Rep. Barragán Secures $500,000 EPA Grant to Revitalize Carson’s Brownfield Sites

LONG BEACH — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency or EPA May 20 announced $3 million in grants from President Biden’s Investing in America agenda to expedite the assessment and cleanup of so-called brownfield sites in southern California, including the City of Carson in Congresswoman Nanette Barragán’s (CA-44) Congressional district. Brownfield sites are contaminated properties that often constitute blight on a community. This investment from EPA’s Brownfields Multipurpose, Assessment, and Cleanup (MAC) grant program, funded by the Infrastructure Law will help turn contaminated, vacant properties into community assets and create rewarding jobs, fostering economic revitalization in overburdened communities.

The City of Carson will receive a $500,000 Brownfields community-wide assessment grant to conduct community engagement activities and identify and prioritize sites in three census tracts. Sites that will be prioritized have been disproportionately burdened by climate change, pollution and a lack of access to quality healthcare, affordable and reliable energy, housing, transportation, clean water, effective wastewater systems and/or problematic workforce development. Two high-priority sites are a former gas station and a former landfill site now used as an automobile auction facility.  The grant will also be used to complete environmental site assessments, develop cleanup alternative evaluations and conduct visioning sessions.

EPA selected the City of Carson, Orange County Council of Governments or OCCOG, and Orange County Transportation Authority to receive three grants totaling $3 million in competitive EPA Brownfields funding through the MAC Grant program.

Details: See a full breakdown of the funding by EPA here.