CUOMO RECOGNIZES EARTH DAY WITH $25 MILLION IN GRANTS TO REDEVELOP ABANDONED INDUSTRIAL SITES

WASHINGTON - As Americans marked Earth Day, Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Andrew Cuomo said today that HUD will help improve the environment by awarding $25 million in grants to communities across the nation to redevelop polluted and abandoned industrial sites known as brownfields and attract new job-producing businesses.

Cuomo said HUD will hold a nationwide competition to select communities to receive the $25 million in Economic Development Initiative grants this spring and summer. The average grant size is expected to be about $1 million.

"As Earth Day unites the country in a renewed commitment to a healthier environment, I look forward to bringing new energy to neglected parts of urban America in desperate need of environmental cleanup and economic turnaround," Cuomo said. "Working in partnership with communities, we will transform abandoned industrial sites into new locations for businesses that will create jobs and help revitalize cities."

The new brownfields funding will boost extensive efforts underway by HUD and the entire Clinton Administration to clean up and revitalize the deteriorated and often contaminated sites.

Cuomo and mayors across the country have made brownfields redevelopment a top priority for the revitalization of urban America. In addition to Economic Development Initiative Grants, HUD's Community Development Block Grants and Section 108 Loan Guarantee Program are being harnessed to help communities in their efforts to return once-thriving areas to productive use.

President Clinton's proposed 1999 budget seeks $50 million for HUD to further expand brownfields redevelopment. The proposed budget would leverage an additional $200 million in investment in brownfields and create about 28,000 construction and related jobs.

Within the next few weeks, communities seeking the new brownfields grants will be able to obtain application information, copies of program regulations and other information that will help them prepare and submit grant applications by calling 1-800-HUD-8929. Information will also be readily accessible on the Internet at http://www.hud.gov.

Since 1993, the Clinton Administration has taken a series of actions to clean up and redevelop brownfields and return them to productive use, including: providing seed money to communities for revitalization; removing legal barriers to redevelopment; and providing a targeted tax incentive to businesses that purchase and clean up these sites.