The Cost to Clean Up Contaminated or Blighted Properties
With help from federal grant money from the Brownfields Program, run by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in Arizona, the White Mountain Apache Tribe cleaned up contamination from meth labs in its tribal housing units, a Kearns Canyon school district got rid asbestos in some of its buildings, and South Tucson redeveloped areas once home to blighted hotels and gas stations. This year, the EPA gave the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality about $750,000 to distribute to projects throughout the state. One of the grants recently went to Kingman, which will use more than $150,000 to remove asbestos and mold from a city office building built in 1963. Community members plan to turn it into a veterans assistance headquarters, including housing space for veterans. Jennie Cure, who coordinates the grants for the state, said state officials hope to receive up to $1 million this upcoming fiscal year to pursue more abatement projects.