rhodes Cultural Arts Center, and propel catalytic development at the former Hardesty Federal Complex. We appreciate the Biden-Harris administration's commitment to providing help where Kansas City needs it most to revitalize contaminated properties and achieve environmental justice in all of our neighborhoods."

In addition to the $1.8 million in EPA funds already awarded, the Kansas City Regional Brownfields Coalition's Brownfield RLF was selected to receive an additional $1 million through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), because it has a high-performing RLF program with significantly depleted funds. This program has successfully made its first loan leading to one cleanup project that is either completed or in progress. The BIL funding will extend the capacity of the RLF program to provide funding for more cleanups in the most underserved areas of Wyandotte County and Kansas City in Kansas; and Kansas City and Jackson County in Missouri.

"On behalf of those that call Wyandotte County home, the Unified Government is excited to be at the forefront of this initiative," Garner said. "This initiative has the potential to improve the quality of life for Kansas City, Kansas, residents within the underserved pockets of our community. We appreciate the work and support of the EPA ensuring that Kansas City, Kansas, is a community of choice selected to benefit from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law."

"As the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law continues to deliver for our communities, I'm thrilled to join leaders from across the region to announce that Kansas City is receiving another $4.5 million investment that will spur economic development, further environmental justice, and help keep our neighborhoods healthy and thriving," Cleaver said. "I was proud to support the Biden-Harris administration's historic infrastructure law that made this investment possible, and I hope this will be another reminder of the progress we can make when we focus on the needs of our communities, rather than partisan politics."

"Cleaning up these contaminated sites is about more than just the environment - it's about keeping folks safe and creating new economic opportunities for our community," Davids said. "I'm proud to have supported the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which is helping turn these spaces into places where Kansans can live, work, and thrive."

Many communities that are under economic stress, particularly those in areas that have experienced long periods of disinvestment, lack the resources needed to initiate brownfield cleanup and redevelopment projects. As brownfield sites are transformed into community assets, they attract jobs, promote economic revitalization, and transform communities into sustainable and environmentally just places.

Thanks to the historic $1.5 billion boost from President Biden's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, EPA's Brownfields program is helping more communities than ever before begin to address the economic, social, and environmental challenges caused by brownfields and stimulate economic opportunity and environmental revitalization in historically overburdened communities.

This program advances President Biden's Justice40 Initiative, which set a goal that 40% of the overall benefits of certain federal investments flow to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution. EPA's Brownfields program strives to meet this commitment and advance environmental justice and equity considerations in all aspects of its work.

Background

EPA selected these organizations to receive funding to address and support the reuse of brownfield sites to address the health, economic, social, and environmental challenges caused by these sites. EPA anticipates making all the awards announced today, once all legal and administrative requirements are satisfied.

EPA's Brownfields program began in 1995 and has provided nearly $2.7 billion in Brownfields Grants to assess and clean up contaminated properties and return blighted properties to productive reuse. Prior to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, this program made approximately $60 million available each year. Thanks to the President's historic investments in America through this law, EPA has now increased that yearly investment nearly 400%.More than half of the funding available for this grant cycle (approximately $160 million) comes from the historic $1.5 billion investment from President Biden's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

To see the lists of the FY 2024 Brownfields Multipurpose, Assessment, and Cleanup (MAC) Grant applicants selected for funding and the RLF Supplemental funding recipients, visit EPA's page.

Learn about Grow America, RLF Technical Assistance grant recipient, and EPA's Brownfields program.

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