EPA awards $250K to Fort Dodge, Iowa, to clean brownfield site

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 7’s Land, Chemical and Redevelopment Division Director DeAndré Singletary has awarded $250,000 to the city of Fort Dodge, Iowa, as part of the EPA’s brownfields grant selection.

The city was selected for its efforts to clean the Greenleaf health care facility. The former nursing home was contaminated with inorganic materials, including asbestos. Grant funds also will be used to conduct community outreach, such as public meetings, and will go toward developing a website for the project.

“This brownfields grant is a significant step toward cleaning up contamination at a vacant former nursing home that is a safety hazard for children in the area,” Singletary says. “We are proud to once again partner with Fort Dodge, and we share their commitment to enhancing the lives of those who live near this site by cleaning up contamination and engaging with the community.”

The grant is part of $254.5 million in brownfields grants for 265 selected communities and are supported by President Joe Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure law, which provides a total of $1.5 billion to advance environmental justice, spur economic revitalization and create jobs by cleaning up contaminated, polluted or hazardous brownfield properties.

”Fort Dodge is grateful to be awarded funds to help in the cleanup efforts of the former nursing home,” says Vickie Reeck, Fort Dodge Community and Economic Development director. “The property has been vacant for nearly a decade and has continued to deteriorate, detracting from the neighborhood. This cleanup is long overdue, and we’re excited to get started.”

The next National Brownfields Training Conference will be held Aug. 16-19 in Oklahoma City. The EPA says this conference is the largest gathering of stakeholders focused on cleaning up and reusing former commercial and industrial properties and is offered every two years. EPA co-sponsors this event with the International City/County Management Association. Click here for more information.