El Paso Downtown Management District Awarded $500,000 in Federal Funding for Economic Development & Infrastructure Projects
EL PASO, TX (June 28, 2022) –The Downtown Management District (DMD) has been selected as a grant recipient of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Brownfields Program. The organization has been awarded $500,000 for assessment efforts.
EPA’s Brownfields Program empowers states, communities, and other stakeholders to work together to prevent, assess, safely clean up, and sustainably reuse brownfields. A brownfield site is real property whose expansion, redevelopment, or reuse may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant. Since its inception in 1995, EPA’s Brownfields Program has worked to help states and communities around the country clean up and revitalize Brownfield sites.
At the El Paso Downtown Management District, the Brownfields Assessment Grant will be used to inventory sites and conduct nine Phase I and six Phase II environmental site assessments within Downtown El Paso. Grant funds also will also be utilized to develop six reuse plans and support community engagement activities. The target area for this grant is the El Paso Downtown Management District, which contains over 100 possible brownfield sites following a long period of disinvestment. This is the DMD’s second Brownfields Assessment Grant. In 2020, a coalition led by the DMD was awarded a $600,000 assessment grant. The coalition included the City of El Paso and El Paso County.
“Through our original Brownfields grant in 2020, we have demonstrated that these funds can be used to support development and reinvestment in our community while addressing various environmental concerns. This new grant is a testament to our success and will be key to fostering greater investment in Downtown El Paso. We are eager to bringing our work to Downtown property owners and future investors,” said Joe Gudenrath, DMD Executive Director.
This federal funding will support ongoing efforts to revitalize and remediate environmental issues within Downtown El Paso, a key area of economic development and growth within the El Paso Region.
For further information, including specific grant information, visit the EPA Brownfields Website at http://www.epa.gov/brownfields.