EPA Awards $1 Million Brownfields Grant to Jamestown for Chadakoin River Corridor Cleanup and Redevelopment
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced at a press event in Jamestown, New York, on October 22 that the city has been selected to receive a $1 million EPA Brownfields Multipurpose Grant to address polluted properties along the Chadakoin River Corridor and advance community-supported redevelopment. EPA Region 2 Administrator Michael Martucci, U.S. Representative Nick Langworthy (R-NY-23), and agency partners highlighted the ongoing efforts to assess, clean up, and redevelop brownfields along the corridor.
According to EPA, the project focuses on former furniture manufacturing facilities and other legacy industrial properties, including sites that previously supported textile mills, chemical companies, metalworking operations, lumber yards, and heavy manufacturing. The city's priority redevelopment sites include the 2.3-acre former Crawford Furniture Facility, two former heavy industrial complexes, and a 2-acre lumber and manufacturing site.
Grant funds will support up to six Phase I assessments, which look at historical records and past sampling information, and up to six Phase II environmental site assessments, which include more intrusive sampling and assessment. The funds will also support cleanup and reuse planning, community engagement, and the cleanup of at least one priority site. EPA said the work is intended to transform abandoned and contaminated properties into productive spaces that can support business expansion, waterfront recreation, healthier neighborhoods, and future economic growth.
"The City of Jamestown's Brownfields project represents an important opportunity to address the environmental legacy of former industrial properties while building a stronger future for the community," said EPA Regional Administrator Michael Martucci. "Through assessment, cleanup, planning, and meaningful community engagement, this partnership can help return underused properties to productive reuse." Congressman Nick Langworthy said the $1 million investment is a critical piece of the puzzle in writing the city's next chapter, noting that vacant industrial properties have long served as reminders of factories that closed and jobs that moved overseas, and that through the Core to Shore vision, federal and local partners are working together to unlock the city's potential and create new opportunities for investment, business growth, and waterfront revitalization. He thanked EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin and Regional Administrator Michael Martucci for recognizing what the project means to Jamestown.
EPA said community engagement will be an important part of the project, with residents and other stakeholders given opportunities to provide input on assessment activities, cleanup priorities, reuse planning, and the future of the targeted properties. Participants in the Jamestown event included representatives of EPA, Congressman Langworthy, the City of Jamestown, and other federal, state, county, and local partners.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：Jamestown 市政大楼（Jamestown Municipal Building）；G. Edward Johnson 摄，CC BY 4.0，Wikimedia Commons
