EPA Awards Oregon $6.85 Million to Revitalize Contaminated Sites and Boost Local Economies

By Diane Megaw On May 22, 2025

Astoria’s lush landscape frames the Astoria-Megler Bridge as the city secures $2 million in EPA Brownfield Grants to restore contaminated sites and rejuvenate the community. | FILE - Astoria, Oregon | Photo by Seth Smigelski

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) indicated last week that $6,850,000 in Brownfields Grants would go to communities in Oregon. The agency’s investment seeks to provide an economic return for communities that goes hand-in-hand with environmental benefits.

EPA Grants To Oregon For Community Cleanups

The EPA awarded $267 million in Brownfield grants nationwide. The EPA’s Brownfields Program began in 1995 and has funded almost $2.9 billion in projects that assess and clean up contaminated properties.

These blighted properties were then returned to productive reuse. Investments from the grants have leveraged more than $42 billion in cleanup and redevelopment and over 220,500 jobs from both public and private sources.

These grants include Assessment (which includes funding for brownfield inventories, together with costs associated with planning, environmental assessments, and community outreach), Revolving Loan Fund (available for communities that have viable cleanup projects ready for work but have depleted their funds), and Cleanup Grants but federal grant recipients must satisfy legal and administrative requirements to receive funds. EPA Region 10 Administrator Emma Pokon said, “These grants show EPA can both empower businesses and ensure taxpayers have clean air, land, and water.”

Oregon was allocated the following four Assessment Grants:

Northwest Oregon Economic Alliance: $1,200,000.
City of Beaverton: $500,000.
City of Portland: $500,000.
Tillamook County: $500,000.

Three Cleanup Grants- to carry out cleanup activities at Brownfield sites owned by the recipients, were granted to Oregon:

City of Astoria: $2,000,000.
North Plains Urban Renewal Agency: $500,000.
City of Portland: $500,000.

One Supplemental Revolving Loan Fund (RFL) grant- awarded to high-performing recipients to help communities implement cleanup and redevelopment projects on contaminated brownfield properties, was awarded to Oregon:

Oregon Business Development Department: $650,000.

According to the EPA, the Brownfield grants put their commitment to protecting both human health and the environment into action.