NHDES receives Brownfields funds from EPA

On August 8, 2022, the EPA New England Regional Administrator David W. Cash, along with Congresswoman Annie Kuster, Congressman Chris Pappas, NHDES, and Nashua Mayor Jim Donchess, highlighted $4 million in Brownfields funds awarded to NHDES and other organizations to assess and cleanup sites across the state. This is part of a greatly increased Brownfields investment in New England this year made possible by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to revitalize communities across the country by cleaning up contaminated and blighted sites and redeveloping them for productive use.

Three regional planning commissions (RPCs), Nashua, Southern New Hampshire and Southwest RPCs, were each awarded $500,000 in assessment funds to perform investigations of potentially contaminated properties and assist in redevelopment planning and community outreach in their respective communities. NHDES also received a $2 million assessment grant to address brownfields sites throughout the state. In addition, BRI Development LLC, a nonprofit organization, will receive a $500,000 cleanup grant to help remediate the former Sinclair Hotel property in Bethlehem.

State-wide cleanup funding is also currently available from the NHDES Brownfields Program, which has made at least $400,000 available for two or more Cleanup Grants and is soliciting applications from interested eligible entities. Individual Grants will be limited to no more than $200,000 per site. The Cleanup Grants will provide funding to conduct cleanup activities on underutilized and abandoned properties where the redevelopment or reuse is complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance or contaminant. Additional information and applications are available on the Waste Management and Remediation Grants webpage. The deadline for submitting applications is September 15, 2022.