EPA Region 7 Presents $3M Brownfields Check to East Central Intergovernmental Association in Iowa
LENEXA, KAN. (JUNE 26, 2024) – Today, at a brownfield site in Clinton, Iowa, EPA Region 7 Brownfields and Land Revitalization Branch Supervisor Stanley Walker presented a $3 million ceremonial check to the East Central Intergovernmental Association (ECIA) in Iowa to supplement their Brownfields Revolving Loan Fund (RLF).
In addition to the $1.8 million in EPA funds already awarded to the organization, ECIA has been selected to receive this additional $3 million in funding through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law due to its high-performing RLF program.
Walker was joined by ECIA Brownfield Development Coordinator Dawn Danielson and Director of Special Programs Jennifer Walker, who accepted the award on behalf of ECIA. Clinton's Mayor Scott Maddasion and City Administrator Matt Brooke, and Iowa Department of Natural Resources' Solid Waste and Contaminated Sites Supervisor Mike Sullivan, also joined the event.
Funding from the ECIA Brownfields RLF has successfully led to three cleanup projects in Iowa that are either completed or in progress, including the cleanup at today’s event site. With this additional funding, ECIA will continue its momentum of providing loan assistance throughout eastern Iowa communities to assist in the cleanup of brownfield sites to make ready for reuse. Funds will be made available in Cedar, Clinton, Delaware, Dubuque, and Jackson counties.
"EPA Region 7 is proud to deliver these Brownfields funding resources to our partners at ECIA," Walker said. "The Brownfields program is truly a win-win for everyone involved, and we are proud of our partners’ efforts to provide a cleaner and healthier environment for all, while at the same time spurring local economic development."
“East Central Intergovernmental Association is excited to continue its partnership with EPA,” Danielson said. “The EPA Brownfields Revolving Loan Fund provides ECIA with critical funding for remediation of brownfield sites in rural and disadvantaged communities throughout eastern Iowa. This new EPA Brownfields supplemental funding will replenish ECIA’s revolving loan fund, enabling ECIA to disburse and revolve funds for numerous brownfield cleanup projects throughout the ECIA five-county region. Thank you, President Biden and EPA, for their commitment and investment in eastern Iowa and for selecting ECIA as a 2024 Brownfields funding recipient.”
In June 2023, EPA Region 7 Administrator Meg McCollister stopped on the Brownfields Investing in America Tour to present a $2 million ceremonial check to ECIA. The organization was selected to receive two Brownfields grants last year: a $1 million Assessment Coalition Grant, and $1 million in RLF supplemental funding.
Brownfields RLF Grants
EPA’s Brownfields Revolving Loan Fund Grants program provides non-competitive, supplemental funding to successful and existing RLF Grant programs. RLF Grants provide funding for recipients to offer loans and subgrants to carry out cleanup activities at brownfield sites, allowing communities to address the economic, social, and environmental challenges caused by those sites.
Background
EPA’s Brownfields program began in 1995 and has provided nearly $2.7 billion in Brownfields Grants to assess and clean up contaminated properties and return blighted properties to productive reuse. Prior to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, this program made approximately $60 million available each year. Thanks to the President’s historic investments in America through this law, EPA has increased that yearly investment by nearly 400%.
More than half of the funding available for this grant cycle (approximately $160 million) comes from the historic $1.5 billion investment from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. This investment has also allowed the Brownfields Multipurpose, Assessment, and Cleanup (MAC) Grants’ maximum award amounts to increase significantly from $500,000 to a new maximum of $5 million per award.
EPA’s Brownfields program advances President Biden’s Justice40 Initiative, which set a goal that 40% of the overall benefits of certain federal investments flow to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution. The Brownfields program strives to meet this commitment and advance environmental justice and equity considerations in all aspects of its work. Approximately 86% of the MAC and RLF Supplemental program applications selected to receive funding proposed to work in areas that include disadvantaged communities.
Learn more about EPA’s Brownfields program.
# # #
Learn more about EPA Region 7
Connect with EPA Region 7 on Facebook and Instagram
Follow us on X: @EPARegion7
In addition to the $1.8 million in EPA funds already awarded to the organization, ECIA has been selected to receive this additional $3 million in funding through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law due to its high-performing RLF program.
Walker was joined by ECIA Brownfield Development Coordinator Dawn Danielson and Director of Special Programs Jennifer Walker, who accepted the award on behalf of ECIA. Clinton's Mayor Scott Maddasion and City Administrator Matt Brooke, and Iowa Department of Natural Resources' Solid Waste and Contaminated Sites Supervisor Mike Sullivan, also joined the event.
Funding from the ECIA Brownfields RLF has successfully led to three cleanup projects in Iowa that are either completed or in progress, including the cleanup at today’s event site. With this additional funding, ECIA will continue its momentum of providing loan assistance throughout eastern Iowa communities to assist in the cleanup of brownfield sites to make ready for reuse. Funds will be made available in Cedar, Clinton, Delaware, Dubuque, and Jackson counties.
"EPA Region 7 is proud to deliver these Brownfields funding resources to our partners at ECIA," Walker said. "The Brownfields program is truly a win-win for everyone involved, and we are proud of our partners’ efforts to provide a cleaner and healthier environment for all, while at the same time spurring local economic development."
“East Central Intergovernmental Association is excited to continue its partnership with EPA,” Danielson said. “The EPA Brownfields Revolving Loan Fund provides ECIA with critical funding for remediation of brownfield sites in rural and disadvantaged communities throughout eastern Iowa. This new EPA Brownfields supplemental funding will replenish ECIA’s revolving loan fund, enabling ECIA to disburse and revolve funds for numerous brownfield cleanup projects throughout the ECIA five-county region. Thank you, President Biden and EPA, for their commitment and investment in eastern Iowa and for selecting ECIA as a 2024 Brownfields funding recipient.”
In June 2023, EPA Region 7 Administrator Meg McCollister stopped on the Brownfields Investing in America Tour to present a $2 million ceremonial check to ECIA. The organization was selected to receive two Brownfields grants last year: a $1 million Assessment Coalition Grant, and $1 million in RLF supplemental funding.
Brownfields RLF Grants
EPA’s Brownfields Revolving Loan Fund Grants program provides non-competitive, supplemental funding to successful and existing RLF Grant programs. RLF Grants provide funding for recipients to offer loans and subgrants to carry out cleanup activities at brownfield sites, allowing communities to address the economic, social, and environmental challenges caused by those sites.
Background
EPA’s Brownfields program began in 1995 and has provided nearly $2.7 billion in Brownfields Grants to assess and clean up contaminated properties and return blighted properties to productive reuse. Prior to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, this program made approximately $60 million available each year. Thanks to the President’s historic investments in America through this law, EPA has increased that yearly investment by nearly 400%.
More than half of the funding available for this grant cycle (approximately $160 million) comes from the historic $1.5 billion investment from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. This investment has also allowed the Brownfields Multipurpose, Assessment, and Cleanup (MAC) Grants’ maximum award amounts to increase significantly from $500,000 to a new maximum of $5 million per award.
EPA’s Brownfields program advances President Biden’s Justice40 Initiative, which set a goal that 40% of the overall benefits of certain federal investments flow to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution. The Brownfields program strives to meet this commitment and advance environmental justice and equity considerations in all aspects of its work. Approximately 86% of the MAC and RLF Supplemental program applications selected to receive funding proposed to work in areas that include disadvantaged communities.
Learn more about EPA’s Brownfields program.
# # #
Learn more about EPA Region 7
Connect with EPA Region 7 on Facebook and Instagram
Follow us on X: @EPARegion7
Seattle & King County to expand wastewater treatment in new agreement with EPA, DOJ, Ecology
SEATTLE (June 26, 2024) – The U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the Washington Department of Ecology announced today that they have reached an agreement in principle with King County and the City of Seattle that commits the local governments to significant expansion of the work they agreed to perform in 2013 to reduce discharges of untreated combined sewage and stormwater into Lake Washington, Lake Union, the Duwamish River, and Puget Sound.
In 2013, Ecology and EPA found that the city and county’s interconnected combined sewer system regularly violated the state and federal clean water laws by sending hundreds of millions of gallons of untreated or undertreated wastewater into local waterways each year, and allowing sewage to back up into homes in some low-lying communities such as the Duwamish Valley. At that time, both the city and county signed consent decrees with Ecology and the United States committing to major infrastructure investments to reduce the wastewater entering local waterways and people’s homes.
Citing increasing rainfall intensity and other impacts of climate change, supply-chain disruptions, and the increased costs of construction in the Seattle area, in 2019 the city and county requested modifications to the 2013 consent decrees to allow for more time to control combined sewer overflows. The new agreements extend the completion date for some of the projects from 2030 to 2037 and commit the city and county to significant increases in wastewater storage and treatment capacity.
The additional time also enables closer coordination between the city and county, projects to reduce stormwater volumes, and additional planning and design work to ensure that new wet-weather control facilities are more resilient to a changing climate. Generally, this means that these facilities will be capable of handling larger volumes of combined sewage that will result from changing rainfall patterns in the Seattle area.
The agreed-to modifications include significant improvements to major projects including:
King County’s Mouth of the Duwamish Wet Weather Treatment Facility
The facility may now include outfalls owned by the City of Seattle.
Options include treatment of overflows (would increase treatment capacity by more than 25% to 190 million gallons per day), storage of overflows (would increase storage to 150 million gallons), or a combination of treatment and storage.
Original projected completion 2030, new projected completion 2034.
West Duwamish/Terminal 115 CSO Control Project
This project will store nearly one million gallons more than originally planned.
Delays in completion related to construction in a contaminated site.
Original projected completion 2025, new projected completion 2029.
Ship Canal Water Quality Project
The project will reduce combined-sewer discharges to the Lake Washington Ship Canal from six separate outfalls, reducing polluted discharges to the Ship Canal by an average of 84% per year.
EPA provided loans under the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act to the City of Seattle for $192.2 million and King County for $96.8 million for this project.
Delays in completion are related to Covid-19, supply chain issues, and unanticipated obstructions found during tunneling.
Original projected completion 2025, new projected completion 2027.
Montlake and University
These storage projects may be combined or remain separate facilities. Overall, stored volumes of wastewater will increase from 7.87 million to 11 million gallons for Montlake and from 5.23 million to 16.1 million gallons for University.
Original projected completion 2028, new projected completion 2037.
The agreement provides the city and county with a certain amount of flexibility to revise projects as long as they meet or exceed the original performance criteria.
“This agreement underscores what’s possible when all parties come together to advance shared values and goals,” said Casey Sixkiller, Regional Administrator for EPA’s Region 10 office in Seattle. "From improving water quality in Lake Washington, the Ship Canal and Puget Sound, protecting treaty resources, and making the region’s water infrastructure more climate resilient, this agreement is a win from every angle.”
"Climate resilience is one of our greatest environmental priorities,” said Laura Watson, director of the Washington Department of Ecology. “We want to see improvements that are future-proofed for intensifying storms. By extending the overall timeframe for this work, it means the infrastructure can better protect water quality and vulnerable neighborhoods for a lot longer.”
Investments by Washington Department of Ecology and EPA
In December 2022, King County completed its Georgetown Wet Weather Treatment Station which can treat up to 70 million gallons per day of combined untreated sewage and stormwater that would have otherwise flowed directly into the Duwamish River and Puget Sound. The EPA provided King County with a $134.5 million Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act loan for this project.
Since 2015, Ecology has awarded low-interest loans from its Clean Water State Revolving Fund totaling $266.5 million to Seattle and $395.3 million to King County for combined sewer overflow control projects.
In 2024, EPA also awarded a $194 million Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act loan to King County, the majority of which will go toward various clean-water investments at West Point Treatment Plant, which cleans wastewater and stormwater. This project makes several improvements at the wastewater treatment plant, including removing corroded pipes, upgrading raw sewage pumps, and implementing structural upgrades to the administrative building to protect against future seismic events. Ecology has also committed $24.4 million in loan funding for this suite of projects.
What’s next
The new agreements must be approved by both the King County Council and the Seattle City Council. If the councils approve the modifications, they will be lodged with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington and made available for comment for 30 days. The parties could then seek approval of the modifications by the court.
In 2013, Ecology and EPA found that the city and county’s interconnected combined sewer system regularly violated the state and federal clean water laws by sending hundreds of millions of gallons of untreated or undertreated wastewater into local waterways each year, and allowing sewage to back up into homes in some low-lying communities such as the Duwamish Valley. At that time, both the city and county signed consent decrees with Ecology and the United States committing to major infrastructure investments to reduce the wastewater entering local waterways and people’s homes.
Citing increasing rainfall intensity and other impacts of climate change, supply-chain disruptions, and the increased costs of construction in the Seattle area, in 2019 the city and county requested modifications to the 2013 consent decrees to allow for more time to control combined sewer overflows. The new agreements extend the completion date for some of the projects from 2030 to 2037 and commit the city and county to significant increases in wastewater storage and treatment capacity.
The additional time also enables closer coordination between the city and county, projects to reduce stormwater volumes, and additional planning and design work to ensure that new wet-weather control facilities are more resilient to a changing climate. Generally, this means that these facilities will be capable of handling larger volumes of combined sewage that will result from changing rainfall patterns in the Seattle area.
The agreed-to modifications include significant improvements to major projects including:
King County’s Mouth of the Duwamish Wet Weather Treatment Facility
The facility may now include outfalls owned by the City of Seattle.
Options include treatment of overflows (would increase treatment capacity by more than 25% to 190 million gallons per day), storage of overflows (would increase storage to 150 million gallons), or a combination of treatment and storage.
Original projected completion 2030, new projected completion 2034.
West Duwamish/Terminal 115 CSO Control Project
This project will store nearly one million gallons more than originally planned.
Delays in completion related to construction in a contaminated site.
Original projected completion 2025, new projected completion 2029.
Ship Canal Water Quality Project
The project will reduce combined-sewer discharges to the Lake Washington Ship Canal from six separate outfalls, reducing polluted discharges to the Ship Canal by an average of 84% per year.
EPA provided loans under the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act to the City of Seattle for $192.2 million and King County for $96.8 million for this project.
Delays in completion are related to Covid-19, supply chain issues, and unanticipated obstructions found during tunneling.
Original projected completion 2025, new projected completion 2027.
Montlake and University
These storage projects may be combined or remain separate facilities. Overall, stored volumes of wastewater will increase from 7.87 million to 11 million gallons for Montlake and from 5.23 million to 16.1 million gallons for University.
Original projected completion 2028, new projected completion 2037.
The agreement provides the city and county with a certain amount of flexibility to revise projects as long as they meet or exceed the original performance criteria.
“This agreement underscores what’s possible when all parties come together to advance shared values and goals,” said Casey Sixkiller, Regional Administrator for EPA’s Region 10 office in Seattle. "From improving water quality in Lake Washington, the Ship Canal and Puget Sound, protecting treaty resources, and making the region’s water infrastructure more climate resilient, this agreement is a win from every angle.”
"Climate resilience is one of our greatest environmental priorities,” said Laura Watson, director of the Washington Department of Ecology. “We want to see improvements that are future-proofed for intensifying storms. By extending the overall timeframe for this work, it means the infrastructure can better protect water quality and vulnerable neighborhoods for a lot longer.”
Investments by Washington Department of Ecology and EPA
In December 2022, King County completed its Georgetown Wet Weather Treatment Station which can treat up to 70 million gallons per day of combined untreated sewage and stormwater that would have otherwise flowed directly into the Duwamish River and Puget Sound. The EPA provided King County with a $134.5 million Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act loan for this project.
Since 2015, Ecology has awarded low-interest loans from its Clean Water State Revolving Fund totaling $266.5 million to Seattle and $395.3 million to King County for combined sewer overflow control projects.
In 2024, EPA also awarded a $194 million Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act loan to King County, the majority of which will go toward various clean-water investments at West Point Treatment Plant, which cleans wastewater and stormwater. This project makes several improvements at the wastewater treatment plant, including removing corroded pipes, upgrading raw sewage pumps, and implementing structural upgrades to the administrative building to protect against future seismic events. Ecology has also committed $24.4 million in loan funding for this suite of projects.
What’s next
The new agreements must be approved by both the King County Council and the Seattle City Council. If the councils approve the modifications, they will be lodged with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington and made available for comment for 30 days. The parties could then seek approval of the modifications by the court.
EPA Reclassifies Three Ozone Nonattainment Areas from Moderate to Serious
DALLAS, TEXAS (June 26, 2024) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced approval of Governor Greg Abbott’s request to reclassify the Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston-Galveston-Brazoria and San Antonio, Texas, metro areas from moderate to serious nonattainment of the current ozone standard. These metro areas will have to implement more stringent emission control strategies and attain the 2015 National Ambient Air Quality Standard for ozone.
“More action is needed to bring millions of Texas the improved air quality they deserve,” said Regional Administrator Dr. Earthea Nance. “Reclassifying these major metro areas gives the state of Texas more time to plan for attaining the ozone standard, while still holding the state accountable for meeting Clean Air Act requirements.”
Under the moderate nonattainment classification, Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston-Galveston-Brazoria had until August 3, 2024, and San Antonio had until September 24, 2024, to attain the ozone standard. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality missed the January 1, 2023, deadline to revise the state plan to attain the ozone standard, which triggered a Clean Air Act requirement to impose highway sanctions, emissions offsets and other measures starting in 2025.
The new deadlines for attaining the standard are August 3, 2027, for Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston-Galveston-Brazoria, and September 24, 2027, for San Antonio. TCEQ must revise the state clean-air plan, with approval from EPA, to include more stringent measures for emissions control and contingency planning. The state must also still fulfill planning and control requirements for moderate nonattainment areas.
EPA proposed to approve Governor Abbott’s request in January and held a 30-day public comment period.
Ground-level ozone contributes to increased asthma attacks and many other respiratory health issues, especially for children, older adults, and those with breathing problems. For more information about ozone, including health effects, see https://www.epa.gov/ground-level-ozone-pollution.
Connect with the Environmental Protection Agency Region 6 on Facebook, X (formerly known as Twitter), or visit our homepage.
“More action is needed to bring millions of Texas the improved air quality they deserve,” said Regional Administrator Dr. Earthea Nance. “Reclassifying these major metro areas gives the state of Texas more time to plan for attaining the ozone standard, while still holding the state accountable for meeting Clean Air Act requirements.”
Under the moderate nonattainment classification, Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston-Galveston-Brazoria had until August 3, 2024, and San Antonio had until September 24, 2024, to attain the ozone standard. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality missed the January 1, 2023, deadline to revise the state plan to attain the ozone standard, which triggered a Clean Air Act requirement to impose highway sanctions, emissions offsets and other measures starting in 2025.
The new deadlines for attaining the standard are August 3, 2027, for Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston-Galveston-Brazoria, and September 24, 2027, for San Antonio. TCEQ must revise the state clean-air plan, with approval from EPA, to include more stringent measures for emissions control and contingency planning. The state must also still fulfill planning and control requirements for moderate nonattainment areas.
EPA proposed to approve Governor Abbott’s request in January and held a 30-day public comment period.
Ground-level ozone contributes to increased asthma attacks and many other respiratory health issues, especially for children, older adults, and those with breathing problems. For more information about ozone, including health effects, see https://www.epa.gov/ground-level-ozone-pollution.
Connect with the Environmental Protection Agency Region 6 on Facebook, X (formerly known as Twitter), or visit our homepage.
Shippers urge FMC to address shifting dates for dropping off exports
US exporters face unexpected costs and delays due to changes in dates for dropping off containers, which the FMC hopes to address with more consistent data.
Shippers urge FMC to address shifting dates for dropping off exports
US exporters face unexpected costs and delays due to changes in dates for dropping off containers, which the FMC hopes to address with more consistent data.
Op-Ed: Good Biosecurity is the Key to Mitigating the Spread of H5N1
WASHINGTON, June 25, 2024 — By: Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack
The more we learn about H5N1, the more we understand that good biosecurity is a critically important path to containing the virus. Containing, and eliminating, the virus in our dairy cattle is essential – to protect the health of our herds and flocks, our farmers, our farmworkers, our families, and the rural economy they make possible.
The more we learn about H5N1, the more we understand that good biosecurity is a critically important path to containing the virus. Containing, and eliminating, the virus in our dairy cattle is essential – to protect the health of our herds and flocks, our farmers, our farmworkers, our families, and the rural economy they make possible.
Know Which Medication Is Right for Your Seasonal Allergies
The pollen count is sky-high. You’re sneezing, your eyes are itching, and you feel miserable. Seasonal allergies are real diseases that can interfere with your life. The FDA regulates prescription and nonprescription medications that offer allergy relief.
USDA Proposes New Rule to Clarify Unfair Practices in the Livestock, Meat, and Poultry Industries
WASHINGTON, June 25, 2024 – Today, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced new action to support the Biden-Harris Administration’s plan for a fairer, more competitive, and more resilient meat and poultry supply chain. USDA’s Fair and Competitive Livestock and Poultry Markets proposed rule would tackle longstanding challenges around interpretations of unfairness and competitive injury for the livestock, meat, and poultry sectors.