Latest news with #BipartisanInfrastructurePlan
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Iowa communities to receive $5.5 million for brownfield site cleanup
A former zinc smelter and lead alloying facility in Keokuk is one of several sites selected to received a commulative $5.5 million in EPA Brownfields Program grants. (Photo courtesy of EPA) Five Iowa communities have been selected to receive $5.5 million in grants from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to clean up and restore blighted or contaminated properties. Sites selected in Iowa are former grocery stores, a YMCA building, a meat packing plant, abandoned businesses and a smelting facility. The EPA Brownfields Program helps a community to assess, clean up and eventually reuse contaminated sites that would otherwise be unusable. The City of Clinton received a grant for a little over $1 million, which City Administrator Matt Brooke said will be used to remove the pool section of the city's former YMCA. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX The former YMCA building is contaminated with asbestos and lead, which make it unsuitable for redevelopment until it is remediated. 'This grant funding will enable Clinton to continue a crucial environmental cleanup project,' Brooke said in a press release sent by EPA. 'Clinton continues to work toward a cleaner and greener community for all people to live, work, and enjoy.' Iowa Western Community College receives EPA grant for job training The Iowa grants are part of a nationwide allotment of $267 million in brownfields grants. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said the program will help to create new opportunities for businesses and housing while strengthening local economies. 'EPA's Brownfields program demonstrates how environmental stewardship and economic prosperity complement each other,' Zeldin said in a statement. 'Under President Trump's leadership, EPA is Powering the Great American Comeback, ensuring our nation has the cleanest air, land, and water while supporting sustainable growth and fiscal responsibility.' The EPA Brownfields Program started in 1995, but saw a significant boost in funding under former President Joe Biden's Bipartisan Infrastructure Plan. Another recipient of the recently awarded funding, East Central Intergovernmental Association, has facilitated brownfield clean up projects in eastern Iowa through its participation in the Brownfield Revolving Loan Fund with EPA. The association was awarded $1.5 million to help replenish the fund, which EPA said has been 'high performing.' The fund thus far has supported projects like the YMCA remediation in Clinton and a property in Dubuque. 'Many communities are burdened with brownfield sites but lack the resources to address them,' said Dawn Danielson, ECIA's brownfields coordinator. 'The ripple effect of EPA's investments is transformational, not only for the site itself but also for surrounding properties.' Danielson said the remediated sites typically become 'catalysts for economic development' in the area and breathe 'new life' into communities. Le Mars Mayor Rob Bixenman, similarly said the grant will revitalize 'key areas' of the community and help to accelerate the city's community development plan. Le Mars was awarded $400,000 to assess and develop clean up plans at a former Walmart, meat packing plant, landscaping company and unused hotel along the city's business corridor. The City of Keokuk was also selected to receive just under $2 million to clean up a 16-acre site that formerly smelted and refined zinc and lead. According to EPA, the site is contaminated with coal tar, zinc smelting residuals that are high in polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAH, and heavy metals. The plant opened in 1915 and operated until the 1980s. The site has received a number of EPA grants as the city works to clean up the site and hopefully attract a redeveloper. The City of Red Oak was also selected and will receive a $500,000 grant to conduct site assessments and community engagement for unused properties along its Broadway Street. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
WG&E starts project to replace aging and leaky gas lines throughout city
WESTFIELD — Westfield Gas and Electric held a brief ceremony Monday to announce it has started a yearslong project to replace all of the city's cast iron leaky gas lines with nearly indestructible polypropylene plastic. 'It's safe for our customer and good for the environment,' said WG&E Assistant General Manager Joe Mitchell about the line replacement project. With some of the city's cast iron gas lines up to 80 years old, they prone to fracture and leak methane, WG&E was included in a federal grant program aimed to improve safety and reduce the emissions. In 2023, WG&E announced it was recipient of a $10 million grant, which has risen to $17 million, to fund the project as part of the Natural Gas Distribution Infrastructure Safety and Modernization Program, which was established by Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Plan, and signed by former President Joe Biden. 'The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law continues to deliver results for the people of Massachusetts, and today's announcement is yet another step towards making much-needed improvement to our aging infrastructure,' said U.S. Rep. Richard Neal when announcing the grant. However, with the changing of administrations earlier this year, there was some concern that the grant would be rescinded. Mitchell said a portion of it was paused but because it had broad support on both sides of aisle in Congress, the pause was lifted. 'This program is on solid ground,' Mitchell said. While it's been two years since the grant was announced, Mitchell said supply chain issues pushed the start date back and complying with a portion of the Build America Buy America Act, which was part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Plan. 'That was a challenge,' Mitchell said. On Monday, a crew from R.H. White Companies Inc. was at the home of Gerald and Nancy Tomasko on Apple Blossom Lane to officially start the project. The Auburn-based construction services company will do the work with WG&E as the general contractor, said WG&E Operations Superintendent Greg Freeman, who also explained the process of replacing the lines. On the road in front of the Tomasko's home, WG&E will dig a three-foot deep trench to change out the cast-iron line. Once the new line is in place, the crew will then dig a trench from the new line to where it connects with gas conduit at the Tomasko's home — the work will tear up a small portion of their lawn. He said each customer's natural gas service will disconnected for only a few minutes during the installation. Freeman said once the connection is complete the disturbed area will be covered with loam and reseeded. And that process will continue over the next four years to replace 1,200 low-pressure services to businesses and residences, When plans for the project were being developed, it was believed that it would take 10 years, but it was moved up to four years. Mitchell said the replacement project will cover 22 miles of line, and at no cost to the utility's ratepayers. 'Because it's a grant, the cost will not fall on our ratepayers,' he said, adding that he's asking for city residents for their 'patience' during construction. Freeman said the gas line installation will start in April or May and continue through November or December as conditions allow. After the crew completes the replacements in the Apple Blossom neighborhood, it will move onto the neighborhoods of Colony Circle, Birch Bluffs Drive, the west side of Southwick Road and Hillside Road. Read the original article on MassLive.
