OLD TOWN – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) this week announced that 14 grantees in the state of Maine have been selected to receive $6 million in EPA Brownfields assessment funding and technical assistance. These funds will aid under-served and economically disadvantaged communities around the state in assessing and cleaning up abandoned industrial and commercial properties.

On that list of grant recipients is the City of Old Town, which will receive $300,000 for community-wide Brownfields assessment work. The city plans to conduct 15 environmental site assessments and develop seven cleanup plans. Grant funds also will be used to assemble a brownfield advisory committee and hold at least three public meetings. The target areas for the grant include Main Street and Stillwater Avenue, which served industrial mills built along the Stillwater and Penobscot Rivers.

“We are targeting these funds to areas that need them the most, said aid EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler. “Approximately 40 percent of the selected recipients are receiving Brownfields grants for the first time, which means we are reaching areas that may previously been neglected, and 108 of the selected communities have identified sites or targeted areas for redevelopment that fall within Opportunity Zones.”

The Maine based grantees are among 151 grants awarded nationwide, totaling $64.6 million.

Grants awarded by EPA’s Brownfield Program provide communities across the country with an opportunity to transform contaminated sites into community assets that attract jobs and achieve broader economic development outcomes while taking advantage of existing infrastructure.

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