Every year, the EPA Office of Brownfields and Land Revitalization (OBLR) awards grants to state and local governments, and nonprofit organizations for the purpose of assessing and cleaning up the estimated 450,000 brownfields in the United States. Brownfields multipurpose, assessment, and cleanup (MAC) grants are an essential funding tool for local governments to kick start brownfields revitalization in their communities. EPA anticipates awarding $53 million of grant funding.

Multipurpose grants provide funding to conduct a range of eligible assessment and cleanup activities at one or more brownfield sites in a target area. Assessment grants provide funding for brownfield inventories, planning, environmental assessments, and community outreach. Cleanup grants provide funding to carry out cleanup activities at brownfield sites owned by the applicant.

Recipients across the country bring the grants as a critical resource to public/private partnerships that leverage jobs, housing, increased tax revenue, economic development, improved public health, and environmental quality.

In FY2020 alone these grants leveraged $4.5B in investment, and made 42,226 acres of land ready for reuse. The FY 2021 application deadline is October 28, 2020. Grant application resources can be found here. 

ICMA and EPA have cosponsored the National Brownfields Conference since 2003. The next conference is scheduled for 2021 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.