WHAT IS A BROWNFIELD?

EPA’s Brownfields Program provides grants and technical assistance to communities, states, tribes and others to assess, safely clean up and sustainably reuse contaminated properties.
A brownfield is a piece of land that is complicated by hazardous or toxic substances. According to the EPA, there are more than 450,000 brownfields in the U.S. “Cleaning up and reinvesting in these properties increases local tax bases, facilitates job growth, utilizes existing infrastructure, takes development pressures off of undeveloped, open land, and both improves and protects the environment.”

Read about it in-depth: Anatomy of a Brownfields Redevelopment Project

The Brownfields Program has brought $1,676,483 in total funding to the Pend d’Oreille Bay Trail project:

FUNDING: 2008 – 2012: EPA Brownfields – $650,000 In 2008, a coalition consisting of DEQ (lead coalition member and grant recipient), Bonner County, Sandpoint, Ponderay, and Kootenai was awarded a Brownfields Coalition Assessment Grant (Cooperative Agreement #2B-00J03401) by the EPA to study the extent and nature of potential contamination in the two-mile POBT corridor. Assessments were undertaken on 19 properties in the five POBT zones and identified the need for cleanup at three parcels that make up the former Panhandle Smelting & Refining Co.

FUNDING: 2012 – 2021: DEQ’s State Response Grant 128(a) Program (DEQ’s Brownfields program) $186,483 After the POBT Coalition Grant ended in 2012, DEQ continued additional outreach, assessment and collaboration with both the Trust for Public Lands and the Friends of POBT for the Ponderay Railroad Underpass Feasibility Study reports. Efforts are ongoing under DEQ’s 128(a) program, currently funding the appraisal for the privately owned parcels.

FUNDING: 2019 -2024: EPA Brownfields Multipurpose Grant: $840,000

The Front Yard Project Overview

1. Details
2. Benefits
3. Background
4. Brownfields Cleanup
5. Frequently Asked
6. Questions and Inquiries

If you’d like to stay informed and/or provide feedback on this project, you can do so here.