City of Springfield selected for $500K grant from EPA

The city of Springfield is among grant recipients picked for a combined $8.2 million in Missouri through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Springfield is set to receive $500,000 through the EPA's brownfields grant initiative, according to an EPA news release issued this week.

“This gives Springfield the ability to plan for the redevelopment of properties that have stood in the way of economic progress for too long,” Springfield Mayor Jeff Schrag said in the release. “This funding will help us address environmental concerns and begin implementing key priorities outlined in Forward SGF."

The release indicates that the EPA grant funding in Springfield will be used to inventory brownfield sites and conduct 20 Phase I and 10 Phase II environmental site assessments. Additionally, officials say cleanup work will focus on the Chase Street and College Street corridors, with specific sites identified as "a 24,000-square-foot foundry complex; a 5.62-acre rail yard; and a 0.96-acre site previously used for auto sales, repair and salvage."

Other statewide grant recipients include Kansas City, at $4 million, and the Bootheel Regional Planning Commission, at $1.2 million.