OHIO RECEIVES $4 MILLION FOR BROWNFIELD CLEANUP

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 13, 2005

Columbus, OH -- Lieutenant Governor Bruce Johnson today announced Ohio has received $4 million for brownfield cleanups. The funds were awarded to the Ohio Department of Development from the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s brownfield revolving loan fund grant.

“This USEPA grant will allow us to aide local communities in cleaning up contaminated sites for future development,” said Lt. Governor Johnson, who also serves as state Development Director. “The cleanup and redevelopment of brownfield sites helps spur economic development while protecting human health and safety.”

The funds will be used to capitalize a revolving loan fund from which ODOD’s Office of Urban Development will provide loans and subgrants to support cleanup activities for sites in areas contaminated with hazardous substances. It is expected that sites will include areas in Akron, Cincinnati, Dayton, and the Buckeye Hills-Hocking Valley Regional Development District.

“The EPA’s Brownfields program puts both property and people back to work,” said USEPA Regional Administrator Bharat Mathur. “The grants we’re awarding today so Ohio communities can convert eyesores into engines of economic growth.”

The Ohio Brownfield Cleanup Revolving Loan Fund (BCRLF) capitalized by this grant from the USEPA offers below-market rate loans to assist with the remediation of a brownfield property to return it to a productive economic use in the community. The regulatory program governing a cleanup/remediation under the BCRLF investment will be the Voluntary Action Program Memorandum of Agreement administered by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.