Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) and Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) announced that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is awarding over $4.5 million to expedite the assessment and cleanup of brownfield sites in Nevada. Brownfield sites are parcels of land that are abandoned or underutilized due to pollution from industrial use. Cleaning up and reinvesting in these sites can help communities access new land for economic development, increase their local tax base, and create new jobs.
Thanks to the historic $1.5 billion boost from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that Senators Cortez Masto and Rosen helped pass, EPA’s Brownfields Program is helping more communities than ever stimulate economic opportunity and environmental revitalization on brownfield sites.
“Brownfields funding continues to make a real difference across Nevada by turning unusable, polluted land into real economic opportunity,” said Senator Cortez Masto. “I’ll always support efforts to spur economic development, create new jobs, and make it easier for Nevada communities to build new businesses, affordable housing, and public services.”
“The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law I helped write and pass is delivering much-needed investments in communities across Nevada and creating good-paying jobs along the way,” said Senator Rosen. “I’m proud to have helped secure these funds to clean up and repurpose neglected brownfield sites to revitalize communities in our state.”
“We are so excited to receive this grant and we believe that this could be a turning point for the economic growth in our struggling community,” said Alyssa Burke, Grant Administrator for Mineral County.
“Northern Nevada Development Authority is excited to be once again the recipient of EPA Brownfield Grant Funding. These funds will provide us with needed resources to continue our work in diversifying the economy of our region, create job opportunities, and ensure a great quality of life for all Nevadans and their families,” said Amy Barnes, Director of Business Development at the Northern Nevada Development Authority.
Many communities that are under economic stress, particularly those located in areas that have experienced long periods of disinvestment, often lack the resources needed to initiate cleanup and redevelopment projects on polluted or contaminated land. EPA’s Brownfields Program helps clean contaminated sites and better position them for economic development. Through this announcement, Nevada sites will receive the following funding:
- $2,000,000 for the City of Las Vegas: This grant will be used to clean up Symphony Park, the largest brownfield site in Las Vegas. Remediation will position the site for redevelopment into a cultural center.
- $1,517,000 for Mineral County: This grant will clean the Babbitt Housing Area, a site originally built to house Naval Ammunition Depot workers and their families. It will help spur commercial development and create employment opportunities in the community.
- $498,750 for the City of North Las Vegas: The City of North Las Vegas will use this grant to conduct environmental site assessments in Downtown North Las Vegas, focusing on former gas stations, auto shops, and sites with chemical contamination.
- $500,000 for the Northern Nevada Development Authority: This assessment grant will support redevelopment for new housing and for industrial, commercial and public services in Northern Nevada.
Senators Cortez Masto and Rosen supported historic investments for the Brownfields Program in the Inflation Reduction Act, and Cortez Masto led efforts to create an Energy Community Tax Credit Bonus to support renewable energy projects located on brownfield and other disadvantaged sites. Senator Cortez Masto also drafted language in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, that Senator Rosen helped pass, to allow brownfield mining sites to be converted to renewable energy projects.
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