Los Angeles Sanitation and Environment wins brownfields grant

Los Angeles Sanitation and Environment (LASAN) has announced it is a recipient of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Community-Wide Brownfield Assessment Grant.

In the mid-1990s, the EPA began providing seed funding to local governments to develop and recover brownfield sites, which are defined as areas blighted by contamination, pollutants or other hazardous materials. 

“Los Angeles Sanitation and Environment is honored to receive the EPA’s Community-Wide Brownfield Assessment Grant,” says Barbara Romero, director and general manager for Los Angeles Sanitation and Environment. “This crucial funding empowers us to identify and evaluate brownfield sites throughout our city, engage local communities and help transform these idle areas into vibrant, sustainable spaces for all Angelenos. We are deeply grateful for the EPA’s support in advancing our mission of urban revitalization, and the timing is extremely fortunate given the fiscal realities of the current budgetary cycle.”

RELATED: Converting brownfields into useful sites

The $500,000 grant will be used to restore properties hobbled by decay and in need of support, LASAN says. Past grant awardees have seen improvements in environmental protection efforts, increased local tax bases, the proliferation of job growth and the return of the afflicted properties to beneficial use in the affected communities.

“By tackling polluted and abandoned properties, these Brownfields grants restore local pride, improve neighborhood health and ignite economic vitality,” says EPA Pacific Southwest Regional Administrator Josh F.W. Cook. “This program transforms liabilities into cherished community assets, building a stronger, more prosperous future for all Californians.”