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The Oklahoma City Council last week approved a $500,000, four-year Brownfields Assessment grant from the Environmental Protection Agency.

Brownfields are underused properties that may have environmental contaminants that complicate their redevelopment.

The grant will be used for environmental site assessments, cleanup and reuse planning and community engagement in the City’s Neighborhood Revitalization Strategy Area, with emphasis on the area south of NE 8, the NE 23 and Martin Luther King corridor and the Core to Shore Area.

“This EPA grant will allow us to continue our efforts in revitalizing key areas of our city and ensuring a safer, healthier environment for our residents,” Brownfields Planner Amanda Alewine said.

In addition to this grant, the City has $3 million available to loan to for-profit developers or to subgrant to nonprofit organizations for cleanup of Brownfields sites, including asbestos abatements.

The latest grant brings the total EPA brownfields grant investment in Oklahoma City to more than $15.5 million. It has helped spark over $2 billion in public and private development. A few of the developments include the First National Center, Scissortail Park and Oklahoma City Community College in Capitol Hill.

For more information, visit the Brownfields page on okc.gov.

The Oklahoma City Council approved a $500,000 grant from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in June to remediate properties with environmental contaminants like asbestos or mold. The project will last four years.

Brownfields are typically more challenging to develop than other sites because of the contaminants, requiring extra care and oversight. Abandoned parking lots, warehouses or other industrial facilities can pose environmental risks to the surrounding community, according to the Environmental Law Institute .

In a news release , officials said they plan to focus on the area south of NE 8th Street, the NE 23rd and Martin Luther King corridor, and the Core to Shore Area.

“This EPA grant will allow us to continue our efforts in revitalizing key areas of our city and ensuring a safer, healthier environment for our residents,” Amanda Alewine, a senior city planner with a focus on brownfields, said.

The federal program was launched in the 1990s to address thousands of brownfield sites in the U.S. In Oklahoma City, the development projects have resulted in spaces like the First National Center, Scissortail Park and Oklahoma City Community College in Capitol Hill.

About $15 million, which includes the new grant, has been invested in the city’s brownfield remediation projects, the release states.

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Growing up in Cordell, I was surrounded by people who made good lives for themselves and their families by working hard and using common sense. These values have guided me as a public servant over the last 20 years at the local, state and federal level. Now as Regional Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Region 6 office, which covers Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Texas and 66 federally recognized Tribes, I see these principles in action throughout our agency’s work to protect the environment and Power the Great American Comeback.

Since the start of the Trump administration, we have achieved notable goals, many in Oklahoma, advancing our core mission of protecting human health and the environment while creating new opportunities and growing local economies. This is a key part of EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin’s Powering the Great American Comeback strategy, which is guided by a clear set of priorities organized under Five Pillars: Clean Air, Land, and Water for Every American; Restoring American Energy Dominance; Permitting Reform, Cooperative Federalism, and Cross-Agency Partnership; Make the United States the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Capital of the World; and Protecting and Bringing Back American Auto Jobs.

These core principles not only guide our work, but they ensure EPA is protecting families and the environment and advancing the economy.

Recently, I joined Administrator Zeldin, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright, and U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins in Oklahoma City at the Hamm Institute’s Powering AI Global Summit. Over and over, we heard from energy-industry leaders that in order for the U.S. to get ahead in AI development, we need to follow a commonsense approach, by reducing regulatory burdens that add time and costs to building data centers and other infrastructure. Oklahoma’s energy industry is poised to be a leader for AI, and I’ll help ensure EPA is a partner in advancing this effort.

We have also been hard at work on emergency response cleanups in Oklahoma. In Tulsa, we completed an assessment of over 100 deteriorating, leaking storage drums and will soon begin the cleanup to ensure no hazardous material enters nearby Flat Rock Creek. Near Pawhuska, we oversaw the cleanup of produced water and crude oil that released from an above-ground production line. In Catoosa, we worked with the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality, Tulsa HAZMAT, and local first responders to clean up a spill of sodium hydroxide and diesel from an overturned tanker truck. And in Muskogee, we are making significant progress to address legacy contamination at the Fansteel Metals site, in close coordination with the Cherokee Nation and Muscogee (Creek) Nation.

We’re also continuing our long-term work at the Tar Creek Superfund site in Ottawa County.

Our success would not be possible without our state, local, and Tribal partners. Nothing demonstrates this cooperative federalism better than Brownfields, EPA’s program to assess and redevelop abandoned, unused properties. The Oklahoma DEQ and Corporation Commission boast some of the nation’s most effective state programs, which helped transform Oklahoma City’s Skirvin Hotel and Scissortail Park, Tulsa’s BOK Center, and many other sites around the state into the iconic landmarks they are today. This year, we’ve already completed reuse actions with OCC in El Reno and Cordell and the Kickapoo Tribe in Harrah.

I’m excited by our progress and proud of the role EPA Region 6 has played in Powering the Great American Comeback so far. I look forward to bringing more success to the great state of Oklahoma.

Scott Mason IV, the Oklahoma native appointed by President Trump as regional administrator for EPA Region 6.

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​ At a glance EPA awards $6.85 million in brownfield grants to Oregon communities of Portland, Astoria, Beaverton and Tillamook

Grants support site assessments, cleanups and redevelopment efforts

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has announced the selection of $6.85 million in Brownfields Grants to communities in Oregon. Nationwide, $267 million in grants are being awarded.

Federal grant recipients must satisfy legal and administrative requirements to receive funds from EPA, an EPA press release states. Brownfield Grants include Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund, and Cleanup Grants.

Assessment Grants will provide funding for brownfield inventories, planning, environmental assessments and community outreach. Oregon is receiving four Assessment Grants.

The city of Beaverton will receive $500,000;

Northwest Oregon Economic Alliance will receive $1.2 million;

the city of Portland will receive $500,000; and

Tillamook County will receive $500,000.

Cleanup Grants will provide money to carry out cleanup activities at brownfield sites owned by the recipient. Oregon is receiving three Cleanup Grants.

The city of Astoria will receive $2 million;

the North Plains Urban Renewal Agency will receive $500,000; and

the city of Portland will receive $500,000.

Supplemental Revolving Loan Fund Grants are awarded to high-performing recipients to help communities continue their work to carry out cleanup and redevelopment projects on contaminated brownfield properties. Supplemental funding for Revolving Loan Fund Grants is available to recipients that have depleted their funds and have viable cleanup projects ready for work. Oregon has one recipient of a Supplemental RFL Grant: