The City of Easley is getting $300,000 in federal funding to help clean up a contaminated site in the downtown area. Easley is just one of two South Carolina communities to get that money. $300,000 is also going to the City of Camden, near Columbia. A total of 149 locations around the U.S. recieved the grant this year, called the Brownfield Assessment and Cleanup Grants.
The idea is to clean up a polluted site so it can be revitalized and redeveloped by local governments to help transform communities and local economies.
The City of Easley's $300,000 assessment grant is broken down with $150,000 for hazardous substances and $150,000 for petroleum contamination. The area in downtown Easley will be assessed and clean up plans will be developed with that money.
“These grants fulfill several of President Trump’s top priorities simultaneously: helping communities in need transform contaminated sites into community assets that not only create jobs and jumpstart economic development but also improve public health and the environment,” said EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler. “We are targeting these funds to areas that need them the most. 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 EPA estimates more than 450,000 brownfield sites, properties where environmental contamination may affect future use, exist in the U.S. today.