Brownfields Buzz

Your hub for brownfields spotlights, tools, events, news, and more

June, 2024

Spotlight

Congratulations to New Grantees! What's Next?!

The EPA recently announced the applications that were selected for funding for the FY2024 Brownfields Multipurpose, Assessment, and Cleanup (MAC) Grants. Congratulations to the 180 communities that have been awarded a total of $233 million for MAC grants! If your community was awarded and you have questions regarding next steps and best practices for successfully administering an EPA MAC grant, please reach out to your KSU TAB Regional staff or find the TAB provider for your state and they will be able to offer guidance.

If your application was not selected for funding during the FY2024 Brownfields Grant cycle, KSU TAB can help you prepare to reapply for the upcoming FY2025 Brownfields Grant competition. The TAB EZ Grant Writing E-tool, which is updated every year to reflect the most current grant guidelines, walks users through Brownfields Multipurpose, Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund (RLF), or Cleanup grant applications section by section, offering helpful hints and other guidance intended to assist in drafting competitive proposals. KSU TAB also offers regional and national in-person and virtual grant writing events to provide participants with tips, tricks, and best practices for preparing an EPA Brownfields Grant. Follow us on Facebook and LinkedIn and regularly check out our Events webpage to stay up-to-date on these opportunities. Additionally, KSU TAB Regional staff is available to discuss strategies and offer guidance to help you develop a successful proposal, as well as reviewing your draft proposal and offering feedback designed to increase the competitiveness of your application. It’s never too early to begin preparing your EPA Brownfields grant proposal. Reach out to us and get started today!

Toolbox

Platform for Exploring Environmental Records (PEER)

The Platform for Exploring Environmental Records (PEER) is an interactive, open-source data tool that informs brownfields redevelopment and planning decisions that was developed by KSU TAB Partner, Community Lattice, in partnership with KSU TAB, with funding from data.org's Inclusive Growth and Recovery Challenge. The tool aggregates and displays publicly-available environmental records in an easy-to-use, accessible way. By using PEER, communities can immediately find critical site data to help them identify and prioritize brownfields in their community for assessment, and draw in the right professionals, partners, and resources to move forward. For each environmental record, PEER provides a Revitalization Risk Rating (RRR), which indicates the likelihood of encountering a release of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant on or adjacent to the associated property. This tool is a wonderful resource for understanding environmental records in your community and can be helpful for locating environmental data that may be incorporated into Brownfields or other grant proposals.

Events

KSU TAB has regional and national events that are scheduled throughout the year. Please visit our Events webpage to find an event near you!

News & Noteworthy

Applications Currently Being Accepted for Indigenous Land Revitalization Community Science Projects

The KSU Center for Hazardous Substance Research (CHSR), home of the National Technical Assistance to Brownfields (TAB), Regions 5-8 TAB, and the Tribal TAB programs, has been selected by the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Thriving Earth Exchange to serve as a Community Science Hub. The theme of the hub is land revitalization for Tribal communities. Our first cohort of projects is actively underway. Indigenous communities from US EPA Region 6, 7, and 8 are working with teams of AGU partners (Community Science Fellows, Scientists, subject matter experts) to advance efforts. Topics include: brownfields and cultural preservation; traditional knowledge exchange; land rematriation of open dumps to ecotourism; Indigenous environmental justice; and household hazardous waste management.

We will be launching a new cohort and we are actively seeking seven Indigenous communities to be part of this exciting opportunity! Applications are due August 1, 2024. Click the link above to get started or contact us and we can assist you in completing the application process, which is very brief and simple and takes only about 10 minutes to complete. A full project scope is not needed in order to apply; simply complete the application indicating some of your project ideas and we, along with AGU experts, will assist in crafting your ideas into a project appropriate for the community science effort. Those selected will receive technical support and a small amount of flexible funding. If your community has an environmental, climate, or land use need, let’s create a project together, this may be the seed to get started!

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