About The Brownfields Program

The North Carolina Brownfields Program, authorized by the state statute known as the Brownfields Property Reuse Act, provides a mechanism to treat prospective developers of brownfield sites differently than the parties responsible for contaminating them. Prospective developers negotiate a brownfields agreement with the program that defines activities needed to make the site suitable for reuse, rather than cleaning up the site to regulatory standards (which responsible parties are required to do).

Latest News

Jan '10
7 REMINDER - Land Use Restriction Updates Due in January

January is the month when owners of most Brownfields Properties must submit their Land Use Restrictions Updates (LURUs). If needed, you may request a LURU Form by contacting David Peacock at David.Peacock@ncdenr.gov.

Oct '09
2 New Public Comment Guidance Document Now Available

A new guidance document has been created to help Prospective Developers comply with the revised public comment requirements that took effect on October 1, 2009. The guidance document may be accessed on the “Statutes and Guidance” webpage, or by clicking HERE.

Sep '09
9 EPA Region 4 is holding a Brownfields Grant Writing Tips Webinar on Thursday, September 17, 2009 from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM EDT.

This webinar will give prospective Brownfields grant applicants and grant writers an opportunity to understand the FY-2010 Proposal Guidelines for Brownfields Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund, and Cleanup Grants. Through this training, EPA will provide participants with tips on writing a winning Brownfields Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund, or Cleanup grant proposal.

The targeted audience includes representatives of eligible Brownfields applicants, including states, tribes, local governments, quasi-governmental organizations, and non-profits, as well as grant writers. Participants should have at least a basic understanding of Brownfields sites and of EPA’s Brownfields program.

Register Now! This course is limited to 125 participants. EPA intends to monitor registration and encourages participants from the same organization to share a phone line and computer. Please cancel your registration if your schedule does not permit you to attend. A call-in number and access code will be emailed to participants prior to the call.

To register, go to:

http://www.trainex.org/BF-GWT-Webinar

For questions, please contact:
Mike Norman: 404-562-8792 or via email at norman.michael@epa.gov
Margaret Olson: 404-562-8601 or via email at olson.margaret@epa.gov

AUG '09
14 To Local Governments…The 2009-2010 U.S. EPA Brownfield Grant Application Guidelines Now Available

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has published guidelines for local governments to apply for this year’s round of brownfields grants. The guidelines can be found at http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/applicat.htm. The proposals for these competitive grants are due October 16, 2009. Grant awards for winning applicants will be announced in Spring 2010. Under these guidelines, the EPA provides brownfields funding for three types of grants:

  1. Brownfields Assessment Grants – provides funds to inventory, characterize, assess, and conduct planning (including cleanup planning) and community involvement related to brownfield sites.
  2. Brownfields Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) Grants – provides funds for a grant recipient to capitalize a revolving fund and to make loans and provide subgrants to carry out cleanup activities at brownfield sites.
  3. Brownfields Cleanup Grants – provides funds to carry out cleanup activities at a specific brownfield site owned by the applicant.

North Carolina local government entities were awarded $2.26 million worth of these grants last year in support of brownfields activities, including the cities of Concord, Durham, Greensboro, Greenville, New Bern, and the Land-of-Sky Regional Council.

JUL '09
1 General Assembly Modifies Brownfields Public Comment Process

Introduced during the current session of the General Assembly, House Bill 1388 was ratified and signed into law on June 26, 2009. It will become effective on October 1, 2009 (full text of the bill). The new statute changes the process by which brownfields agreements are made available to the public for review and comment. The existing notice requirements for posting the Summary Notice of Intent to Redevelop a Brownfields Property (SNI) on the property and publishing it in a newspaper local to the brownfields property remain unchanged. The new law: 1) removes the previous requirement that the SNI be published in the N.C. Register, and 2) adds the requirement that Prospective Developers (PDs) mail or deliver a copy of the SNI to all owners of property contiguous to the brownfields property, directly notifying them of the brownfields agreement and public comment period. The new contiguous owner notice requirement will provide more effective public notice of brownfields agreements, and will streamline notification by eliminating the 3-week time lag inherent in N.C. Register publication. Only those N.C. Brownfields Program projects that will be going into public comment on or after the new law’s effective date will be affected, and the Program will provide guidance on these new requirements to the PDs for those projects.

APR '09
22 Economic Recovery Act adds to Local Brownfields Funding Availability

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has announced the availability of recovery act funds to supplement grant programs designed to facilitate redevelopment of brownfields properties. The major brownfields funding announcements include $40 million for eligible brownfields revolving loan fund, or RLF, grants, $38 million added to the brownfields assessment and cleanup grant programs, and $5 million in additional job training grant opportunities. Specific information on these programs including eligible entities, deadlines, and submitting a request for recovery act supplemental funding is available at EPA’s website here. Various North Carolina local government entities are planning to seek these funds. News on their efforts will be posted here in the near future. Specific information on this and other state-related economic recovery news can also be found at NCRecovery.gov.

Click HERE to view past news items.