Assessment Grants

Grants to USA government agencies, land authorities, tribes, and redevelopment agencies to characterize, inventory, assess, and conduct community involvement and planning related to brownfield sites. Applicants are advised that the required registrations may take up to one month to complete.

The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA or the Superfund Law) was amended by the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act (Brownfields Law) to include section 104(k), which provides federal financial assistance for brownfields revitalization, including grants for assessment, cleanup, and revolving loan funds.

A brownfield site is defined as real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of hazardous substances, pollutants, contaminants, controlled substances, petroleum or petroleum products, or is mine-scarred land.

A critical part of EPA’s assessment and cleanup efforts is to ensure that residents living in communities historically affected by economic disinvestment, health disparities, and environmental contamination have an opportunity to reap the benefits from brownfields redevelopment. EPA’s Brownfields Program has a rich history rooted in environmental justice and is committed to helping communities revitalize brownfield properties, mitigate potential health risks, and restore economic vitality.

Proposals will be evaluated based on the extent to which the applicant demonstrates: economic and environmental needs of the target area; a vision for the reuse and redevelopment of brownfield sites and the capability to achieve that vision; reasonable and eligible tasks; appropriate use of grant funding; incorporation of equitable and sustainable approaches; community engagement, partnerships and leveraged resources to complete the project; economic, environmental, health, and social benefits associated with the assessment, cleanup (if needed), reuse and redevelopment of brownfield sites; and other factors.

Description of Grant:

Assessment Grants provide funding for developing inventories of brownfields, prioritizing sites, conducting community involvement activities, conducting site assessments, and developing cleanup plans and reuse plans related to brownfield sites. Assessment Grant funds may not be used to conduct cleanups.

Individual applicants may apply for a community-wide and/or a site-specific assessment grant, or apply as part of an assessment coalition.

-Community-wide proposals are appropriate when a specific site is not identified and the applicant plans to spend grant funds on more than one brownfield in its community.

-Site-specific proposals are appropriate when a specific site has been identified and the applicant plans to spend grant funds on this one site only. Assessment coalition grants are for three or more eligible entities who will perform assessment grant activities within their communities.

Applicants that exceed the maximum number of proposals allowable for Assessment Grants will be contacted, prior to review of any of the proposals by EPA, to determine which proposal(s) the applicant will withdraw from the competition.

1. Community-Wide Assessment Grants:

For Community-wide proposals, applicants may request hazardous substances funding for sites with potential contamination of hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants and petroleum funding for sites with potential petroleum contamination. An applicant that submits a combined Community-wide Assessment Grant proposal or two separate Community-wide Assessment Grant proposals may also apply for a Site-specific Assessment Grant.

2. Site-Specific Assessment Grants

For Site-specific proposals, applicants may request funding address hazardous substances or petroleum contamination at a specified site. Applicants can apply for only one Site-specific Assessment Grant.

If the site is co-mingled with both hazardous substances and petroleum contamination and the hazardous substances and petroleum-contaminated areas of the site are distinguishable, the proposal must address both eligibility criteria and indicate the dollar amount of funding requested for each type of contamination. If the petroleum and hazardous substances are co- mingled and not easily distinguishable, the applicant must indicate which contaminant is predominant and respond to the appropriate site eligibility criteria. (Contact your Regional Brownfields Contact listed in Section VII. for more information.) Note that an applicant cannot propose an alternate site if the site identified in the proposal is determined by EPA to be ineligible for brownfields funding.

3. Assessment Coalition Grants:

Assessment Coalition proposals may be submitted by one “lead” eligible entity on behalf of a coalition of eligible entities to create a “pool” of grant funds (see Section III.A. for a list of entities eligible to apply for an Assessment Grant). A coalition is a group of three or more eligible entities. Coalition members may not have the same jurisdiction (for example, different departments in the same county) unless they are separate legal entities (for example, a city and a redevelopment agency). The grant recipient must administer the grant, be accountable to EPA for proper expenditure of the funds, and be the point of contact for the other coalition members. All Assessment Coalition Grant proposals must be community-wide proposals; therefore, the applicant does not need to respond to the site eligibility threshold criteria. Site eligibility will be determined after grant award and prior to expending grant funds at any site. Coalitions will be required to assess a minimum of five sites.

Coalition members may not be members of other coalitions, nor submit a proposal as an individual applicant, in the same competition cycle. A coalition member wishing to apply as part of a different coalition or as a separate applicant must withdraw from the coalition to be eligible for individual assessment funds.

Please note that once the “lead” eligible entity submits the proposal, it becomes the applicant, and the coalition members may not substitute another eligible entity as the lead eligible entity after the deadline for submitting proposals has passed.

A Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) documenting the coalition’s site selection process must be in place prior to the expenditure of any funds that have been awarded to the coalition. The coalition members should identify and establish relationships necessary to achieve the project’s goal. A process for successful execution of the project’s goal, to include a description and role of each coalition member, should be established along with the MOA. The purpose of the MOA is for coalition members to agree internally on the distribution of funds and the mechanisms for implementing the assessment work.

Uses of Grant Funds:

In addition to direct costs associated with the inventory, site prioritization, community involvement, assessment, and cleanup planning for brownfield sites:

1. Grant funds may be used for direct costs associated with programmatic management of the grant, such as required performance reporting and environmental oversight.

2. A local government (as defined in 2 CFR 200.64, Local Government, and summarized in Section III.A. of these guidelines) may use up to 10 percent of its grant funds for any of the following activities:
a. health monitoring of populations exposed to hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants from a brownfield site; and
b. monitoring and enforcement of any institutional control used to prevent human exposure to any hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant from a brownfield site.

3. A portion of the brownfields grant may be used to purchase environmental insurance.