E.P.A. Brownfields Grant Will Aid City of Saint Helens with Projects to Revitalize Waterfront Area

(Seattle - March 17, 2015) The City of Saint Helens, Oregon has been selected to gain a $200,000 Brownfields Area-Wide Planning (AWP) grant from E.P.A. to help move towards the goal of revitalizing a former industrial property along the Columbia River waterfront.

The City of Saint Helens will use the backing to work with the community and other stakeholders to develop an area-wide project and implementation strategy for the downtown waterfront district plan area. The Area-Wide Planning funds will focus on planning to support the revitalization of brownfields along the city's downtown waterfront, particularly the Veneer Project and White Paper Mill sites. 2 mill closures in 2008 and 2012 devastated the local economy in the plan area and left the 900-acre industrial plan area underutilized. The city will also continue to build on existing planning activities for new business creation, development of transportation links and housing rehabilitation.

"We support the vision of the City of Saint Helens as they work to revitalize and sustainably reuse these historic industrial properties in their community," said Rick Albright, Director of E.P.A. Region ten Office of Environmental Cleanup. Key partners who will work with the city on this plan include various public, private and non-profit entities, including Boise Cascade, Saint Helens Economic Development Corporation and the Port of Saint Helens.

The grant is one of 20 new Brownfields AWP grants selected for backing across the nation. Assistance provided by this plan supports local efforts to perform research needed to develop a Project and implementation strategy to assess, cleanup and reuse brownfields.

Read the fact sheet on the City of Saint Helen AWP proposal: http://go.usa.gov/3CZhY

Read the national announcement listing all 20 winners at: http://go.usa.gov/3CZGh

For more information on the Brownfields Area-Wide Planning Program: http://epa.gov/brownfields/areawide_grants.htm

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