Collins, King Announce Nearly $2 Million in EPA Grants to Clean Up Contaminated Properties in Maine

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Susan Collins and Angus King announced today that a combined total of $1.85 million in federal funding has been awarded for the assessment and cleanup of 9 Brownfields sites in Maine. The federal grants awarded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will assist local communities as they work to redevelop these contaminated sites in order to promote environmental integrity and future economic investment.

“We are pleased that the EPA has designated these sites throughout Maine as recipients of the vital federal funding for Brownfields cleanups,” Senators Collins and King said in a joint statement. “These grants represent a continued and welcomed investment in the environmental and economic revitalization of Maine communities.”

The January 2017 assessment from the Economic Development Assessment Team (EDAT) – originally requested in March 2016 by Senators Collins and King – highlighted the importance of the Brownfields Program and its potential to leverage federal resources to redevelop former industrial sites, support the viability of impacted mill communities and help to grow Maine’s rural economy.

A Brownfields site is a property that contains a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant, which hinders the potential to reuse or redevelop the site. The EPA's Brownfields Program assists states and local communities as they assess, safely clean up, and reuse brownfield sites for economic development projects.

The funding is allocated as follows:

• Town of Berwick: $200,000 for cleanup
• Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments: $200,000 for site assessment
• City of Hallowell: $300,000 for site assessment
• Maine Department of Environmental Protection: $300,000 for site assessment
• City of Bangor: $200,000 for site assessment
• Eastern Maine Development Corp. for the Town of Bucksport: $200,000 for an area-wide planning grant; $125,000 for technical assistance
• Our Katahdin LLC for the Town of Millinocket: $200,000 for cleanup; $125,00 for technical assistance