News Brownfields Grants: Types of Funding for Brownfield Projects

Brownfields inventories, assessments, and cleanup can be expensive undertakings. Fortunately, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency administers the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA), or Superfund, to help address these needs. Under this program, the EPA provides grants to municipal, state, and tribal governments; nonprofit organizations; and other authorities to complete Brownfield remediation activities. What follows is a summary of these Brownfields grants, including funding amounts, performance periods, and eligible entities.

Grant requirements, funding amounts, and eligibility criteria are subject to change. Applicants should consult current EPA guidance and funding announcements before considering an application.

Assessment Grants

Assessment Grants focus on the planning aspects of Brownfields projects. They provide funds for Brownfields inventories, environmental assessments, and community outreach. They support communities that are addressing their Brownfields issues for the first time and those that have ongoing Brownfields initiatives.

There are three categories of assessment grants available from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency: community-wide assessment grants, community-wide assessment grants for states and tribes, and coalition assessment grants.

Community-Wide Assessment Grants

• Grant Amount: Up to $500,000
• Performance Period: Up to 4 years
• Eligible Entities:
  • Local governments
  • Regional councils of local governments
  • Land clearance authorities or other quasi-governmental entities that operate under the supervision of a local government
  • Government entities created by state legislature
  • Redevelopment agencies chartered or sanctioned by state government
  • State governments
  • Federally recognized Indian tribes other than in Alaska
  • Alaska Native Regional Corporations, Alaska Native Village Corporations, and the Metlakatla Indian Community
  • 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations
  • Limited liability corporations whose sole members are 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations or where all managing members are 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations
  • Limited liability partnerships whose sole members are 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations or where all general partners are 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations
  • Qualified community development entities

Community-Wide Assessment Grants for States and Tribes

• Grant Amount: Up to $1,000,000
• Performance Period: Up to 5 years
• Eligible Entities:
  • State governments
  • Federally recognized Indian tribes other than in Alaska
  • Alaska Native Regional Corporations, Alaska Native Village Corporations, and the Metlakatla Indian Community
  • Intertribal consortia

Coalition Assessment Grants

• Grant Amount: Up to $1,000,000
• Performance Period: Up to 4 years
• Eligible Entities:
  • One lead entity with legal authority to expend grant funds on behalf of the non-lead entities to conduct the proposed activities
  • Two to four non-lead entities that do not have the capacity to apply for and manage their own EPA cooperative agreement and otherwise would not have access to Brownfields Grant resources
  • At least one member of the coalition must be a non-lead entity that has never been awarded a Brownfields Multipurpose, Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund, or Cleanup Grant
  • No members of the coalition may be an agency or instrumentality of themselves (e.g., a county and the redevelopment authority of the same county), except for coalitions where the state is the lead and one of the members is a regional council or regional commission that is created by a state legislature through a charter or another official action
  • Each coalition member must identify target area(s) for performance; these areas cannot overlap and must be in at least three distinct jurisdictions (municipal or Tribal)

Cleanup Grants

Cleanup Grants focus on the execution aspects of Brownfields projects. They provide funds to address one or more brownfield sites contaminated by hazardous substances, pollutants, contaminants, or petroleum.

• Grant Amount: Up to $500,000
• Performance Period: Up to 4 years
• Eligible Entities:
  • Any entity that is eligible for a Community-Wide Assessment Grant
  • Other nonprofit organizations as defined in 2 CFR § 200.1
    • Note: The exclusion of institutes of higher education (IHEs) from the definition of nonprofit organization at CFR § 200.1 does not change IHEs’ status as nonprofit organizations when applying for funding opportunities. For the purposes of this funding opportunity, “Other nonprofit organizations” includes nonprofit colleges, universities, and other educational institutions.
  • Limitations:
    • Applicants may submit only one Cleanup Grant application each competition cycle
    • Brownfield sites where Brownfields Cleanup Grant funds were previously expended may not receive additional Cleanup Grant funding
    • Grant recipients may be required to provide a 20 percent match in the form of a contribution of money, labor, materials or services for eligible activities

Multipurpose Grants

Multipurpose Grants combine the benefits of assessment and cleanup grants. They must be used to complete at least one instance of each of the following activities: Phase II environmental site assessment, site cleanup, and overall revitalization that includes a feasible reuse plan for one site.

• Grant Amount: Up to $1,000,000
• Performance Period: Up to 5 years
• Eligible Entities:
  • Any entity that is eligible for a Community-Wide Assessment Grant
• Limitations:
  • Target area must be in a discrete area such as a neighborhood, district, corridor, shared planning area, census tract, or adjacent municipalities; it may not include communities in distinctly different geographic areas
  • Applicants must own one or more site(s) within the target area where cleanup activities may be conducted that meets the CERCLA definition of a Brownfield site
  • Eligibility for site-specific assessment and cleanup activities will be determined after award and throughout the project period
  • Grant recipients may be required to provide a $40,000 match in the form of a contribution of money, labor, materials or services for eligible costs

Revolving Loan Fund Grants

Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) Grants enable the recipients to capitalize a revolving loan fund so that they can issue loans and subgrants to others to complete Brownfield assessment and cleanup activities. If the fund chooses to issue loans, then when the loans are repaid, the money returns to the fund and can be re-issued to other borrowers.

• Grant Amount: Up to $1,000,000
• Performance Period: Up to 5 years
• Eligible Entities:
  • Any individual entity that is eligible for a Community-Wide Assessment Grant
  • An RLF Coalition comprising two or more eligible entities
• Limitations:
  • Recipients need a strong understanding of real estate financing principles, including loan underwriting, loan servicing, and credit analysis
  • Recipients must be prepared to make long-term resource commitments—lasting years or decades—to operate an RLF and manage the income it generates, unless they terminate the agreement and return the program income to the EPA
  • Recipients must be able to market the program on an ongoing basis during and after the performance period of the grant
  • Recipients must comply with specific program reporting requirements, even after the RLF Grant is closed

Job Training Grants

Job Training Grants focus on building workforce capacity to complete Brownfields projects, particularly among unemployed and under-employed residents of impacted communities. They provide funds to educate program participants about assessment, cleanup, and redevelopment activities and to equip them with the skills necessary to obtain full-time, sustainable employment in the environmental field.

• Grant Amount: Up to $500,000
• Performance Period: Up to 5 years
• Eligible Entities:
  • Any entity that is eligible for a Community-Wide Assessment Grant
  • Other nonprofit organizations as defined in 2 CFR § 200.1
    • Note: The exclusion of institutes of higher education (IHEs) from the definition of nonprofit organization at CFR § 200.1 does not change IHEs’ status as nonprofit organizations when applying for funding opportunities. For the purposes of this funding opportunity, “Other nonprofit organizations” includes nonprofit colleges, universities, and other educational institutions.
  • Workforce investment boards and organized labor unions that meet the criteria may be eligible nonprofit organizations
    • Note: 501(c)(4) nonprofit organizations that engage in lobbying activities as defined in section 3 of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 are not eligible
  • For-profit or proprietary training organizations or trade schools are not eligible

View the EPA’s full List of Eligible and Ineligible Brownfield Job Training Courses

State and Tribal Response Program Funding

State and Tribal Response Program Funding is designed to build local capacity to programmatically address Brownfield needs. States and Tribal Nations can use these funds to create and enhance Brownfield response programs. These programs typically develop Brownfields policies and cleanup standards, conduct or supervise assessment and cleanup activities in their jurisdictions, and ensure a public record of Brownfield sites is maintained.

State and Tribal Response Program Funding is also called Section 128(a) funding because of the legislation that authorized its creation.

• Grant Amount: Varies by entity; total funding availability is approximately $100,000,000 for fiscal year 2026
• Eligible Entities:
  • States, as defined in the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) of 1980 § 101(27)
  • Indian tribe, as defined in CERCLA § 101(36)
  • Intertribal consortia, as defined in the Federal Register Notice at 67 FR 67181, Nov. 4, 2002

Technical Assistance Grants (TAG)

Technical Assistance Grants (TAG) focus on education for addressing Brownfield needs. They provide funds for research, training, and other forms of technical assistance to enable Brownfield site inventories, site assessments, Brownfield remediation, community involvement, and site reuse preparation.

• Grant Amount: Up to $20,000
• Performance Period: Within 1 year of award
• Eligible Entities:
  • A State, as defined in CERCLA § 101(27)
  • An Indian tribe, as defined in the Federal Register Notice at 67 FR 67181, Nov. 4, 2002
  • Intertribal consortia, as defined in the Federal Register Notice at 67 FR 67181, Nov. 4, 2002
• Limitations:
  • Recipient must be in good standing with their current CERCLA Section 128(a) grant
  • Work must be performed on behalf of a small community, Indian tribe, rural area, or disadvantaged area; multiple eligible communities may be assisted in one grant