Also on hand in Springfield for the EPA announcement was Curt Spalding – Regional Administrator of EPA New England, David Mears – Commissioner of Vermont Dept. of Environmental Conservation, Ted Brady – Representative of Senator Leahy’s Office, Sam Haskins – Representative of Senator Sanders Office, and Pat Menduni – Representative of Congressmen Welch’s Office.
Vermont to Receive Nearly $1.5 Million in EPA Brownfields Grants
United States Environmental Protection Agency Press ReleaseContact Information: David Deegan, (617) 918-1010
(Boston, Mass. – September 13, 2012) – Today EPA announced that Vermont is the recipient of nearly $1.5 million in EPA brownfields grants. The funds will go to six separate entities and are a combination of assessment, cleanup and revolving loan fund (RLF) grants.
The Rutland Regional Planning Commission is the recipient of a $200,000 assessment grant that will help assist cities and towns throughout southwestern Vermont. Rutland RPC has been a brownfields grantee since 2003, and with today’s award, they will have received 1.6 Million dollars in Brownfields funding.
The next two grantees are nonprofit organizations receiving $200,000 a piece in cleanup grants. The Springfield Regional Development Corporation will use their funds to to remediate environmental contamination at the former Jones & Lamson Plant 1 site. This funding is being combined with two additional cleanup subgrants funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. These subgrants, funded by the Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development and the Southern Windsor County Regional Planning Commission, bring the total brownfields cleanup funding leveraged for this project to over $775,000. The Bellows Falls Historical Society is the second grantee to receive the $200,000 cleanup grant. They plan to use these funds to continue their efforts toward completing the Bellows Falls Historic Riverfront Park and Trail System. This is the second clean grant the Historical Society has received, and funding from the grant will go towards Phase II of this environmental cleanup and restoration project.
Lastly are two grantees receiving supplemental funding for their on-going Revolving Loan Fund programs.The Southern Windsor County Regional Planning Commission is receiving $400,000 in supplemental funding, bringing their Brownfields Revolving Loan Fund grant to nearly 1.8 Million dollars. The additional funding will continue to go towards cleanup and redevelopment projects in their region, including sites such as the former Perkinsville School in Weathersfield VT. In addition, the Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development is receiving $450,000 in supplemental funding to bring their Brownfields Revolving Loan Fund grant to $2,450,000. This funding will continue to go towards cleanup and redevelopment projects throughout Vermont, including sites such as the Prospect Street Redevelopment project in White River Junction.
“The funding made available from EPA will allow us to continue to redevelop contaminated sites in Vermont,” Governor Peter Shumlin said. “These awards will help Vermont communities return brownfield properties to a productive use and will allow for greater economic development opportunities.”
The goal of EPA Brownfields grants is to lead to the clean up & sustainable redevelopment of Brownfields sites, thus improving the economy and quality of life in American communities.The funding is part of more than $17 million in EPA Brownfields investments across the six New England states announced by EPA in 2012.
“EPA Brownfields funding helps strengthen the economic foundation and is a catalyst for further growth in our communities,” said Curt Spalding, regional administrator of EPA New England’s office. “Cleaning and revitalizing contaminated sites helps create jobs, and can help a community to create new businesses and neighborhood centers, while making our environment cleaner and the community healthier.”
Since the beginning of EPA’s Brownfields Program, in New England alone EPA has awarded 296 assessment grants totaling $72.7 million, 62 revolving loan fund grants and supplemental funding totaling $68.4 million and 213 cleanup grants totaling $47 million. These grant funds have paved the way for more than $1.45 billion in public and private cleanup and redevelopment investment and for 9,756 jobs in assessment, cleanup, construction and redevelopment on over 2200 sites across New England.
Nationally, the figures are impressive: As of August 2012, EPA’s Brownfields assistance has leveraged more than $18.3 billion in cleanup and redevelopment funding from a variety of public and private sources and helped create approximately 76,500 jobs. More than 18,500 properties have been assessed, and over 750 properties have been cleaned up. These investments and jobs target local, under-served and economically disadvantaged neighborhoods – places where environmental cleanups and new jobs are most needed.
More Information on EPA’s Brownfields program in New England: http://epa.gov/region1/brownfields/index.html
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Learn More about the Latest EPA News & Events in New England (http://www.epa.gov/region1/newsevents/index.html)
If I see the SAME PEOPLE getting more money AGAIN. I AM GOING TO LTERALLY THROW UP!!! Come one !! Really? !!! Give someone else a photo, give someone else a chance, give someone else freedom to do good in this town. They take it all, keep it all, and then point fingers at others. Bob Flint - you are not the savior of Springfield, VT. Stop using every photo opportunity to tell your UNTRUTH'S !!
ReplyDeleteBob Flint has personally chased more money away from Springfield than he hasaquired for his administrative fee and corner cutting construction program.
DeleteI'm inclined to agree. J&L may approach generating more money in studies & graft then it did in machine tools.
DeleteThere is absolutely nothing that remains unknown about the extent of contamination & clean up to this property. Ownership transfers between Textron, Hodes, and Goldman were all satisfied by such studies. Absolutely nothing has changed in those 30 years to warrant any further studies or clean up plans.
What's so hard to comprehend about the need to raze the structure, haul away the debris, and landscape it for redevelopment? Dollars to donuts says nothing changes in the next year. Except perhaps another prisoner clean up to create another political photo op.
Recall the $40K that was squandered just a few years ago? Some local stooge forked over the grant money for a usage study on the derelict facility. Lot of good it did.
Like the man says, "follow the money." Someone is getting a payday, and my bet is it's someone Shumlin owes a campaign favor to.
You now how I can tell when someone is telling the truth?
DeleteIt turns me on.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteI am going to commit suicide after reading these guys got money again....
ReplyDeleteNAZIs IN VERMONT
Please, do it.
DeleteThey get money becasue they work hard. #tryit
DeleteThey get the money because they are two faced LIARS
Deletewho eliminate the competition through all means necessary.
#socialismsucks
THEY GET THE MONEY BECAUSE THEY ARE IN THE CIRCLE, NOT OUT OF THE CIRCLE. IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH HARD WORK. THERE ARE A LOT OF PEOPLE WORKING HARD IN SPRINGFIELD, VT - . PLEASE !!!!!!!!!!! GIVE US HARD WORKING TAX PAYERS A BREAK - LOOK HOW HARD WE ARE WORKING SO SRDC CAN DO THERE PROJECTS. Screw them, really. We are the ones working hard.
DeleteThis is their occupation.... #doingtherejoblikeeveryoneelse
DeleteLook people.....STOP THE VERBAL NONSENSE. Bob Flint does not benefit personally from Federal Govt. money. The Town of Springfield does. The receipt of EPA money has been long overdue. It's time to make these brownfield sites marketable once again for re-development. Attacking Bob Flint is totally unproductive. Everyone is free to try to make the town better...yet some people just like to complain about those who are actually trying to make things better. Stop the verbal non-sense.
ReplyDeleteuhh......
DeleteTo access the $$$ resources BOB FLINT gets, you have to apply through BOB FLINT and BOB FLINT's friends and associates...
That is a POLITICAL BOTTLENECK.... a monopoly. a Facist socialist mis-guided mess.
No one is "attacking" BOB FLINT.
It is just the truth about life in Springfield 05156.
Justice Prince is right on the money !! No punn intended. Bob Flint is just the guy working for the people that have hyjacked this town for their OWN projects and left the rest of the town out to dry. To think all of Springfield benefits from ONE group of people getting MILLIONS AND MILLIONS of dollars over and over and over again.... is really, I'm sorry - it is SILLY. Just look around Springfield. Count the money and wonder - how did Springfield benefit? ONE GROUP did benefit and that is the group we are speaking of. It is the truth, the whole truth, and while the rest of the town wastes away. SOME OF US WANT TO SPEAK UP !! AND TELL THE TRUTH. Bob Flint is just a pawn. Being pushed around the board. One wrong move, and he's off the playing board like the rest of us - living and surviving in Springfield. This isn't about Bob Flint - it is about the SAME people getting MILIONS AND MILLIONS while this town wastes away. I have seen all the money going to Soringfield, time and time again. And I have not seen a better town for it. SORRY, BUT THAT IS THE TRUTH. They want this town to be a "needy" town so they can access the $ for help and then that $ is where? Who is benefiting? Not "THE TOWN" for sure.
DeleteToo bad Springfield doesn't receive money for "building up" instead of "cleaning up". Springfield has to get out of it's 1983 mentality and realize they're a shell of a town and need to move forward and become a production entity for Vermont. I remember the days when Springfield used to make fun of Ludlow for being a ghetto... I guess Ludlow gets the last laugh.
ReplyDeleteAin't that the truth!!!
ReplyDeleteLook! More free money from the tax payers! One boondoggle after another to line the pockets of a select few. Isn't it about time to ban the Springfield Regional Development Corporation?
ReplyDeleteYES IT IS !!!
DeleteWhy don't they just get those kind folks from the Black River Action Team to clean up all of the PCB's and contaminents in J and L? The BRAT folks do an awesome job of cleaning up the river and they do it for free!
ReplyDeleteIt's taken this long to cleanup a property that's been vacant for 30 years? Where are the priorities of the "leaders" of Springfield. If they had forced a cleanup back when the site was vacated in the early 80's they would have been able to market this site decades ago and Springfield wouldn't be such an eyesore to visitors passing thru.
ReplyDeleteIt's taken this long to cleanup a property that's been vacant for 30 years? Where are the priorities of the "leaders" of Springfield. If they had forced a cleanup back when the site was vacated in the early 80's they would have been able to market this site decades ago and Springfield wouldn't be such an eyesore to visitors passing thru.
ReplyDeleteIt may have been vacant, but it was being held by the private sector because these types of property cannot be sold because of the environmental problems. It isn't until they go formally bankrupt that the public sector really can get in there and start getting it cleaned up. Once they get control then they can get started.
DeleteSpringfield is behind the curve because we held onto the idea that the mills were coming back longer than the surrounding communities who had already had the reality check, gotten rid of the residual machine shop hangers on, and started the lengthy clean up process. The old machine shops were incredibly dirty when it came to toxic wastes and they left massive pollution in the soil beneath the plants. Because of the redtape involved, litigation, bankruptcy of the former owners, and lack of funding it usually takes at least a decade to get the properties cleaned up and fit for resale after you get the polluters out of the building. What this involves is the public sector having to clean up an incredible mess left behind by bankrupt private sector entities. This isn't a boondoggle, its a mess that has to be cleaned up to protect the Black River and the future occupants of the property and the community in general. Get a grip.
ReplyDeleteListen up! Jack, the Springfield Regional Development Corporation shill has spoken! Free money for the elite!
DeleteCould you please define the elite?
DeleteIf you have to ask, you don't belong to the club of preferential treatment....
DeleteHow do I get in the club?
DeleteWho in Springfield is elite?
Was it some secret machine tool town clan that only a certain few who sniffed the toxins of the plants know about?
Jack, care to guess what the number one employer in Vermont is? Also care to guess what trade field has the highest starting and average pay?
DeleteGlad you folks with liberal arts, history, and women's studies majors are available to wait on me and mow my lawn.
Sorry but club membership is closed to keep out the riff raff.
Delete30 years is unacceptable, red tape or not.
DeleteDon't know who the number one employer in Vermont is, but I do know that the old machine shops in Springfield were dirty, and not the kind of dirt that NOSAG complains about -- but the serious stuff involving solvents, petroleum derivatives, etc. They are not easy quick fixes, that is why the companys hold onto them rather than try to sell them -- once buyers come in then things normally start hitting the fan. Ask an old timer about the condition of the Black River during the heyday of the machine shops.
DeleteThanks Jack for yet another shill post for yet another boondoggle.....whatta surprise! Those bad NOSAG peeps daring to question the dirty air they will forced to breathe for someone else to make big bucks with tax payer monies. How dare they!
DeleteThe Springfield High School Alumni Association needs to honor Bob Flint at their annual banquet again only this time the appropriate attire will be Bozo clown costumes with foam red noses.
ReplyDeleteThe Truth
ReplyDeleteThe Whole Truth
And Nothing But The Truth
Springfield has liberal leadership, this lack of common sense is to be expected.
ReplyDeleteThis has nothing to do with common sense. It has everything to do with cents and dollars for a few while the town is looted.
DeleteAfter 30 years it does have to do with common sense. If the folks in Springfield continue to elect the liberal mindset then they deserve what they get. Sad 3 decades for a once thriving town. When I ask current residents what Springfield is most known for they say "The Simpsons"... now THAT'S sad.
DeleteAnonymous 1:26, can you please tell me what liberal leadership decisions have been made for the town? Please be specific. I would also like to hear how your conservative ideas would be different.
DeleteAnd, GO.
1) Property taxes are going up 2.2 percent this year, as the Springfield Select Board adopted the new rate at a recent meeting.
Delete2) Water rates are going up for the second year in a row, and town officials expect another increase next year. A 13.77 percent increase in water rates, and a 2.6 percent decrease in sewage rates.
3) The $27 million budget for schools in a town of less then 9,500 people.
and these are liberal decisions how?
DeleteI guess you consider any price increase to be a liberal decision.
$27,000,000.00 / 9,500 people = $2842 per person.
DeleteYou should be abe to send everybody in town to college at that rate.
not just the kids... EVERYBODY
Again, how is this a liberal decision/policy/belief? Do conservatives not want to spend money on education?
DeleteThe liberals keep raising my rent every year.
DeleteGet a grip the it is not the liberals, or the conservatives, it is the CORRUPT & GREEDY!!!!
Deletei heard it is gonna cost 5-8 million to clean up that site...
ReplyDeleteI heard it was 900 billion.
ReplyDeleteJust a thought.
ReplyDeleteWith all the hoopla about the old, contaminated buildings - does anyone care about the people who worked at those unhealthy, toxic, contaminated factories? Doesn't seem like there is much concern for them.
kate, your vision is inspiring.
DeleteThank you for the point of view.
Yet another truth and another piece to the puzzle.
LET US HAVE PUBLIC ACCESS TO MEDICAL AND HEALTH RECORDS FROM THESE BROWNSFIELDS.
As a former machinist we know that when we walk into a factory with coolants in the air that we are risking our health. In fact it's something we learned in the first year of the Machine Apprentice program back at SHS in the 70's.
Deletewhat is in the river ?
DeleteSmile and say CHEESE! From exporting machine tools to importing government checks and social outcasts, Springfield really is ON THE MOVE - to even greater obscurity, if that's possible!
ReplyDeleteHear, Hear!!!
DeleteI worked at J&L for 35 years. We build the best machines in the world. This site (Plant One) needs to be cleaned up and put back into productive usages. It should have been done years ago. It was a great place to work!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure it WAS.....until you greedy union thugs drove the business overseas.
Delete