MADISON – State grants are now available to help Wisconsin communities with properties that have known or suspected environmental contamination.
Brownfield Site Assessment Grants (SAG) are available to help municipalities jump start investigation activities at brownfields, which are abandoned, idle or underused industrial or commercial properties where redevelopment is hindered by real or perceived contamination.
Applications and instructions for the grants, which are administered by the Department of Natural Resources, are available on the DNR Web site.
Applications for both large and small grants are due Nov. 2, 2007. Small grants range from $2,000 up to $30,000 and large grants range from $30,000 up to $100,000.
Brownfield properties are located in every type of community across Wisconsin. During the last round of grants, more than half of the awards were to rural communities or counties.
The DNR expects $1.7 million in SAG funding available for the current round of grants, depending on the final amount approved in the state budget. Once the state budget is signed by Gov. Jim Doyle, the DNR will allocate 60 percent of the SAG funds for small grants and 40 percent for large grants.
Any local government (city, village, town, county, redevelopment authority, community development authority or housing authority) or tribe is eligible to complete an application for a grant. While SAGs do not fund cleanups, the grants do fund the following activities:
- Environmental site assessments.
- Site investigations.
- Demolition.
- Asbestos removal associated with demolition.
- Removal of tanks and drums.
Since 2000, the DNR has awarded $11.6 million in 352 grants to 180 communities around the state for work on 1,185 acres of land. The State Legislature first authorized $1.45 million for the SAG program in 1999 after the Brownfields Study Group, a state-wide advisory task force, recommended the program in their 1998 final report.
More information about Site Assessment Grants, including handy tips on whether a property is eligible for a grant, is available on the DNR Remediation and Redevelopment (RR) Program web site