Brownfields Buzz
Your hub for brownfields spotlights, tools, events, news, and more!
June 2026
| | Workers at Century Electric in St. Louis pouring molten metal. (Source: Missouri Historical Society Collections.) | | |
What can a community accomplish with more than $8 million in brownfields funding and technical assistance over two decades?
A recent feature from EPA Region 7 highlights several Missouri communities that have successfully transformed former industrial properties into community assets. We've pulled out a few takeaways from Springfield and Kansas City below, but we encourage you to read the full article to learn more about these projects and how they can inform brownfields redevelopment in your community.
| Infographic showing the various funding amounts the city of Springfield has received, totaling $8 million. (Source: EPA.gov/MO). | |
Springfield:
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Springfield has leveraged more than $8 million in EPA Brownfields funding and technical assistance and conducted more than 300 environmental site assessments over the past two decades.
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Jordan Valley Park, one of Springfield's earliest brownfields redevelopment projects, transformed a blighted industrial corridor and former limestone quarry into a community gathering space and greenway.
- Springfield's brownfields revitalization efforts have supported projects including Hammons Field, the History Museum on the Square, the West Meadows former railyard, affordable housing developments, and numerous businesses.
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EPA Brownfields funding and technical assistance have helped spur more than $460 million in public and private investment throughout Springfield, with additional redevelopment projects still underway.
| Removal of an underground mixing vat at the Armour Road Superfund Site in North Kansas City. (Source: EPA.gov/MO.) | |
Kansas City:
- One of the first properties redeveloped under EPA's Brownfields Program in Kansas City was a 22-acre former railway railyard contaminated with arsenic, lead paint, asbestos, and underground storage tanks.
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Today, the 62,000-square-foot roundhouse that once serviced trains arriving at Union Station serves as office space at Kansas City's Westside Business Park.
- Located on Armour Road in North Kansas City, a former herbicide facility contaminated with arsenic and listed on the Superfund Program's National Priorities List (NPL), has since been transformed into a mixed-use commercial area.
| | Preparing for FY27 MARC Grants? | | |
EPA has announced anticipated FY27 Brownfields grant funding.
Lower funding amounts means a more competitive grant cycle lays ahead, and our team wants to ensure that you're prepared to make redevelopment happen. KSUTAB.org houses a variety of online resources to help your community at every step, including contact info for requesting individualized support.
Current and upcoming opportunities include:
Communities, Tribes, and organizations interested in applying for EPA Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund, and Cleanup (ARC) and Job Training (JT) Grants are encouraged to begin preparing early.
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Upcoming Events & Training Opportunities
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The events featured above are just a glimpse of what's coming up this summer. KSU TAB is hosting and partnering on webinars, workshops, and regional events covering workforce development, grant funding, redevelopment planning, community engagement, and more.
Visit ksutab.org/events to view the full calendar and register for upcoming events.
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In 2026, Grow America and ICMA is hosting a new, no-cost, in-person training series for EPA Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) grantees nationwide. Hosted in four different regions, this hands-on workshop series brings the Brownfields RLF teams together for focused learning, practical exercises, and peer-to-peer exchange. Each of these day-and-a-half-long workshops provide attendees with core knowledge on working effectively with developers, project pipeline development, underwriting approaches, and RLF process and policies.
Details for the final two workshops:
- New Orleans, Louisiana RLF Workshop: October 6-7, 2026 @ The Intercontinental New Orleans
- Clark County, Nevada RLF Workshop: December 8-9, 2026 @ AC Hotel Symphony Park Las Vegas
| | Mark Your Calendars for Brownfields 2027 | | |
The National Brownfields Training Conference will return May 25–28, 2027, in Salt Lake City, Utah. Hosted by EPA and ICMA, the conference is the nation's largest event focused on the intersection of brownfields redevelopment, land revitalization, and economic growth.
Registration is expected to open in Fall 2026.
Visit gobrownfields.org for conference updates and additional information.
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Build Local Workforce Capacity with EPA’s Brownfields Job Training Program | | To support communities exploring this opportunity, we’ve compiled a set of resources to help you get started: |
| The KSU TAB program is operated through the Center for Hazardous Substance Research (CHSR) at Kansas State University. | | |
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Follow your KSU TAB Team on LinkedIn and Facebook!
Visit our website at www.ksutab.org.
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