DCC to use EPA grant to revitalize community, turn vacant and abandoned properties into community assets
SOUTHGATE — The Downriver Community Conference will receive $400,000 in supplemental funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to help clean up and redevelop brownfield sites, U.S. Rep Debbie Dingell (D-Dearborn) announced today.
The DCC is a proven leader in brownfield remediation, Dingell said, and has received more than $12.6 million in brownfield funding since 2008. This supplemental award comes after Dingell fought to reverse the EPA’s decision to deny a grant to DCC.
“Downriver has many valuable natural resources that make it a safe place to live, raise families and enjoy the outdoors,” Dingell said. “The need to clean up left-behind, contaminated brownfield sites continues to be the goal for Downriver leaders to improve livability.
“The DCC has an excellent track record of using brownfield dollars in such a manner and the supplemental funding from EPA enables this good work to continue. The DCC has a strong plan to use these funds. We thank the EPA for recognizing the valuable leadership in brownfield redevelopment with this supplemental award.”
“We have a long history of taking blight sites and turning them into bright sites, and the DCC has worked together on behalf of the communities, and have been very successful, and are proud to receive these funds, ” DCC Executive Director Jim Perry said.
This supplemental award from the EPA comes after the DCC’s grant proposal was initially denied funding through the EPA Brownfield program. Nationally, there were 305 assessment proposals, and only 104 of them got funded.
Dingell urged the EPA to reconsider and find additional funding for the work the DCC is doing to improve Downriver communities. Dingell has worked to increase federal funding for brownfield remediation overall so more communities in need can have access to funds.
A brownfield is a property for which the expansion, redevelopment or reuse may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant or contaminant. There are estimated to be more than 450,000 brownfields in the United States.