The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Friday chose Methuen as one of 16 communities to share in Brownfields grants and loans to clean contaminated industrial sites.
Methuen was selected to receive $500,000 for a Brownfields Assessment Grant. Community-wide grant funds will be used to conduct environmental site assessments, develop cleanup plans and support community outreach activities. The target areas for this grant are downtown Methuen and the Eastern Industrial Area. Priority sites include a former metal plating plant and a former construction and trucking company site that has a long history of illegal construction debris dumping.
“The EPA’s successful Brownfields Program has helped thousands of communities safely and sustainably clean up and reuse contaminated properties. One of the many reasons I voted for the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law was to expand this program with a $1.5 billion investment that would be felt here in Massachusetts,” said U.S. Congresswoman Lori Trahan. “I’m glad to see that Methuen and Westford are the next communities to benefit firsthand from this terrific program. With this federal funding, families in these communities and across the Third District will be safer and healthier for generations to come!”
EPA New England Regional Administrator David W. Cash, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Congressman Jim McGovern, state DEP Commissioner Bonnie Heiple and other leaders celebrated the grants, expanded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, during a gathering in Worcester.
“Thanks to the Biden-Harris Administration, EPA will be making the single largest investment in Brownfields in history. This funding will revitalize communities across New England and jump start economic redevelopment and job creation in many of New England’s hardest hit and underserved communities,” said Cash.
Additional thanks and praise for the grants came from Gov. Maura Healey, U.S. Sen. Ed Markey and Congressman Seth Moulton.
According to the EPA, many communities are under economic stress, particularly those located in areas that have experienced long periods of disinvestment and lack the resources needed to initiate brownfields cleanup and redevelopment projects. As brownfields sites are transformed into community assets, they attract jobs, promote economic revitalization and transform communities into sustainable and environmentally just places.