The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments’ (NVCOG) Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) $800,000 toward the remediation of contaminated properties in the greater Naugatuck Valley region.
The grant will be used to provide loans and subgrants to support cleanup activities. Grant funds also will be used to conduct community outreach activities. The majority of the award will be utilized in the City of Waterbury’s Brownfields Corridor, which contains more than 45 acres of closed metal manufacturing and foundry sites within the low-income, minority South End neighborhood and five Qualified Opportunity Zones.
However, that commitment also frees up resources that can be used in any of the Regional Brownfields Partnership’s (RBP) 27 Western-Central Connecticut towns.
EPA’s Brownfields Program empowers states, communities, and other stakeholders to work together to prevent, assess, safely clean up, and sustainably reuse brownfields. A brownfield site is a real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant.
RLF’s are one of the competitive grant programs that EPA provides financial assistance to eligible applicants. Additionally, funding support is provided to state and tribal response programs through a separate mechanism.
Read more about the Regional Brownfield Partnership and see a list of brownfield sites around the region.
