2023 March Newsletter – Brownfields 2023

Mothers (including myself ) are notorious for repeating themselves when speaking to their children.  I lost count of all the times I admonished my son to “Shut the door!” at school drop off.

My mom, Rosie, had a saying that I still tell my kids, “To be early is to be on time.  To be on time is to be late, and, to be late is NOT to be.”

In the spirit of Rosie’s good advice, I along with my colleagues, Joe Kraycik, Lydia Work, Gerry Kirkpatrick, Steve Brower, Patty Hickman, Leah Mistick and the rest of our Brownfields team want to encourage our economic development clients and partners, colleagues and friends to join us in Detroit, August 8-11 for the 2023 US EPA Brownfields Conference.  In addition to the numerous technical presentations, training opportunities, and field trips offered as part of the conference, another round of Phoenix Awards will be presented in recognition of brownfield redevelopment excellence in each of the 10 US EPA regions. Environmental Standards was honored to be part of the Knitting Mills Redevelopment Project Team that was honored with the Region 3 Phoenix Award during Brownfields 2022 and we can’t wait to hear about this year’s winners.

Last September, the White House committed $169 million to US EPA for brownfields grant funding.  Grant award announcements will be made this spring and it is expected that US EPA will award close to 200 grants in amounts from $500,000 to $2 million. 

The White House’s Justice40 Initiative aims to ensure that 40% of governmental programs will be devoted to environmental justice communities – those communities who have been historically overburdened by environmental pollution impacts and underserved in important resources like accessible health care and quality education.

This fall, US EPA will release its grant application guidelines.  It is expected that the US EPA will again have record funding to distribute to municipalities, tribes, economic development partnerships and other stakeholders. Those monies can be used for environmental site assessments, remediation and planning as well as workforce development and revolving loan funding.

We agree with Rosie.  The time to start thinking about applying for brownfields funding is now.  Environmental Standards’ Brownfields Team has been successful in helping localities win millions of dollars in US EPA brownfields funding and we have the privilege of working with economic development professionals, community members, developers and other stakeholders as we work to restore brownfields properties to future good use for the localities and the communities which they serve.

Let’s get to work.