EPA opens $235 million in grants to assess and clean brownfield sites

Key Takeaways

On September 26, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced $235 million in grants available under EPA’s Brownfields Multipurpose, Assessment, and Cleanup (MAC) program. These grants will help counties assess and clean up polluted and vacant brownfield sites, including sites contaminated by hazardous substances, pollutants, contaminants, or petroleum. 

This is the third round of Brownfields Grant supported by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), which provided $1.5 billion to EPA’s Brownfields Program. EPA anticipates awarding approximately 200 grants this cycle, ranging from $500,000 to $5 million per award. Counties are eligible to apply as direct recipients for the following EPA Brownfields Program grants: 

• Cleanup Grants: Approximately 60 Cleanup Grants, for an estimated total of $95 million, will be awarded for the cleanup of hazardous substances, contaminants, pollutants and/or petroleum contamination. 
• Community-wide Assessment Grants: Approximately 60 Community-wide Assessment Grants, for an estimated total of $30 million, will be awarded for developing inventories of brownfield sites, prioritizing sites, conducting community involvement activities, conducting planning, conducting site assessments, developing site-specific cleanup plans, and developing reuse plans.  
• Assessment Coalition Grants: Approximately 26 Assessment Coalition Grants, for an estimated total of $40 million, will be awarded for the same purposes as Community-wide assessment grants, however, Assessment Coalition Grants are designed for one “lead” eligible entity to partner with two to four eligible entities that do not have the capacity to apply for and manage their own EPA cooperative agreement. 
• Multipurpose Grants: Approximately 20 Multipurpose Grants, for an estimated total of $20 million, will be awarded for recipients to carry out a range of eligible assessment and cleanup activities, including planning and additional community engagement activities. 

Counties must apply through grants.gov by November 13, 2023, at 11:59 PM EST. Each individual grant under the overarching Brownfields Program has a unique application link on grants.gov, which can be reached by clicking the relevant links above. 

Additional Resources 

• EPA Brownfields Homepage
• FY 2024 Multipurpose Grant Guidelines 
• FY 2024 Community-wide Assessment Grant Guidelines
• FY 2024 Assessment Coalition Grant Guidelines
• FY 2024 Cleanup Grant Guidelines
• Brownfields Multipurpose, Assessment, RLF, and Cleanup (MARC) Grant Application Resources