Six Connecticut municipalities have received more than $8 million for brownfield remediation.
The grants come from President Joe Biden’s 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
Connecticut’s industrial areas are filled with polluted and abandoned sites and buildings, which pose an environmental and physical threat. Just last week, a brownfield in Waterbury was engulfed in flames for hours, and three firefighters were injured trying to contain it.
Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Commissioner Katie Dykes said this money will give the state the opportunity to transform some of the sites.
“This is the beating heart of the industrial revolution here in Waterbury, here across Connecticut,” Dykes said. “And we know the future economic opportunities that we can unleash when we can address that legacy contamination.”
Lawmakers announced the funding at the site of the Waterbury fire.
U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) said fires are common in brownfields.
“[Firefighters] often have to go to these blighted properties to put out fires that result when they are abandoned,” Blumenthal said. “People use them as temporary shelter, they start fires, and the fires spread.”
U.S. Representative Jahana Hayes (D-CT) grew up in Waterbury, which received a $1 million grant. Hayes said the city’s brownfields have made the area dangerous for kids to live in.
“There used to be a sign on the fence about a block back that warned kids not to play in that area because of the soil, not to walk on this grass over here,” Hayes said. “And that is debilitating when you grow up in a community, and there's no open spaces for kids to play.”
Grants were awarded to Norwalk, New London, Killingly, East Hampton and the Connecticut Metropolitan Council of Governments .
New England states received more than 20% of the brownfield program’s funding.
