Lincoln Gets $800,000 EPA Grant to Clean Up Contaminated Properties

(Lenexa, Kan., May 21, 2021) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has presented the City of Lincoln with $800,000 in EPA Brownfields funding. During an event at the former Nature’s Variety Cold Storage Facility, on the southwest edge of downtown Lincoln, Acting EPA Region 7 Administrator Edward H. Chu presented a novelty big check to Lincoln Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird.

The city will use the funding to conduct six environmental site assessments. Grant funds also will be used to conduct community involvement activities, develop cleanup and reuse plans, and clean up two priority sites. The grant project will focus on two target areas: the South (SoHay) and West Haymarket Districts.

Priority sites in the SoHay District include the former Nature’s Variety Cold Storage Facility, a former grain elevator, the former site of a Lumber Supply business, and the former Police Garage and International Harvester Building. Priority sites in the West Haymarket District include a former United Pacific Railroad property known as the JPA site, the People’s City Mission site, and a former bulk oil distribution operation targeted for an urban agriculture project.

“Through our Brownfields Program, EPA is delivering on the Biden administration’s commitment to lifting up and protecting overburdened communities across America, especially communities that have experienced long periods of disinvestment and decay,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. “These assessment and cleanup grants will not only support economic growth and job creation, but they will also empower communities to address the environmental, public health, and social issues associated with contaminated land.”

“Communities can achieve important outcomes with Brownfields MAC funding,” said Acting Region 7 Administrator Edward Chu. “Lincoln will use the funds to develop cleanup and reuse plans and on community involvement. These actions lay the foundation for building resilient and thriving neighborhoods.”

“Thank you to the EPA for this boost in resources that will help our city overcome remaining environmental challenges and grow the vibrancy of our West and South Haymarket neighborhoods,” said Lincoln Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird. “Brownfield grants like this one align with our local Climate Action Plan goals and do more than clean up polluted ground. They also create opportunities to build more housing, provide additional park land, address local food security, and improve our community’s health and well-being.”

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