The Brownfields Program, rapidly nearing its 20th anniversary, promotes cleanup of the approximately 450,000 Brownfields locations in the US.
The EPA Administrator in Seattle, Washington, Dennis McLerran, feels that these grants are great catalysts for communities. He says:
“They jumpstart local projects, bringing valuable real estate back into productive use.”
The grants are going to be used by the Tacoma Housing Authority for the Cleanup of Salishan Housing, phases 1-7, as well as the cleanup of Hillside Terrace 1 and 2.
Brownfields are places in which reuse, redevelopment, or expansion are complicated by a possible hazardous contaminant or pollutant in the vicinity. As of 2002, this definition also includes lands that are scarred by mines, or sites contaminated with petroleum or illegal drug manufacture. Grants are awarded through a national competition - a fact that the Housing Authority could certainly add to any brochure printing it has planned.
The three sites the Housing Authority is looking to cleanup are all places that have been in residential use for more than 60 years, and which have been contaminated by the production, use, or storage of methamphetamine. Those with questions about the project may contact Sandy Burgess at the Tacoma Housing Authority.