E.P.A. awards $400,000 brownfields grant to City of Lodi, California

SAN FRANCISCO - The E.P.A. announced today that the City of Lodi, Calif., will gain $400,000 in federal grant funds to assess contaminated properties for cleanup and redevelopment in the city's industrial areas. Lodi is among 147 communities nationwide receiving backing to assess and clean up historically contaminated properties, also known as brownfields, for reuse and development.

"EPA is committed to helping communities strengthen their local economy and neighborhoods by cleaning up abandoned industrial and commercial properties - places where environmental cleanups and new jobs are needed most," said Jared Blumenfeld, EPA's Regional Administrator for the Pacific Southwest. "These funds will focus on Lodi's industrial areas for downtown revitalization."

Lodi will use the brownfields funds to target 5 neighborhoods within the Union Pacific Railroad and Hwy. 99 corridors that are among the city's most economically distressed. The brownfields assessment will help Lodi in its efforts to create economic diversity through infill industrial development in industrial areas of the city, and support their downtown revitalization initiatives, including transit oriented development and open space.

Since the inception of EPA's brownfields plan in 1995, cumulative plan investments have leveraged in excess of $22 billion from a variety of public and private sources for study, cleanup and redevelopment activities. This equates to an average of $17.79 leveraged per E.P.A. brownfields dollar expended. These investments have resulted in approximately 105,942 jobs nationwide. EPA's brownfields plan empowers states, communities, and other stakeholders to work together to assess, safely clean up, and sustainably reuse brownfields sites.

More information on EPA's brownfields program: http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/

More information on the City of Lodi's downtown revitalization: http://www.lodi.gov/eco_development/index.html

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